I just bought a new 2009 Sonata and after reading these fourms I am thinking it was not a good
choice. It seems like Hyundai still has quality issues that they duck and deny . I read about
clutchs burning up on the Santa Fe, very scary.

The word on the street is Hyundai quality is improving but from what I read here it has not
improved all that much at all, they are blaming people that have driven standard transmissions
all their lives for burning up the cluch... same old Hyundia as before. I put 147,000 miles
on a Ford Focus original clutch.

Hyundai has to step up to the plate and do a better job, quit ducking problems, these vechiles
cost serious money I am shocked that a Hyundai SUV that is not inexpensive burns clutchs
and they run,duck and hide from that, designing and making a proper clutch assembly is
not rocket science.

I hope my Sonata works out good,but it sure has me worried from reading these fourms,with
Hyundai's poor past quality reputation you would think they would stand up and fix problems
a lousy chevy chevette would not burn clutches in 40,000 miles yet a fancy SUV does.

 

Does your 2009 Sonata have a manual transmission?

 

Yes my Sonata does have a Manual Transmission, and thats why I was worried after reading about the
Santa Fe, I mean these people are being charged 1500 to 2000 dollars when it really seems like a
manufacturing defect, there is no way a clutch should only last 40,000 miles with a experienced
driver. I realize that all car makers only warranty clutch linings for 12,000 miles, but thatsnota problem
if it designed properly, they all should last well over 100,000 miles.

What concerns me is the owners did complain about a touchy gas pedal adding to the problem in the
way one engages the clutch, I know it took me awhile to learn how to take off smoothly with this
car and I am 50 yrs old and almost always have driven standards. I am just worried if 40,000 miles
from now I am going to face the same issue, and burned out clutch and they will duck the issue and
blame a driver who only has about 400,000 or more miles experience with standards.

I am just concerned being a new owner and reading about the problems people are having,my Focus
was trouble free until it,s untimely death... some how anitfreeze mixed in with the motor oil
ruined the engine, it was the most trouble free car I ever owned up until that day. But I really
expected 200,000 from it , So I picked a different car this time.

I hope the Sonata is a great car for me, and I realize this fourm is about bitching about problems
and maybe if I visited Honda fourms they would also complain about problems. I guess it just
kinda threw me abit reading about problems, as I had heard Hyundai was improved. It really seems
if there truly is a problem, that this car manufactuer should really be on top of it,own up to
problems and fix them if they truly want to improve reputation.

Lets face it these are not inexpensive excels , the owners expect trouble free operation, rouitene
maintence issues only,brakes, oil changes ,tires, even though the focus was not fancy at all
I swear thats all it ever needed ,other than the untimely death at 147,000 miles no issues at all!!!

 

For your own peace of mind, sell the Sonata now and find a car you can be comfortable with.

 

You bought a brand new car without doing your research? You should read up on something you're about to spend $15-20k on. People never cease to amaze me. I agree with Ken, sell the car now and be done with it. You clearly didn't do your homework.

 

If you spend some time doing some research online, you'll find that other car makers (Honda, Mazda, etc) have their share of problems as well. Including the clutch.

I also have a 2009 Sonata with a 5 speed manual transmission.

If you're that concerned, sell it and buy a car that will give you better piece of mind. It has a new car warranty for 5 years and 60K miles. I'd think we're fairly well covered here. Does the Santa Fe even share the clutch assembly with the Sonata?

Yes, the engage point on the pedal is low and it grabs quickly. Coupled with the low engage on the gas pedal and there's a learning curve. I don't know if the clutch and throttle have a cable or if they are drive by wire. If they do havea cable, then perhaps it's possible to to make some adjustments at the pedal to change the engage point.

Contrary to what you said, these are NOT expensive vehicles. I paid $15050 for my 09, before tax and tags. I owned a 93 Scoupe back in college, I didn't have any clutch problems. Why not use that as a data point insteadfor comparing dissimilar models and model years?

 

LOL!! The Ford Focus is the biggest pile of crap. Yeah, it was the most trouble free car except for that little engine death problem. LOL!

 

This is in reply to Nova Resource : I noticed you only highlighted my comments about the untimely
death of the Focus , but ignored that fact it was almost 100 percent trouble free until then
One can not ignore the mileage at death 147,000 miles.

Do I think the Focus is a great car? NO up until that point was the least costly car ever for me
just oil changes,brakes etc...

One I feel can not ignore the miles racked up at time of death of car, as I stated I was hoping to
get 200,000 miles out of it, but I feel for a car that was on the low end of price spectrum
147,000 trouble free miles needs to be considered

 

100% trouble free? What about the engine coolant in the oil and the complete death of the engine? That doesn't sound 100% trouble free to me. That sounds like the skydiver that has a 100% trouble free jump except for his untimely death when the parachute didn't open. LOL!!

There are plenty of Hyundais still going with more than 147K miles and no coolant in the oil. Does YOUR Sonata have a clutch problem? Have YOU experienced a problem with YOUR Sonata clutch? You are basing your opinion of Hyundai on something you heard second hand. Until YOU experience a clutch problem you really can'tcomplain about Hyundais quality. Until then, be glad you have a Hyundai instead of a dead Focus.

 

Hmm, I got curious about this and did some digging. Those familiar with the poor durability of clutches mostly in 2003 and 2004 Santa Fe and Tiburons know that Hyundai deployed some new technology in the dual mass clutch system used in these vehicles. The idea behind the dual mass system was to improve power transfer while reducing shift shock to other drive components. Makes perfect sense in the Tiburon where I would say drivers tend to shift more aggressively (yes/no NoveResource?). Like a lot of new ideas, Hyundai apparently didn't quite get it right and the early versions of the dual mass clutch had a higher than normal failure rate. So did Hyundai ignore this situation? Hardly. The dual mass clutch was redesigned and, as far as I can tell, the redesign has been reliable in subsequent vehicles. For folks that suffered premature failure of an early dual mass clutch, Hyundai has offered several technical service bulletins detailing corrective action for warranty repair of these clutches. The TSB for the Tibby indicates the clutch will be replaced with the redesigned dual mass clutch, providing the dealership with the proper part numbers to swap old parts for new. The TSB for the Santa Fe (http://www.hmaservice.com/files/331/.../04-40-013.pdf) indicates the dual mass clutch can be replaced with a single mass clutch for improved durability.

SO...was the dual mass clutch ever used in the Sonata? No, right up through the latest 2009 model, the manual Sonata has the old simple single mass clutch assembly that's been used as long as there have been automobiles.