Photo: Hyundai / edited
According to documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Hyundai Elantra Hybrid features motor control unit software that may lead to unintended acceleration. A grand total of 37,997 examples of the 2021 to 2023 model year Elantra Hybrid are being recalled.
The South Korean automaker became aware of this problem last year, on August 1, by means of a vehicle owner questionnaire alleging unintended acceleration. Come February 2023, the number of vehicle owner questionnaires ballooned to eight in the US alone. Given these circumstances, the issue was escalated to the Technical Review Committee.
TRC discovered no fewer than 24 unconfirmed cases of unintended acceleration, yet failed to replicate said condition despite accumulating more than 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) in subject vehicles. Fast forward to July 2023, and Hyundai Motor Company in South Korea determined that iffy motor control unit software is the root cause for all of the reported unintended acceleration events.
The fail-safe logic of the motor control unit software activates upon detection of a drive motor/transmission synchronization fault. Hyundai says that unintended acceleration occurs after releasing of the brake pedal. Both the hybrid power control unit reservoir module and software that governs it come from Hyundai Mobis, the parts and service arm of Hyundai, Kia, and luxury-oriented Genesis Motor.
No later than October 17, the safety boffins at Hyundai Motor America will instruct dealers to update the motor control unit software. As far as Elantra Hybrid series production is concerned, the updated software was deployed on August 10. At the moment of reporting, Hyundai Motor America isn't aware of any crashes related to said condition.
Owners will be notified by first-class mail on or about October 17 as well. Affected vehicles were produced for the 2021 to 2023 model years in the period between December 15, 2020 and July 29, 2023. These sedans all feature VINs beginning with K, referring to South Korea. The company's sole assembly plant in the United States, namely HMMA, manufactures combustion-only Elantras.
The Elantra N, however, also comes from South Korea. The most performance-oriented variant of the compact sedan relies on a 2.0-liter turbo driving the front wheels. Available with both a dual-clutch transmission and a good ol' manual, the Elantra N is the priciest of the bunch as well, starting at $33k.
The base specification of the Elantra carries a sticker price of $21k, not including the destination freight charge, whereas the Elantra Hybrid is available to configure at $24,550 as of August 2023. Only two grades are available, namely the Blue and Limited. The Elantra Hybrid Blue returns up to 54 miles per gallon (make that 4.4 liters per 100 kilometers) on the combined test cycle, whereas the Elantra Hybrid Limited was rated by the Environmental Protection Agency at 50 miles per gallon (4.7 liters per 100 kilometers).
TRC discovered no fewer than 24 unconfirmed cases of unintended acceleration, yet failed to replicate said condition despite accumulating more than 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) in subject vehicles. Fast forward to July 2023, and Hyundai Motor Company in South Korea determined that iffy motor control unit software is the root cause for all of the reported unintended acceleration events.
The fail-safe logic of the motor control unit software activates upon detection of a drive motor/transmission synchronization fault. Hyundai says that unintended acceleration occurs after releasing of the brake pedal. Both the hybrid power control unit reservoir module and software that governs it come from Hyundai Mobis, the parts and service arm of Hyundai, Kia, and luxury-oriented Genesis Motor.
No later than October 17, the safety boffins at Hyundai Motor America will instruct dealers to update the motor control unit software. As far as Elantra Hybrid series production is concerned, the updated software was deployed on August 10. At the moment of reporting, Hyundai Motor America isn't aware of any crashes related to said condition.
Owners will be notified by first-class mail on or about October 17 as well. Affected vehicles were produced for the 2021 to 2023 model years in the period between December 15, 2020 and July 29, 2023. These sedans all feature VINs beginning with K, referring to South Korea. The company's sole assembly plant in the United States, namely HMMA, manufactures combustion-only Elantras.
The Elantra N, however, also comes from South Korea. The most performance-oriented variant of the compact sedan relies on a 2.0-liter turbo driving the front wheels. Available with both a dual-clutch transmission and a good ol' manual, the Elantra N is the priciest of the bunch as well, starting at $33k.
The base specification of the Elantra carries a sticker price of $21k, not including the destination freight charge, whereas the Elantra Hybrid is available to configure at $24,550 as of August 2023. Only two grades are available, namely the Blue and Limited. The Elantra Hybrid Blue returns up to 54 miles per gallon (make that 4.4 liters per 100 kilometers) on the combined test cycle, whereas the Elantra Hybrid Limited was rated by the Environmental Protection Agency at 50 miles per gallon (4.7 liters per 100 kilometers).
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