The throttle hesitation problem with 2007 Outlanders continues into 2011 and 2012. I purchased a 2011 AWD Outlander Sport in January and immediately began experiencing the throttle hesitation. The hesitation lasts up to 3 seconds, average around 2 seconds, and is usually triggered by a start from a standing stop accompanied by a right turn when the engine is not fully warm (although it can happen anytime and under any circumstances). The dealership from which I purchased the vehicle has spent a good deal of money trying to correct this problem and only stopped trying when I drove a 2012 Outlander AWD, not a Sport, which had exactly the same problem. From a memo which I submitted to the Service Department of the dealership:

Ever since taking delivery of our Sport we've experienced an annoying and dangerous problem involving intermittent cutout of the accelerator when starting from a standing stop. The effect is exactly the same as what used to occur with our Hyundai Tucson trade-in when moving onto ice with the ESC turned on, namely that the engine goes into idle and the accelerator position is ignored for about two seconds. This effect, however, appears with the Sport when driving on dry pavement and even when its ASC is disabled. It can happen if the vehicle is in 2WD or 4WD; as just noted, it can happen when the ASC is on or off; it can happen on wet or dry pavement (not enough ice recently to test it on that); it can happen anytime, but it's much more likely when the vehicle has been running awhile but is not fully warmed up. It's also much more likely when making a sharp right or left turn from a standing stop, although it's happened a number of times when starting straight ahead from a standing stop. It can be made to happen many times during the day, just allowing twenty minutes or so between attempts for a partial cooldown (stopping the vehicle repeatedly, as during shopping, is a real nuisance because of these repeated events).

Needless to say, it's very dangerous to turn into a stream of moving traffic since the Sport can effectively stall with no warning and before getting up to speed.


The best way to trigger this problem seems to be to perform an immediate right turn from a standing stop, holding the accelerator in a fixed position so as to attempt a moderate acceleration. It's not a subtle effect, there's no problem recognizing it, especially when the tach shows a decrease in engine speed down to about 1000 rpm.

 

Disregard this thread! As it turns out, there's a logical explanation for this problem, which is not caused by a vehicle fault. It's sort of my fault, but not really, since I did not have the data required to diagnose it. It seems that the computer is programmed to idle the engine down whenever the brake pedal switch is activated, and the switch activation occurs with a very, very light touch indeed. (The engine has a CVT.) I am a two-footed driver, and I had (note: past tense!) a tendency to keep a slight pressure on the brake pedal when accelerating from a standing stop, which pressure was enough to cause the computer to idle the engine. This two-footed driving was finally spotted by a mechanic who took a ride with me as I attempted to get the hesitation to occur; he advised me to drive one-footed to see if the problem would go away. It did.

This "problem" was the only thing I didn't like about the Sport. I love the vehicle and am very happy to have it.