At least eight Americans have been killed as a direct result of dangerous runaway throttle conditions (SUA = sudden uncommanded acceleration) with Hyundai and Kia vehicles sold in the United States.  We formally request that the U.S. Department of Transportation - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) formally investigate these dangerous acceleration control defects in numerous model year (MY) 2004-2023 Hyundai and Kia cars, and order appropriate recalls to prevent more SUA acceleration control accidents and additional harm to Americans.  

This Change.org petition is to support the granting of a formal Petition for Safety Defect Investigation (PDF of full petition) sent directly to the NHTSA Administrator over a year ago on October 10, 2021 and Amended with additional information on July 20, 2022.  The NHTSA Defect Petition was presented by Byron Bloch, an automobile safety expert that has testified about auto defects before Congress and NHTSA, and Tom Murray, a public interest attorney that has represented the families damaged by these avoidable tragic SUA incidents.  Some reported SUA examples:

• Kia Sorento SUA in Iowa/Missouri - ~115 mph, 35 minutes, 59 miles
• Hyundai Sonata SUA in South Korea  - ~80+ mph, 17 people injured
• Hyundai Elantra SUA in Texas - ~100+ mph, 120 miles traveled
• Hyundai Santa Fe SUA in South Korea - four fatalities 
• Hyundai Genesis G80 SUA in South Korea - car accelerated suddenly and uncontrollably
• Hyundai Ioniq recalled for SUA in the U.S. - NHTSA recall 21V-944

NHTSA recently fined Hyundai/Kia a record civil penalty of $210 million for defect issues, including untimely recalls of over 1.6 million vehicles, and inaccurately reporting certain information to NHTSA regarding the recalls.  It was recently announced that NHTSA awarded $24 million to a former Hyundai employee whistleblower on November 9, 2021.

In addition, or as an alternative, please feel free to send a direct communication to: NHTSA Administrator, Re: DP21-003, NHTSA Headquarters, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Washington, DC 20590 or email NHTSA.Webmaster@dot.gov.

Anyone who has experienced a safety defect with their vehicle can file a VOQ complaint directly with NHTSA at:  Report a Safety Problem to NHTSA online or via phone at NHTSA Vehicle Safety Hotline: 888-327-4236, Monday-Friday 8am-8pm ET.

Please consider adding your name to this group petition to encourage our federal government leaders, and specifically the NHTSA Administrator and staff, to timely GRANT the pending NHTSA Defect Petition DP21-003 and conduct a comprehensive formal investigation of Kia and Hyundai.  Thank you in advance for your interest and support.