Shifting gears in our ongoing series of automobile recall stories, we bring news of the recall of 883,000 Hyundai Sonatas for gear-shifting problems.
All of these cars were sold in the U.S., with 3,000 of them sold in Puerto Rico.
The recall involves the 2011-2014 Sonata, a midsized car that is Hyundai's second best selling car after the Elantra.
It seems that the automatic transmission shift cable might detach from the shift lever pin. Should that occur, the gear selection indicator may not show the correct gear -- drive could actually be reverse, drive could be neutral, etc.
Compounding the risk, a driver may put the transmission in park, but the car may still be in gear. It could then roll away, risking injury to drivers, passengers, and bystanders.
In some cases the driver may not be able to shift the car into park, which would prohibit re-starting the vehicle.
Hyundai reports 1,171 warranty claims related to the problem, but they report no crashes or injuries.
Sonatas being recalled were manufactured from Dec. 11, 2009, through May 29, 2014.
The next step is for Hyundai for notify owners by mail starting now and going through the end of September. Hyundai dealers will inspect the cables and make repairs as necessary.
In addition to this recall, Hyundai is also recalling 5,650 just-introduced 2015 Sonatas in the U.S. and Puerto Rico for front brake calipers that may crack, possibly leading to brake failure and raising the risk of a crash, according to the NHTSA.
This recall consists primarily of a stop-sale order to Hyundai dealers, as only 200 of these Sonatas are in consumers' possession. Owners of these cars have already been contacted by Hyundai and told to not drive their cars. Dealers will replace the calipers at no cost.
The 2015 Sonata was also recalled last month for a faulty wiring harness that could impair the power steering by significantly increasing steering effort. The defect could also prevent drivers from moving the shift lever out of the park position.
Korean industrial company Hyundai's Sonata was designed in California and is manufactured in the U.S. in Alabama.
With these last three recalls, Hyundai joins the bumper crop of vehicle recalls in 2014, which stands at 40 million vehicles and counting, already easily passing last year's entire total and surpassing the all-time record set in 2004.
