Wow.....just read some of these posts..being a tech and doin this everyday I see how the internet can put problems in peoples head. He has a problem with his steering I must too. I still wonder how many of these problems occured after you all read this post. The new sonatas are nice and dont have steering issues. Yes I am sure some are not use to the eps since its not old style hydraulic steering . It takes getting used to. I have seen other issues on this and other models that we see alot of but not mentioned as much as the steering. I am not slamming this post but keep into account that this is a new steering system for this year and it will take getting use to. If you have a drastic pull then yes I can see your issue. I have a 5 second rule. On a normal interstate goin 70 and not in the crown of the road I see if the vehicle drifts or pulls in the right hand lane if in 5 seconds it stays in the lane then its good. i do the same with the left lane. now some of our roads are crowned for water run off so that has to be considered. For a rattle in the steering column...thats not a safety issue...a little drastic ya think? Use the NHTSA for what they are for and thats safety issues not rattles. I hope you all that have issues will drive with the tech and show them your issue . Make them see exactly what your talking about. This wont be like a Mazda 3 or 5 thing where they have a major recall...totally not close to same systems.

 

you may have seen my videos on youtube. if not...you should check it out. look up mommyt100. i agree with you about getting used to the new feel of the steering, and the way this car handles on crowned roads. there is a huge difference between drifting and suddenly having basically no control. also, after only a hand-full reports and my video, this issue is being investigated. it doesn't take 40 reports, like my dealer told me. it will take some time, but they at least know which cars they need to check out for this defect. the dealers always seem to tell the customer the same line of crap when they complain about the steering issues. its like they are programed to give the same excuses to keep the customer quiet. sure they will change the steering column and make it seem like they did you a favor. they wont tell you that they had to change it because it could have caused you to wreck.
I no longer have the sonata after what happened to us. i will never own another hyundai. I will tell you this....it is a beautiful car and excellent on gas too. They just have to get the kinks worked out before someone gets hurt or killed.

 

Hyundai Tech .. stop preaching "The Company" line. Bottom line regarding my situation and the starting of this post is that my vehicle STILL has a constant drift/pull of to the left. Not juts a suttle issue, but a very noticeable issue. The vehicle was serviced by the dealer technician, service manager, Hyundai Technical Support and a Hyundai Engineer. Any and all potential fixes were exhausted to no resolution. Each person whom drove and/or physically worked on the vehicle identified the persistent drift/pull of the vehicle. Too simply down play the problem/issue as a configuration of the new EPS is nothing more than an excuse. Stating that you have to get use to it is bull crap. It isn't as though Hyundai just invented EPS themselves. It has been in production by other manufactures for a while. Some manufactures just have it configured/setup right and CLEARLY SOME DO NOT HAVE IT RIGHT. My other vehicle which is equipped with EPS is perfectly true with the steering --- Notta problem, straight on down the road. So, don't preach the same "company" excuse when other manufactures clearly have their EPS configured/setup right. I am glad to see that NHSTA getting involved with the steering! Hyundai certainly didn't seem to want to put forth the extra effort to figure out exactly what or why the EPS is causing these issues.

 

Sonata2011....Please get on youtube and watch both of my videos. Turn up the volume so you can hear the sound of the vibration in the steering wheel. The action and sound of the wheel is very very mild compared to what it was like while driving. Please let me know if it is similar to what is going on with yours.
As for the EPS. The dealer told us that Hyundai has been using the same EPS in their Elantra without any issues, so the decided to put it into the 2011 Sonata to get better gas mileage. They said that what happened to us was an isolated issue and we had nothing to worry about. This happened in March. Of course it was isolated....It was the first time it happened! They had no intention of reporting it.
We called the main branch weeks later and they didn't even know about it! They, along with the dealer had told us that this would have to be reported 40 times before NHSTA would consider investigating. They didn't like it when we told them that it was disgusting that they could potentially kill 40 or more people before anything was done. They said that there wasn't a report in their files but they would do an investigation and get back to us. Guess what...Surprise....they didn't!
Now that some of us have reported it to the right place and it is out in the open, Hyundai is giving their "full cooperation" on this matter. Isn't that just soooo wonderful of them!?!
Stay on it Sonata2011...Get what YOUR PAYING for!
Best of luck with your car.

 

Tech - gotcha. I'll just live with a brand new car that has a clunk/rattle in the steering. Right. Check.

How about NOT?

 

wow this thread actually has me worried and reconsidering the purchase

 

Let's be realistic here about this thread potentially detering potential purchases.

1. This is an online forum. The main tendency is to talk about problems.
2. Sometimes, threads can take off as it snowballs. This is a good example in my opinion. Seven pages of people reporting problems, but how big of the actual pool of cars sold does this represent? Hyunda is selling 22,000 Sonatas per month on average YTD.
3. NHTSA started an investigation of the steering column issue on the Sonata with a SINGLE complaint. If this case had enough merit, NHTSA will eventually investigate. After the Toyota situation, all automakers are on their toes about addressing any quality problems immediately. They don't want to be the next Toyota and that especially includes Hyundai. I completely disagree with any baseless claims in this thread that Hyundai is trying to sweep this problem under the rug. Any company who does that today is on a suicide mission.
4. Bread and butter model of the brand. They want this right. Problems will be fixed, lest they become the next joke of the auto industry and risk losing sales and market share.
5. First year launch. As advanced as auto manufucturing technologies are today, the first time out will always have problems. Give it some time but don't give up. Keep bugging your dealership about it. Corporate level gets data and feedback from the dealerships on warranty repairs, so the more you are vocal about it, the more corporate people hear and read about it on their reports.
6. I'm buying a Limited Nav and I have no qualms about it.

 

is tis this issue an SE only issue? that where i see most of the complaints coming from.... I really want to get an SE in November but maybe waiting for the 2012's is a better idea.. but then there will be great deals on leftover 2011's lmao..Anyone know when the 2012's hit the dealers?

 

Don't worry about your purchase, it's only a few (very vocal) owners that are having problems.

 

The investigation is NOT because of one complaint! There have been several. Some were minor and some were scary. The last I have read....they are investigating a batch of over 16,000 2011 sonatas with the potential defect.

If I wanted a 2011 sonata now, I wouldn't be too worried about getting one with a defect.
Some of us were unfortunate and ended up with one from the bad batch. We want people to be aware of the potential defects, that is why we post our experiences.

No one seems to complain when others post their good experiences about the sonata.
Hyundai knows what the problem is and they are fixing it.

Most of the new cars out there are having some kind of issue. It doesn't matter what we went through....being terrified and all. They are investigating it. Buy the car. Look at the thousands of people happily driving theirs.
Its your money, your life, your choice. Best of luck.