9.8

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
352 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

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problem #29

Jul 072024

Santa Cruz

  • miles
My wife and I were driving yesterday afternoon and on the highway we heard a very loud sound and pulled over and it turns out our sun roof glass (on a 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz that I lease) seems to have spontaneously shattered. There was no falling debris that we could see, we did not see a rock coming at us, we were not near an over pass from which something might have fallen on the car. As far as I can tell, the glass just shattered for no discernible reason. (I took pictures). I almost lost control of the car it was that loud.

- Hastings-On-Hudson, NY, USA

problem #28

Mar 252024

Santa Cruz

  • miles
I was accelerating onto an interstate and my vehicle would not accelerate. My foot was to the floor on the gas but would not go above 35mph. I had to turn around on a on ramp, drive on the grass and limp my way home at 35 mph. No warning lights appeared.

- Palm Coast, FL, USA

problem #27

Feb 172024

Santa Cruz

  • miles
EPB and Auto Hold lights were lit on the instrument cluster in yellow. Power was diminished and once stopped and the car in park, doors would not unlock. Starting and then stopping the car would not reset the lights nor allow the doors to unlock. Fixing the issue requires a second person to raise the hood, and disconnect the positive terminal on the battery to allow the computer to reset. Reconnect the positive battery terminal all the lights were out and more importantly the doors would unlock.

- Greenwood, IN, USA

problem #26

Jul 222023

Santa Cruz

  • miles
1.Spring 2023 Received a Recall on tow hitch wiring package (may catch on fire)... No solution yet! I was experiencing transmission problems around same time. 2. My Hyundai App warns of transmission problem on 07/22/2023. Took my (19 month old) 2022 Santa Cruz to Preston Hyundai 07/24/2023. Earliest appointment available was scheduled for 08/09/2023 (16 days waiting period). 3. 08/09/2023, at Preston Hyundai, says they must order a new transmission and refuses to give me my truck back claiming it is UNSAFE to Drive (even though I drove it 16 days (over 400 miles) waiting for my service appointment!). Truck has remained at Preston Hyundai since 08/09/2023 and replacement transmission ETA is 10/24/2023, making total time in dealership 76 days to date (or 92 days since being notified on my Hyundai appof transmission problem! Truck has not moved or been started since 08/24/2023. 4. Back on 07/22/2023, I attempted to program Navigation system with "vacation address" but Nav System displayed prompt that Nav it needed a map update. I cleared the "OK" prompt off the display but I started getting "Check Engine" dummy light appearing and other dummy lights appearing! Also my tachometer gauge (also is the right turn signal mirror camera), quit working and started beeping every 10 seconds or so. 5. On 07/24/2023, at Preston Service Dept., I ask them to update Nav System. I was told that it takes too long and they won't do it! (lacking personnel and time and I should do it myself. I researched "How To" and discovered many warnings from owners that their vehicles computer system got messed up attempting the map update. I've been communicating with Hyundai headquarters who suggested I inquire about the "BuyBack" Program at my Dealership! I did inquire on 10/10/2023 and they've never heard of it, but evaluated my truck and offered me $27,000 for my 20 month old truck, leaving me a $15,000 expense for a new 2024 Santa Cruze. 6. I've now contacted a "Lemon Law" Law Firm!

- North Lima, OH, USA

problem #25

May 252023

Santa Cruz 4-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • miles
2022 Santa Cruz issues periodically with RPM will reach 4,000-5,000 (Engine sounds to be reving..sp), mph is near zero, on acceleration from a stopped position. To me, sounds to be torque converter, transmission or electrical system. Have had to dealer on 2 occasions, of which, they cannot reproduce issue.(May 25, August29). This issue is rare but when it occurs (last happening this week Oct 4)concerns of vehicle stopping completely and resulting in accident. Contacted Hyundai customer complaint location, to no avail. It may not be of concern to others but it is to me. When occurs removing foot from accelerator, start process of pulling forward again, all is good. This happened in July, when necessary to have someone else drive vehicle. They were ready to park and call tow truck. Advised what to do to rectify issue, towing was not necessary. Case numbers [XXXXXXX], NHTSA numbers assigned 829558: 828559: 827470. May be others-??-??but I thought my contacting NHTSA was reporting issue as well. Any additional information needed, will provide. Contacted local dealer Sept 29, as well as Hyundai Consumer Affair (hmausa) to advise my intentions. Have contacted Consumer Affairs several times, assigned case number, Sept 1. but no resolution of issue. Have previously, via email, forwarded documentation to NHTSA. First date taken for -??look at-?? was May 25,2023. Actually unsure of first occurrence date. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

- East Bend, NC, USA

problem #24

Aug 282023

Santa Cruz

  • miles
automobile just shut off on highway going 65 mph for no reason causing a hazard for me and other people on the road. automobile then failed to restart. automobile was then towed to the closest dealer.

