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Hyundai Sonata Hybrid Release to Dealerships Delayed

Hyundai dealerships were anticipating the delivery of the new Sonata Hybrid soon to their dealerships, however, they are going to be waiting a bit longer. The company has decided to hold off on shipping these hybrids to the dealerships in order to fix a sound problem that they are having. Though, calling the sound a problem is really not the case. The company is working on the artificial sound that the engine makes at low speeds since it contains a device that gives this off. 

What exactly is this device? This is a device that makes the engine replicate the sounds that gasoline engines make when they are idling or driving at low speeds. Many people have concerns of the hybrid's lack of sound when they are driving in electric mode since they are very quiet. Many people thought that it would be hard for pedestrians to even know whether the car was running or not thus could cause accidents. Hyundai wanted to omit this fear through the sound device that they installed. 

However, they are not the first car maker to do this, in fact, having these sound devices on hybrid cars is mandated by federal law that was just passed in January for all new and incoming hybrid vehicles. It is unclear as of right now what Hyundai is doing to the Sonata Hybrid while they are working on it before the release. However, with the company taking the time to work on it now, those that purchase these cars are going to have less of a chance of having to bring the car in for recalls and adjustments to the sound device. 

Dealerships are expecting to get orders of the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid into their lots around the end of March. However, it is unclear just how many of these cars are going to be available to those in the United States. Hyundai has said that they have around 700 of these cars waiting right now in ports to be shipped out to dealerships in a few weeks.