NHTSA Complaint #11400256 — 2011 HYUNDAI SONATA

ON MARCH 1, 2021, I NOTICED AN ODD SMELL WHILE IDLING IN LINE. TURNED CAR OFF UNTIL IT WAS MY TURN. THE SMELL WAS GONE ONCE I TURNED IT BACK ON, SO THOUGHT IT WAS ANOTHER CAR AND DROVE TO WORK. THAT EVENING, SMELL STARTED AGAIN AFTER DRIVING A FEW MILES TO PARENT'S HOUSE. PARKED THE CAR AT PARENT'S AND ARRANGED TO DRIVE IT TO MECHANIC THE NEXT MORNING AFTER HAVING MY FATHER CONFIRM THERE WAS WATER IN THE RADIATOR AND THE OIL WASN'T TOO LOW. ENGINE TEMP GAUGE WAS NORMAL. CHECK ENGINE LIGHT WAS ON, BUT HAD BEEN FOR THE LENGTH OF TIME I HAD CAR. I HAD IT CHECKED SEVERAL TIMES- ISSUE WOULD BE SUPPOSEDLY FOUND, BUT IT WOULD ALWAYS COME BACK ON. I WAS LED TO BELIEVE IT WAS A FAULTY SENSOR ISSUE. THERE WAS NOTHING OBVIOUSLY WRONG WHEN WE LOOKED UNDER THE HOOD AND HAD NO REASON TO THINK IT WOULD NOT BE SAFE TO DRIVE THE SHORT DISTANCE TO THE MECHANIC. NEXT MORNING, MARCH 2, 2021, I INTENDED TO DRIVE THE CAR TO THE SHOP SO THEY COULD ADDRESS THE ISSUE CAUSING THE SMELL, AND FATHER FOLLOWED BEHIND. CAR SEEMED FINE AT FIRST, BUT AFTER A COUPLE OF MILES DRIVING ON SURFACE STREETS, THE SMELL CAME BACK. PULLED OVER AND TURNED OFF CAR, THINKING THAT I WOULD NEED TO HAVE THE CAR TOWED THE REMAINDER OF THE WAY. I SAW SOMETHING COME FROM UNDER HOOD. MY FATHER, WHO HAD BEEN FOLLOWING BEHIND, ASKED ME TO POP THE HOOD. AS I CLIMBED BACK IN THE CAR TO POP THE HOOD, I REALIZED THERE WAS SMOKE INSIDE THE CAR. I GOT OUT, TOLD MY DAD THAT THERE MIGHT BE A FIRE AS THERE WAS SMOKE INSIDE THE CAR. AS WE HAD THAT DISCUSSION, SMOKE STARTED POURING FROM UNDER THE HOOD, AND WE BACKED AWAY FROM THE VEHICLE AND CALLED 911. WITHIN SECONDS, THERE WERE VISIBLE FLAMES AND THE WHOLE FRONT OF THE VEHICLE WAS ENGULFED IN FLAME. TODAY, MARCH 10, 2021, I WAS MADE AWARE THAT 2011 HYUNDAI SONATAS WERE INCLUDED IN A LIST OF VEHICLES KNOWN TO CATCH FIRE, SO I AM FILING THIS NOTIFICATION.