- East Troy, WI, USA

problem #23

Aug 162023

Santa Cruz

  • miles
August 16th, 2023 - Roughly 10:30 am Started car using Push-To-Start, car coughed a few times upon startup. Was about 74 degrees, not too hot or too cold. (This has happened before, not totally abnormal for it to cough on startup.) Loaded up the kid, our luggage, and left. Car was running about 4-5 minutes before putting it in drive. Drove out of the neighborhood street pretty normally, went to our stop sign, turned left. Car struggled up hill, appeared to be revving, but the RPMs and the speed did not reflect the amount of noise the car was making. Stopped at another stop sign, turned right, car WOULD NOT accelerate faster than 25ish mph. I put the pedal to the floor to try to bring up the speed, the SMART mode indicator was turning red (indicating bad gas mileage) but it was not accelerating or moving any further. Pulled into someone's driveway to get off the road. Stopped the car, put it in park, then put it in reverse, drove out of the driveway, put it back in drive. Car continued to not accelerate. Unable to get RPMs past 3k and speed past 25ish mph. Got it home without incident. Had dealership tow car as I was unwilling to drive it on an 70 mph road to get it to the dealer. Dealership and Hyundai corporate reject that anything occurred due to there being no computer indicator indicating there was an issue. They believe I had the car in manual mode. I discussed with them that 1) This was very unlikely, as I shifted back into drive more than once and 2) my RPMs would have been increasing if I was accelerating but simply not shifting. I went online and found out this is a widespread issue - I am not the only one reporting this problem.

- Layton, UT, USA

problem #22

Jun 172023

Santa Cruz

  • miles
Waiting to turn at a busy intersection then proceeded to press the accelerator the vehicle lossed power and had shut off. I Shifted gear to park to start engine and it would not go faster than 10mph. Vehicles behind nearly wrecked into me and were honking their horns. It had died again then started back up. I was able to drive home before it died again. Vehicle towed to dealership. Was told they are booked until next week and no available loaner cars.

- Moore, OK, USA

problem #21

May 222023

Santa Cruz

  • miles
The glass sunroof in my 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz, 1.5 years old with 8,020 miles, exploded on 05-22-23, and is currently awaiting an inspection by the insurance adjuster from Progressive Insurance. Our safety was not compromised, as the interior cover was closed at the time of this occurrence. This occurred completely without warning. On 05-22-23 at approximately 4:30pm, my boyfriend and I were returning from a trip to Annapolis MD for his medical procedure. We were traveling Eastbound on Route 50 at about 65mph in moderate traffic, and were about 1.5 miles from the Bay Bridge itself, when we heard a pop and then an explosion, and then could hear sound above our heads. I pushed the interior sunroof cover back an inch or two, and definitely heard air rushing in, and could also hear pieces of glass rattling around. I closed the roof, and we continued our drive back to Dover, arriving home at approximately 5:40pm. I wasn-??t sure this repair would be covered by my insurance, since I have a $1,000 deductible, so I felt my first course of action should be to determine the cost of the repair. On 05-23-23 I drove to the Hyundai dealership (Winner) in Dover DE, at 10:30am, and the clerk said she had never heard of a sunroof spontaneously exploding, that a rock had probably hit it, and that either way, they didn-??t fix them there, and she referred me to a nearby building housing their body shop. I drove there, went inside and explained what happened, but they said I would have to make an appointment for an estimate, and that they didn-??t write estimates for Progressive anyway, and that I-??d probably have to go to IG Burton in Milford for that. Even if Winner did end up fixing it, they are booked into September. Since my vehicle is now compromised, and I am unable to drive it in the rain, or have any protection in a rollover incident, I felt that this should be considered an emergency situation, and came back home and called Progressive for further assistance.

- Dover, DE, USA

problem #20

May 152023

Santa Cruz

  • miles
A few days ago, my vehcile began giving me continuous warning messages on the dash, replacing the tachometer. The messages I received alternate from day to day "Uneven road ahead - please drive carefully" and "Slippery road ahead - please drive carefully". I can aknowledge these but they come back with an annoying beep. When I don't acknowledge them, the tach and these messages alternate every few seconds with an attention getting "beep". In the meantime I cannot read the tachometer or other vehicle information displayed there. I made an appointment with my Hyundai delaer to have it addressed. When I showed up for that, the dealer informed me that there were several cases of this reported and the fix was to install a navigation update but that they would charge me to do this. This vehicle is about 18 months old with less than 10K miles on it and still under full vehicle warranty. When I called Hyundai Customer Care about this, they refused to do anything and gave me the run around telling me the dealer would determine if this was covered by the warranty. It is a defect!! I have attched a picture of the dash with this message.

- Rockwell, NC, USA

problem #19

Nov 122022

Santa Cruz

  • miles
I was accelerating onto the interstate in a busy high speed area and suddenly there was no communication to my transmission. I went from 58 miles an hour to 20mph is a matter of seconds barely avoiding causing a several car pile up. I had vehicle towed to 2 different dealer service departments to no avail. I was told that there was no code and the problem could not be duplicated. However there is a recall for a similar issue. I was told my vin number didn't fall within that recall. The vehicle has been in the shop for several issues in the 6 short months I've owned it most appear to be related to electrical issues. I've made several attempts to resolve the issue through Hyundai with no resolution.

