Guys,

I am new to the forum. I recently bought a 2009 Sonata Limited V6 (3.3L Auto). I like the car except the transmission shifting quality. There is a distinct hesitation ****ing up from 1st to 2nd and then from 2nd to 3rd. Funny thing is that it feels like like that mostly on slow/normal acceleration, not when I step on the gas and go. I notice it more moving along straight rather than turning and accelerating. It feels like a slight jerk in the car and/or a thump under driver's seat during the shifts. It has gotten better in the 1000 miles that I have put on it, but it is still there and bothers me greatly. Like I said, the jerking or the thumping is moderate to slight, but I feel it should not be there. I had a Mazda 6 and a older Sonata (2003 model) prior to this and I did not experience this.

I have taken it to the dealership twice and both times they said that there is nothing wrong with the transmission. Apparently there is no error code coming up when checking and unless they can find an error they cannot do anything. Also they indicated that there is driver adaptive logic in the transmission control and it takes time to learn to the driver, but for how long? I contacted Hyundai customer service and they are indicating that unless the dealership admits any problem, they cannot do anything.

Now my question is, any of you folks who drive the 2009 model, experience this type of problem at all? The dealership keeps telling me that I need to put 2000 - 5000 miles on it to smooth it out, but I am skeptical. I hoenstly think that a $26k car should have smooth up and downshifts. Please let me know your thoughts as to what can be done, if anything, to rectify the situation. As it stands right now, it is bugging theheck out of me.



FOLLOW-UP

Today I went to the dealership to complain about it since this hard shifting is a bit too much for my level of comfort. Same answer, there is nothing wrong. So I finally went and talked to the Parts & Service Director and another sales guy. Both of them drove my car and experienced the same problem, although they indicated that it did not bother them as much as it is doing me. Their opinions were that the 09 Sonatas have the adaptive drive logic and almost all will drive like that.

So I then got to drive two other new cars from the lot, both Limited V6 with auto tranny. One had about 69 miles on it and the other had 3500 miles on it. Both the cars had the same shift quality but of significantly different intensities. The 69 miles car had a slightly jerky 1 -> 2 shift but less intense than my car, but 2 -> 3 was pretty smooth, somewhat smoother than mine. The 3500 mile had smoother shifts on both 1 -> 2 and 2 -> 3. If I was really looking for the 1 - 2 shift, I could feel it, but not on the 2 - 3. The shift intensity on the 3500 mile would not bother me much.

Although the director guy was very helpful and a gentleman, I came back with no concrete answers on my car. It is a fact that '09 Sonatas have a weird shift quality which I am not used to, but will the intensity of the jerkiness go down with miles?.....I am a bit skeptical. There seems to be a lot of variance between cars on this issue. I just do not understand this driver adaptive logic thing, adaptation should not take this long!! In general, I am disappointed with the shift quality of this otherwise fine car. I have driven cheaper economy cars with smoother shifts.

 

Perhaps this relates to your situation:

http://jerrystout.us/sonata/tsb/auto...%20relearn.pdf

 

But this TSB does not relate to 2009 models, right? I see only 2006 Sonatas.

 

It list the Sonatas as "2006-" which I interpret as all 2006 to present or all NF versions of the model. There would be no hyphen if it was for 2006 alone.

 

do two people drive this car? Different driving habbits can drastically effect shift quality when a new, "different" driver gets into the car. The transmission then has to "re-adapt" to your driving style.

 

It only took several hundred miles for my 09 Sonata's shift feel/points to settle down.

Smooth & consistent driving is the key to settling the OBDII down. 'Pumping' the gas pedal, or zipping up to speed and then backing off the throttle, just to reapply it a few seconds later will just drive the system nuts.

'Learning' is done by measuring a series of engine cycles with inputs from the TPS, VSS, line pressure, RPM and other sensors.... then the car figures out what's expected of it. This is true for the fuel curve also.

As a last resort, if you want to go back to baseline, disconnect the battery & walk away for an hour and let the computer go 'cold'. You'll have to reset your radio stations & clock, but it's a quick way to dump the volatle memory & start fresh.