NHTSA Complaint #10895330 — 2012 HYUNDAI SONATA

LAST WEEK, MY POWER STEERING SUDDENLY STOPPED WORKING WHILE DRIVING ON A CITY STREET MAKING IT VERY DIFFICULT TO MANEUVER. THE EPS DASHBOARD TROUBLE LIGHT AS WELL AS THE AIRBAG AND ESC LAMPS ALL ILLUMINATED AT THE SAME TIME. THANKFULLY, THERE WAS LIGHT TRAFFIC AT THE TIME SO WAS ABLE TO PULL OFF TO THE SIDE TO REGAIN MY COMPOSURE. USING EXTREME CAUTION, I DROVE THE NEXT FEW MILES BACK HOME CAREFULLY AVOIDING ANY SUDDEN SITUATIONS WHERE I WAS FORCED TO MAKE SHARP TURNS. I HAD AN EXTREMELY HARD TIME STEERING. YESTERDAY, I TOOK THE VEH INTO THE LOCAL DEALERSHIP. AFTER A COUPLE OF HOURS, THEY SAID THE STEERING COLUMN HAD TO BE REPLACED AND THAT SOMEHOW IT WAS ALSO CAUSING ALL THE OTHER UNRELATED TROUBLE LAMPS TO LIGHT AT THE SAME TIME!. APPROX. $1200 REPAIR COST. THE VEH IS 2012 WITH 82,000 MILES. I ASKED IF IT WAS COVERED BY THE 100K MILE WARRANTY. THEY SAID NO. AFTER ONLY 4 YEARS OF OWNING THIS CAR, I CAN'T BELIEVE THE STEERING COLUMN BROKE. I NEVER HEARD OF THAT BEFORE. I WENT ON-LINE AND NOTICED THAT 2011 SONATA'S HAD A SIMILAR PROBLEM THE YEAR PRIOR AND AS A RESULT, THERE WAS A NATIONAL RECALL TO RECTIFY THE PROBLEM BY REPLACING FAULTY EQUIPMENT. I CAN'T HELP BUT THINK THAT PERHAPS THE SAME FAULTY EQUIPMENT WAS PERHAPS INSTALLED IN SOME OF THE 2012'S ALSO.