So, I am new here and I am thinking about buying a Sonata. I have read a lot about the steering problems (pulling to the left and the recall), but I have a question.

Is the steering to the left resolved with the recall or are people still having this problem? If this isn't resolved I cant see myself buying a new Sonata. I love the look and it has all the options I want. It would be a shame if it is still having steering problems.

Thanks

 

A small number of people are having a problem. The majority are fine. Go test drive one. If it pulls, don't buy it. If it drives fine, buy it.

 

Super has good advice. I bought a 2011 Sonata Limited Turbo and have carefully documented the steering issues with it both with the dealer and with Hyundai. Allignment helped the highway speed left drift. Have not been able to correct the moderate left pull at town driving speeds. Here is what it does. Normal town acceleration pulls to left and is more stronger coming out of right hand turns and gradual right hand curves. Hard acceleration at lower speeds or from stops it does not pull. Dealers call it torque pull because of different lengths of drive shafts. I don't understand why if this is the issue why not all 2011's don't exhibit the same problem. Some of the past threads talk about bending the frame to correct the issue. My dealer has stopped that procedure but use to have it as one of the fixes. I think there is a design problem. Outside of that love the car.

 

I'm not sure when others bought their Sonata's but I bought mine a little over two weeks ago. I don't have the steering to the left problem as others do. As Nova stated, go to the dealership and test drive the car that you are interested in if it's on the lot. Do not test drive any Sonata that they pull out.

If you test drive the car you want and it has the pulling to the left problem don't buy it however, I believe that Hyundai has resolved this issue for the most part on on the cars that are coming out of the factory and on the lots now.

 

I just dropped off my Tucson V6 at the dealership for its 60K service and to have the timing belt changed. They gave me a 2011 Sonata for a loaner. It's a REALLY nice car. I averaged 44-mpg on the drive home and that wan't even in ECO mode. The trip was about 13 miles 60% highway, 40% city driving. And I'd like to report not one bit of "left pull" in the steering. Very impressive car.

 

FYI - ECO mode doesn't change the fuel consumption properties of the motor; it's essentially a dummy light for the driver to let them know if they are in ideal fuel consumption speed/load.

 

The latest batch on Sonatas have an “Active ECO” button on the dash next to the ESC button. The ActiveECO mode adjusts the engine computer, throttle input and A/C to maximize mileage. The earlier Sonatas did not have this button, and the ECO mode was just an indicator.

http://iguida.com/2011-hyundai-sonata

 

That's interesting. I wonder how one can determine if their car's "eco" function actually works.

 

The ECO thing is a joke.. it is sorta like a VALET key for Corvette... then you have the silly light that shows ECO if you is driving like a PRIUS owner trying to get 100 mpg..

Turn the silly feature off and drive reponsibly, the car will be a bit more "driveable"..

 

First, it's not a joke. It does work. However, if you read my post, I said my average MPG was without the Active ECO mode on.