NHTSA Complaint #11460464 — 2017 HYUNDAI SANTA FE

I went to a drive through car wash. Put my car in neutral and it drives your car through the wash. Once it was done I changed to drive and tapped lightly to get out. I was going to have the car wash attendant wipe down my car. As I approached him my brakes wouldn’t work and the car continued to accelerate despite not pressing down on the gas pedal. None of my electrical lights were working. It took me onto a busy street in Chicago and kept accelerating at full speed. I was trying to brake, put it into neutral or drive, use emergency brake system and nothing was working. I was swerving to avoid hitting other cars or pedestrians. I erratically drove about 1.5 blocks until I hit another SUV. All my airbags deployed. My full trauma work up was negative at the hospital. I am not sure if anyone sustained major injuries in the other car. I filed an insurance claim and my car was deemed a total loss. Insurance company thinks there was definitely an electrical shortage but did not further investigate. They said it would take more money to investigate the cause rather than paying a lump sum for car. I filed a claim case with Hyundai 2 days after the accident. The initial representative said a case manager would call within 5-7 business days and would like the car preserved in case of investigation. I have called over 5 times and have never received a call back nor an initial call from the case manager assigned. There was no active recalls out at the time and the car was serviced a month prior at a Hyundai dealership. Since the accident occurred we received a new recall that the anti-lock brake system could malfunction and cause an electrical short. But according to recall notice there is still no remedy available.