Occasionally, randomly, and unpredictably when accelerating from a slow speed coast I get no power response when I press down on the accelerator. It’s as if the engine has stalled, but it has not. When the accelerator is held down for a few seconds (maybe 3 to 7) power comes back with a rush. Examples: 1. Making a U turn from a left turn late. Accelerate slowly forward, take foot off gas as the turn is initiated, press down on gas to accelerate out of the turn and get no immediate power response. 2. Making a left turn into a suicide lane. Accelerate to cross 2 traffic lanes, let off gas and coast slowly forward in the suicide lane while waiting for oncoming traffic to clear, traffic clears, press down on gas and get to response. Continue to press slowly down–no response. Hold the accelerator half or 3/4 down, power surges back after a few seconds. 3. Rolling slowly down a long left turn lane with foot off gas timing oncoming traffic, traffic clears, press down on gas to initiate the turn, no response. Let up on gas and press down again, no response, let up an press down again and car reacts normally. Occurrences of this problem have been very random. I have spent a good deal of time in vacant parking lots trying to cause the problem to occur without any luck even though I know well the conditions under which it happens. I have left the car with the dealer but, of course, they can’t observe the problem either. I have driven nearly 1000 miles without an incident and then had 2 occurrences within 4 miles of each other. I have about 5000 miles on the car and have logged 17 incidents. Loosing power in traffic is, of course, dangerous. I was about to initiate action under California’s Lemon Law when I went to England for 3 weeks in Sept. I rented an Audi A1 and to my surprise I experienced a very similar problem, but it happened much more often. An example would be entering a roundabout, letting up on the accelerator while looking at directional signs, reapplying accelerator pressure and getting no response. Unlike the Hyundai I didn’t seem to lose all power, but couldn’t get any acceleration. The Hyundai engine is the 4 cylinder turbo and has an electronic throttle. I don’t know what the Audi had by way of mechanics. I’m at a complete loss; is there something I don’t understand about electronic throttles? I don’t have a clue about the source of this problem, but I know I need to get it resolved before I get rear ended.
Offhand, it does sound like an electronic throttle body issue and with a delay that lengthy it’s not something that is safe.
It’s great that you’re logging these incidents in but with Lemon Laws you have to give the dealer an opportunity (or several) to repair the fault.
You MUST have a paper trail on this so make sure that any copy of a repair order has the exact complaint and what, if anything, was done to resolve it.
Lemon Laws vary by state and I’m not familiar with California law but I would recommend getting the ball rolling on this as soon as possible.