Hyundai Repair: 02 Santa Fe...stall/harsh shift from reverse to drive, rare occurrences, control modules

Question
I just bought an 02 Santa Fe and I love it but when I go from reverse to drive, unless I take it VERY easy and actually listen to it shift, it seems to slam into drive. I am freaking out...is my tranmission going out? I have read a few things about transmission control modules which doesn't seem to be such a big deal, but I am not sure if this is my problem.
The car seems to shift well in every other situation (stoplights, hwy, etc.)

Answer
The most likely situation is that you'll need to replace the transmission to solve this issue.  That's the bad news.  The good news is there's no telling how long you can continue driving before you have problems with transmission operation in other situations.  Your symptoms don't indicate that there's a deeper problem on the way anytime soon.

Hyundai also has a very nice technical service bulletin (TSB) that also points out that there may be an issue with the temperature sensor or the transaxle control module (TCM) causing this issue.  While these are rare occurrences, they're possibilities nonetheless.  

If you don't have one already, register for a free account at www.hmaservice.com (requires Internet Explorer).  Go to service information, enter your year and model, and view TSB 02-40-008.