- Tampa, FL, USA

problem #18

Feb 142023

Santa Cruz

  • miles
The roof moldings may detach and become a road hazard, increasing the risk of a crash.

- Farmville , VA, USA

problem #17

Dec 212022

Santa Cruz

  • miles
Transmission problems, car went into limp mode.

- Milford , MA, USA

problem #16

Jul 282022

Santa Cruz

  • miles
Santa Cruz transmission would not engage into drive. Therefore, vehicle could not move or be driven. Transmission seemed to be in neutral position. Had to be towed to dealer and has been there since July 28, 2022. Dealer gave a loaner vehicle. Still making payments on a new vehicle and not enjoying the ride. Who dropped the ball on this? Dealer seems as frustrated as I am.

- Hendersonville, NC, USA

problem #15

Sep 072022

Santa Cruz 4-cyl

  • miles
My new car with less than 2000 miles stalled at a traffic light on Southlake Blvd. in Southlake, TX. It just died and would not start. All the electrical warning lights were flaring. Every time I tried to restart it, it would try, shudder, and die. I was lucky not to get run over on that busy street. It was towed to the dealership and has been there a month exactly. They cannot figure out what is wrong.

- Euless, TX, USA

problem #14

Sep 152022

Santa Cruz

  • miles
When pulling out onto a major HWY, the vehicle lost power. Vehicle acted like it was in "neutral" but engine wouldn't rev when pressing gas and rpm was bottomed out. Vehicle then would not shift out correctly.

- Columbia, MS, USA

problem #13

Jul 222022

Santa Cruz

  • miles
During the 6 months since I've purchased this vehicle, the power has intermittently, stalled upon pulling off from a traffic light, or excellerating onto the freeway, or while turning and pulling up onto a supermarket's parking lot. It revs up loudly, but without any power nor excelleration, without any warning. I'm always afraid that someone will run into my rear end because drivers behind me have no way of knowing that my car has suddenly stopped being able to excellerate. It keeps making the loud noise as if it's no longer in Drive, or the right gear as I'm pressing down on the excellerator peddle. It does this for approximately 10 seconds each time that it has happened. Had car in for service, first maintenance appointment, and for them to find out what's causing the transmission to keep failing, and to correct it, last Thursday, on 7/21/22. I was told that everything checked out okay, and that they drove the car, and couldn't reproduce the transmission problem that I've been having. Well, everything is clearly not okay, whether it's intermittent or not. This is very dangerous, but unfortunately, I can't will this to happen at any specific time, that I'm able to get a service appointment, in order for it be reproduced by the technician. I left the dealership with no resolution to my most important reason for scheduling the service appointment. I left with an oil change, tire rotation, a fluid level top off, but was notified that now, I had a screw in one of my tires. Then, the very next day, I experienced it happen again. I'm very concerned, each time I drive my new car, about the potential for this sudden loss of power. This is extremely unsafe, scary, and anxiety producing. I should be enjoying my new car. I've searched Santa Cruz owners forums and other sites, to see if other owners are experiencing the same, or similar problems with their vehicle. Some say they've reported the concerns to dealership and to the manufacturer, with no response. Please help!

- Winchester, CA, USA

problem #12

Jul 152022

Santa Cruz

  • miles
My 2022 Santa Cruz experienced an apparent fault of the automatic transmission control during operation on a ~20 mile trip including city and highway driving. Weather was low 80s and dry. Symptoms were sluggish and delayed upshifting; loss of acceleration power. The issue was most noticeable while attempting to accelerate uphill; several times the vehicle topped out at 25-30 mph when going uphill and failed to accelerate further. As one of these occurred during moderate traffic while entering a highway on-ramp, I think this is a serious safety issue. I was able to pull to the side and eventually regained control of up/downshifting by placing the transmission shift lever in manual control - fortunately the transmission seemed to respond to manual up/down shifting and I was able to eventually accelerate to a safe highway speed (65mph). After a short ~2 mile drive on the highway I got off on the next exit and when stopped at the end of the exit ramp, turned the vehicle off and on. Following restarting the vehicle, automatic shifting seemed to operate correctly for the remainder of my travel (another ~20 miles of driving). During this malfunction I did not see any unusual indicator / warning lights on the dash or any indication that the vehicle wasn't in normal automatic driving mode. Reporting features such as the "vehicle health report" indicate that the vehicle had no issues, diagnostic messages or service due.

- Twinsburg, OH, USA

problem #11

Jun 202022

Santa Cruz

  • 10,200 miles
The contact owns a 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz. The contact stated while driving at undisclosed speeds, the vehicle lost motive power and failed to shift into gear. The contact was able to pull over and restart the vehicle. The -??Stop Vehicle Immediately-?? message was displayed. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 10,200.

- Southgate, KY, USA

problem #10

Mar 302022

Santa Cruz

  • miles
Several times, when sitting at a stop sign or red light, I will press on the gas-??s to go forward. The engine revs, the rpm-??s go very high but there is little forward exceleration. This one time almost caused an accident as a car almost hit me because I could not make the car move faster. I have had the truck for just over two months and has happened many times.

- Edgemere, MD, USA

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