Intermittent overly sensitive Accelerator

You sure its a 2004? Not sure for the SF but the electronic throttle didn't start on the Sonata until 2006. Every engine for the 2004 SF that I looked at on hmaservice shows a cable. sounds like a loose connector/bracket/clamp.

Most of the time the accelerator behaves normally, but periodically it over-accelerates when you barely touch the pedal causing the car to lurch forward, pulling your foot off he gas! This is an automatic by the way. She?s been informed by the dealership it?s got an electronic throttle, and there are no cable problems, and just she just needs to be careful with the pedal. We find that answer unacceptable.

It has been a ongoing problem for about the last year or two, the first two years she owned the Santa Fe it didn?t display this problem. It can occur several times in one day irrespective of the engine being hot or cold, and then not again for weeks or months.

Any advice, suggestions, or thoughts, other than ?Just be sensitive with the pedal and live with it? would be appreciated!

Thanks in Advance,

-Brian and Erica

I'm not disagreeing with you but what is the way that a loose clamp can cause a touchy pedal? Could this funny behavior also be caused by a bad engine mount? Thanks.

OOps. Girlfriend reports it's actually an 06.

Sorry about that.

-Brian

Sorry everyone, it IS an 2006.

Please re-tune your answers to reflect that piece of information.

-Brian

This may sound strange, but the first thing I would try is a bottle of fuel system cleaner with your next fill. It is amazing what doing that does. And you won't hurt your car if that is not the answer.

Please re-tune your answers to reflect that piece of information.

-Brian

There's a reprogram to provide a more linear throttle response on

That's interesting. I didn't know that. I have a 2004 Santa Fe 3.5L and I think that's exactly what it needs. What it has now, and has had ever since I bought it a few years ago, is a non-linear response when starting out from a complete stop. If I am not VERY careful, it tends to do nothing at first while depressing the gas pedal and then suddenly lurches forward. I have mostly learned to start out very carefully to reduce or prevent that, but that doesn't always work.

I'm the person that posted before about deciding to get the timing belt replaced etc. and I think I am probably going to go ahead and do that next week. If I do, I'll ask them about the possible reprogramming option. My warranty expired about 8,000 miles and 9 months ago, so I'll have to ask them if the reprogramming is covered anyway since it was apparently a defect.

This should be covered under the 8/80 emissions warranty, as the defective component would be the ECM.

You might also try to re-initialize the throttle. To do this, turn the ignition on then immediately off and wait ten seconds. Then, turn on, wait ten seconds, turn off and immediately back on, and wait ten seconds. This will cause the ECM to do a sweep of the throttle plate and recalibrate the throttle plate motor to the throttle position sensor.

Amazing. I tried that a few days ago. Maybe just it's my imagination, but it seems to have worked! Since trying the fix, I haven't been able to reproduce the problem I was having where I would depress the gas pedal and nothing would happen and then the vehicle would suddenly lurch forward.

A friend of mine has a 2002 Hyundai XG350L and he has had the same problem. I had him try the fix you suggested and he said it worked and the problem is gone. I am not sure if the same fix was supposed to work with his vehicle, but he is certain that it did. In looking up his 2002 Hyundai XG350L online, I found a link that suggests a similar type of "reboot" sequence:

I had the same problem with my '08 Elantra very smooth now, thanks for the tip.