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Asian35m
08-13-2009, 04:52 PM
Hi all,

I am the owner of a new 09 Sonata v6 limit. Right from the first day I picked up my car from the dealership it exhibits a problem which is drifting to the left on the highway. What I mean is when I am on a highway and on a straight stretch, once I line up the car going straight and let go of the steering wheel the car will drift to the left. In a matter of seconds my car will cross the left hand divider line. What that means is I have to constantly correct the direction of the vehicle. I know the drifting is not caused by road crowning because I always tested on the middle lane of a 3 lane highway; plus my wife's car doesn't have the drifting problem driving on the same road. I have taken the car back to the original dealership where I purchased the car 4 times and the problem is still not fixed (1st visit: checked alignment and tire pressure. 2nd visit: swapped all 4 tires with stock unit. 3rd visit: re-alignment. 4th visit: replace right front struct which is .1 degree off specification; acceptable range is 4.2 - 4.6 and the orginal right front struct was 4.1) Not to mention the dealership is about 20 miles one way from my house. I then contacted Hyundai Consumer Affair and it connected me with a second dealership. The service manager from the second dealership and I went out for test drive and he agreed there was a drifting issue. He checked the alignment and the alignment was ok and there was not much more he can do. He claimed that it is a common problem with Sonata and that's just a Hyundai engineering thing. So I am wondering if anyone of you out there also have the same drifing problem with your Sonata. Or am I just being BS around.

I had contacted Hyundai Consumer Affair and was told that this needed to be elevated to the District Manager level. Now I am deciding if I want to wait to meet the District Manager to show him the problem and request a new replacement vehicle, or am I just go ahead and file lemon law. I am tired and of it and don't want to take it to another dealership to try fixing it. I had enough of the frustration.

Don't get me wrong here. I think the Sonata is nice car: good looking, nice pick-up and quite riding. But not if there is a defect that driving me crazy.

I thank you for any suggestion or opinion in advance!

Asian35m

HyundaiWifey
08-13-2009, 05:06 PM
Hi all,

I am the owner of a new 09 Sonata v6 limit. Right from the first day I picked up my car from the dealership it exhibits a problem which is drifting to the left on the highway. What I mean is when I am on a highway and on a straight stretch, once I line up the car going straight and let go of the steering wheel the car will drift to the left. In a matter of seconds my car will cross the left hand divider line. What that means is I have to constantly correct the direction of the vehicle. I know the drifting is not caused by road crowning because I always tested on the middle lane of a 3 lane highway; plus my wife's car doesn't have the drifting problem driving on the same road. I have taken the car back to the original dealership where I purchased the car 4 times and the problem is still not fixed (1st visit: checked alignment and tire pressure. 2nd visit: swapped all 4 tires with stock unit. 3rd visit: re-alignment. 4th visit: replace right front struct which is .1 degree off specification; acceptable range is 4.2 - 4.6 and the orginal right front struct was 4.1) Not to mention the dealership is about 20 miles one way from my house. I then contacted Hyundai Consumer Affair and it connected me with a second dealership. The service manager from the second dealership and I went out for test drive and he agreed there was a drifting issue. He checked the alignment and the alignment was ok and there was not much more he can do. He claimed that it is a common problem with Sonata and that's just a Hyundai engineering thing. So I am wondering if anyone of you out there also have the same drifing problem with your Sonata. Or am I just being BS around.

I had contacted Hyundai Consumer Affair and was told that this needed to be elevated to the District Manager level. Now I am deciding if I want to wait to meet the District Manager to show him the problem and request a new replacement vehicle, or am I just go ahead and file lemon law. I am tired and of it and don't want to take it to another dealership to try fixing it. I had enough of the frustration.

Don't get me wrong here. I think the Sonata is nice car: good looking, nice pick-up and quite riding. But not if there is a defect that driving me crazy.

I thank you for any suggestion or opinion in advance!

Asian35m


Asian35m thanks for the post and welcome to the site.

Admin1
08-13-2009, 05:47 PM
Hi all,

I am the owner of a new 09 Sonata v6 limit. Right from the first day I picked up my car from the dealership it exhibits a problem which is drifting to the left on the highway. What I mean is when I am on a highway and on a straight stretch, once I line up the car going straight and let go of the steering wheel the car will drift to the left. In a matter of seconds my car will cross the left hand divider line. What that means is I have to constantly correct the direction of the vehicle. I know the drifting is not caused by road crowning because I always tested on the middle lane of a 3 lane highway; plus my wife's car doesn't have the drifting problem driving on the same road. I have taken the car back to the original dealership where I purchased the car 4 times and the problem is still not fixed (1st visit: checked alignment and tire pressure. 2nd visit: swapped all 4 tires with stock unit. 3rd visit: re-alignment. 4th visit: replace right front struct which is .1 degree off specification; acceptable range is 4.2 - 4.6 and the orginal right front struct was 4.1) Not to mention the dealership is about 20 miles one way from my house. I then contacted Hyundai Consumer Affair and it connected me with a second dealership. The service manager from the second dealership and I went out for test drive and he agreed there was a drifting issue. He checked the alignment and the alignment was ok and there was not much more he can do. He claimed that it is a common problem with Sonata and that's just a Hyundai engineering thing. So I am wondering if anyone of you out there also have the same drifing problem with your Sonata. Or am I just being BS around.

I had contacted Hyundai Consumer Affair and was told that this needed to be elevated to the District Manager level. Now I am deciding if I want to wait to meet the District Manager to show him the problem and request a new replacement vehicle, or am I just go ahead and file lemon law. I am tired and of it and don't want to take it to another dealership to try fixing it. I had enough of the frustration.

Don't get me wrong here. I think the Sonata is nice car: good looking, nice pick-up and quite riding. But not if there is a defect that driving me crazy.

I thank you for any suggestion or opinion in advance!

Asian35m

Well I have driven many 09 Sonata's an have never noticed a left
drift! It is natural to have a car drift to the right because of road
crown but not to the left! I think you have done all the right steps
though! I would wait to drive with the DPSM (District Parts and Service
Manager) I have meet many of them! For the most part there some
pretty good people! If he does see your concern he will contact the
District Engineer. Then either he will come to help fix the car or he will
work with the Tech that is working on the car! Either way they will fix
it or buy it!
But for a dealer to tell you its normal for it to pull to the left there wrong!
What you may do too is go back to the dealer you bought your car an test drive another 09 an see if it does the same as your! Hope this helps
you!!
Keep us informed please!

Asian35m
08-13-2009, 06:29 PM
Thank you Admin1. I hope you are right about most of the DPSM are good people. In that case I shall wait and meet the DPSM and let him verify the problem. Hopefully it can be resolved. I will definitely keep the board posted for any new progress.

Regards,
Asian35m