[Bill C]

The other day while driving on the freeway, I slowly started losing speed going from 70 down to 0. Stepping on the gas did nothing. When I reached 30 mph I started getting a message with the warning alarms going crazy alerting me that I had a "Hybrid System Failure"....I was fortunate to be able to pull over three lanes with the other drivers seeing my hazards on and letting me move over. The engine was still running but I couldn't move and the hybrid battery system graphics on the info screen showed it being completely depleted.

As I was sitting on the shoulder and contemplating what to do and trying to calm down a bit...I turned the car off for a couple of minutes, then turned it back on, and I was able to start driving again with the hybrid battery slowly charging back up. But the engine sounded like it was struggling at first to get going and it took a little while before the battery finally got to 50% charged.

Of course I exited off the freeway, and took the local streets home... but man, this was one very scary situation where I could had been in a severe crash. I had semi trucks all around me with one that had to quickly change lanes. Thinking of having it towed to the dealership for my appointment. Just don't feel very comfortable driving it anymore. Anyone with a Tucson hybrid experience anything like this?

 

[Starboy]

The other day while driving on the freeway, I slowly started losing speed going from 70 down to 0. Stepping on the gas did nothing. When I reached 30 mph I started getting a message with the warning alarms going crazy alerting me that I had a "Hybrid System Failure"....I was fortunate to be able to pull over three lanes with the other drivers seeing my hazards on and letting me move over. The engine was still running but I couldn't move and the hybrid battery system graphics on the info screen showed it being completely depleted.

As I was sitting on the shoulder and contemplating what to do and trying to calm down a bit...I turned the car off for a couple of minutes, then turned it back on, and I was able to start driving again with the hybrid battery slowly charging back up. But the engine sounded like it was struggling at first to get going and it took a little while before the battery finally got to 50% charged.

Of course I exited off the freeway, and took the local streets home... but man, this was one very scary situation where I could had been in a severe crash. I had semi trucks all around me with one that had to quickly change lanes. Thinking of having it towed to the dealership for my appointment. Just don't feel very comfortable driving it anymore. Anyone with a Tucson hybrid experience anything like this?

Was this a HEV or a PHEV? My PHEV never would charge the battery to 50%. Sounds really scary I am glad you got thru it. A inexperience driver would of been in mayhem.

 

[KonaJoe]

Don't take this the wrong way as I am not trying to be rude. I had a very similar thing happened to me in my Kona, a full ICE car, the car shut itself down to preserve itself, and not lead to something potentially much more devastating. Decelerating down slowly gave you time to turn on your hazards and pull over. Personally I would not have tried driving again because that could have caused more issues, but I also have a membership for road side service that will tow for free, and I understand if that isn't available to everyone, but driving after having a failure is a good way to potentially void warranty. I hope you can get it resolved and update us further.

 

[Starboy]

Don't take this the wrong way as I am not trying to be rude. I had a very similar thing happened to me in my Kona, a full ICE car, the car shut itself down to preserve itself, and not lead to something potentially much more devastating. Decelerating down slowly gave you time to turn on your hazards and pull over. Personally I would not have tried driving again because that could have caused more issues, but I also have a membership for road side service that will tow for free, and I understand if that isn't available to everyone, but driving after having a failure is a good way to potentially void warranty. I hope you can get it resolved and update us further.

Yeah especially when road side service is included free with your purchase. I have had free roadside assistance on so many cars and have never used it. Hopefully I will remember it if I ever need it

 

[Bill C]

Was this a HEV or a PHEV? My PHEV never would charge the battery to 50%. Sounds really scary I am glad you got thru it. A inexperience driver would of been in mayhem.

It's an HEV...It eventually charged back up but it took a good a bit of time to do so. Once it did.. it was driving and charging normally... Just drove it for the first time this evening after talking to the service Tech saying it was OK. and it is driving like normal but it was on the local roads... not comfortable taking it on the freeway. Will have to tomorrow to get to the dealer.

 

[KonaJoe]

Yeah especially when road side service is included free with your purchase. I have had free roadside assistance on so many cars and have never used it. Hopefully I will remember it if I ever need it

It's one thing I have paid for ever since getting my license. It's called AMA where I live, AAA is the equivalent stateside, and it is great when you need it!

 

[Bill C]

Don't take this the wrong way as I am not trying to be rude. I had a very similar thing happened to me in my Kona, a full ICE car, the car shut itself down to preserve itself, and not lead to something potentially much more devastating. Decelerating down slowly gave you time to turn on your hazards and pull over. Personally I would not have tried driving again because that could have caused more issues, but I also have a membership for road side service that will tow for free, and I understand if that isn't available to everyone, but driving after having a failure is a good way to potentially void warranty. I hope you can get it resolved and update us further.

Yeah, I know what you mean...I was contemplating using the blue link SOS button. When I decided to turn it back on, it seem to reset itself, the alert went away and the ready to drive indicator came back on.... just that the engine was sputtering at first until the battery started going back up. Once I had some charge, one bar up, it started sounding normal. Just took a little bit of time to charge back up, about 15 minutes to get to 50%. When I hit the long downhill, it charged back up to normal, and for the rest of the way home it was driving like normal. But I was hesitant to drive it until this evening, after speaking with service tech.

 

[nn8lhalman]

While on a trip from Michigan to California we had the same thing happen a few hours into the trip. The dashboard said to pull over and put the vehicle in park to charge the battery. After about 5 minutes it was at a quarter charge and we took off again. The rest of the 5,000 mile trip went well.

 

[Bill C]

While on a trip from Michigan to California we had the same thing happen a few hours into the trip. The dashboard said to pull over and put the vehicle in park to charge the battery. After about 5 minutes it was at a quarter charge and we took off again. The rest of the 5,000 mile trip went well.

I just drove it to the dealer and got on the freeway for the first time. Everything seems to drive as normal, hopefully they can figure out what is going on.

 

[Bill C]

Just to update this post... I took my Tucson into the dealer today, and was told that they found no error codes as to what would had caused this... Which is what I was afraid of.... so in other words, this may very well happen again and the Service manager pretty much said the same....it doesn't give me too much confidence in this vehicle. What they did was do a "Hard Reset" of the hybrid system to make it "like it just came out of the factory." It's actually running fine right now... but it was running fine before, as well.... until all this happened. So I guess I'll drive and hopefully this won't happen again. Or maybe just sell it or trade it in for something else.

 

[Starboy]

Just to update this post... I took my Tucson into the dealer today, and was told that they found no error codes as to what would had caused this... Which is what I was afraid of.... so in other words, this may very well happen again and the Service manager pretty much said the same....it doesn't give me too much confidence in this vehicle. What they did was do a "Hard Reset" of the hybrid system to make it "like it just came out of the factory." It's actually running fine right now... but it was running fine before, as well.... until all this happened. So I guess I'll drive and hopefully this won't happen again. Or maybe just sell it or trade it in for something else.

Note the mileage when the occurrence happened and drive cautious when it reaches that mark again. Good luck