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2011 HYUNDAI SONATA — Complaint #813250

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NHTSA Complaint about STEERING:GEAR BOX:SHAFT SECTOR filed September 10, 2010

NHTSA complaint #813250 (ODI reference 10354844) concerns a 2011 HYUNDAI SONATA and was filed on September 10, 2010. The owner reports the failure occurred on September 1, 2010. The vehicle had 7,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Connecticut based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as steering:gear box:shaft sector, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.

The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.

Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same HYUNDAI SONATA cohort independently describe similar steering:gear box:shaft sector failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2011 HYUNDAI SONATA shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.

Vehicle
2011 HYUNDAI SONATA
Component
STEERING:GEAR BOX:SHAFT SECTOR
State
Connecticut
Mileage
7,000 mi

Complaint Description

AS I WAS DRIVING HOME FROM WORK ON THE HIGHWAY THE STEERING WHEEL LOCKED UP AND STARTED SHAKING FOR ABOUT FIVE MINUTES AS IF IT WERE POSSESSED. I WAS NOT ABLE TO PULL OVER BECAUSE OF THE STRENGTH OF THE WHEEL SHAKING. AFTER THAT INCIDENT, IT SEEMED TO BE FIXED ON ITS OWN. BUT, LATER THAT DAY VISITING FAMILY MEMBERS AS I GOT INTO THE CAR TO GO HOME I STARTED THE CAR UP AND IMMEDIATELY THE EPS LIGHT STARTED FLASHING AND THE STEERING WHEEL STARTED GOING CRAZY AGAIN, SO I TOOK THE KEYS OUT THE IGNITION FOR IT TO STOP BUT THAT DIDN'T WORK. AT THAT POINT I DECIDED TO CALL THE TOW TRUCK TO HAVE THE DEALER INSPECT THE CAR. THAT WAS A WEEK AGO. I GUESS THEY ARE STILL WAITING ON A PART TO COME, BUT AFTER ALL THIS I WON'T FEEL SAFE DRIVING THIS CAR WHEN I GET IT BACK WITH MY DAUGHTER IN IT. UPDATED IVOQ 11/05/10 *TR

Complaint Details

NHTSA Complaint ID 813250
ODI Number 10354844
Date Filed September 10, 2010
Failure Date September 1, 2010
VIN 5NPEB4AC2BH

Similar STEERING:GEAR BOX:SHAFT SECTOR Complaints for 2011 HYUNDAI SONATA

Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.