Hyundai Sonata Recalled For Transmission Problems; Risk Of Rolling Away While Parked

Hyundai Motor Co. (KRX:005389) announced Wednesday a recall of about 880,000 Sonatas from model years 2011 to 2014 to fix gear-shifting problems. South Korea’s largest automaker says the automatic transmission lever might not display the correct gear position while the vehicle is in motion, and that the car could roll away even if the lever shows that the car is in park.

Both problems greatly increase the risk of collision and injuries to driver, passengers or pedestrians. All of the affected cars were purchased in the United States. Drivers might also have problems starting the cars because they can’t get the transmission into park, according to documents posted Wednesday at the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website (here’s the pdf of the NHTSA’s recall acknowledgement).

Hyundai says it has received nearly 1,200 warranty claims but failed to point out if there have been any accidents or injuries related to the defect. The Sonata is Hyundai’s second-best-selling vehicle in the U.S. behind the Elantra. The Sonata represented 29 percent of all new Hyundai sales in the U.S. in the first half of the year, or 106,347 units.

The Sonata is manufactured for the U.S. market at the company’s plant in Montgomery, Alabama.

Sonata owners with questions can call (800) 633-5151.