Hyundai A8LF1 / A8LF2
8-speed automatic · transverse · 2018–present
Also known as: a8lf1, a8lf2, a8lf, hyundai 8-speed transaxle, kia 8-speed transaxle
Hyundai and Kia's eight-speed transverse automatic — the gearbox of the Palisade, the Telluride, the Santa Fe and the larger front-drive cars.
⚑ It is not the A8LR1, and one letter is the whole difference. Hyundai's codes carry the layout: F is the front-drive transaxle and R the rear-drive unit, which is why the manufacturer's own service literature calls this one an automatic transaxle and the A8LR1 an automatic transmission. They share a ratio count and nothing else, and a parts listing that treats them as one is offering a gearbox that will not bolt up.
It is a conventional planetary automatic, not a dual-clutch, which is worth saying because the same makers' D8LF1 is a dual-clutch with a nearly identical code and a completely different feel and failure pattern. A shudder at low speed points at the dual-clutch; on this one it does not belong.
What owners report is harsh or delayed engagement when cold, and it is most often the valve body or a software calibration rather than the clutches — the transmission control software has been revised repeatedly, so establish which level is loaded before condemning anything mechanical.
Cars fitted with this gearbox
2 generations. Only where a source names the model and the generation together — a gearbox is documented as a product far more often than as a fitment, so this list is deliberately shorter than the truth.
Hyundai
Information, not instruction
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