2.3

hardly worth mentioning
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
65,400 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.

Get notified about new defects, investigations, recalls & lawsuits for the 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe:

Unsubscribe any time. We don't sell/share your email.

problem #5

Sep 072022

Santa Fe

  • miles
I live in Roy city utah and i drive a santa fe 2001 and my trailing arm in the rear driver side snaped while i was going 45 mph. when i took it in to a shop to have it looked at they said that my trailing arm had snaped do to the rust corrision under the car. I know that there are recalls on the santa fe for the rear suspention trailing arms but only if you live in a salt belt state and utah is not one of those states and i think it should be because of the salt we use on our roads as well as i live 20 mins from the great salt lake. i have bearly had my car 5 months befor it broke i paid 2000.00$ for it. i guess i didnt fully understand the saltbelt state thing and i called young hayndai in ogden utah and they called a tow truck and had my car towed to the dealer ship they had it like 12 days or something befor they diganosed it. when they said that its not on recal because of the salt belt state thing they are trying to charg me 274.00$ just for them to tell me what i already knew was wrong with it and for the towtruck. because of my broken car i just had lost 2 highpaying jobs and i have no money to pay the dealership so they said that i cant have my car till i pay them then they said that they can only hold my car for 10 days. idont know what to do cause my santa fe was not only my only ride but its where i lived. so now im back to sleeping in the street and i dont know where or what the dealership has done with my car. please help me and order a recall on my santa fe because of the rust from living utah and all the salt here. Thanks for your time.

- Roy, UT, USA

problem #4

Nov 212017

Santa Fe 4-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 108,000 miles
The contact owns a 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe. While driving approximately 2 mph, the rear driver side wheel leaned inward into the vehicle. In addition, the contact noticed that the rear coil spring of the suspension was rusted and corroded. Friendship Honda in johnson city, tenessee was made aware of the failures and stated that there was no recall on the vehicle. The manufacturer was made aware of the failures. The failure mileage was 108,000. Johnson city Hyundai repaired for free. Traded it in 12/29/17. Updated 8/14/18

- Jonesboro, TN, USA

problem #3

May 112015

Santa Fe

  • miles
While driving home with family in vehicle the control arms broke, ball joints broke and the sway bar broke.

- Mason, OH, USA

problem #2

Dec 012006

Santa Fe 6-cyl

  • 120,000 miles
On three separate occasions since 2006 the lug nuts have come loose on the driver side front wheel. Each time there had been someone different rotating the tires. Owner, dealer, tire shop. Every time it has been the front driver side. None of the other wheel positions have come loose. The last instance was 12/7/2011, the last time the tires were removed or replaces was 4/19/2011 at the Hyundai dealership topeka.

- Baldwin City, KS, USA

problem #1

Dec 012008

Santa Fe

  • 99,000 miles
While driving my 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe in the evening on the southern state parkway (55 mph, left lane, pkwy traffic heavy but moving well), steering suddenly began to shimmy, followed by grinding noise emanating from right front wheel. Assumed a flat, pulled foot off gas pedal, put hazard lights on and began to pull over to right lane. Steering almost impossible to control as steering wheel was whipping from right to left, grinding noise increased - as I slowed enough to pull onto dirt shoulder, right front of car collapsed, right front wheel broke off and bounced across 3 lanes of traffic before landing on opposite shoulder of parkway. That the wheel didn't fly off while driving at full 55 mph and when it did fail, that it bounced between oncoming cars, and did not hit one of them and cause an accident, was astounding. This occurred without any prior hint of a problem, my car is well maintained and serviced on a regular basis. According to my mechanic, the wheel literally rusted off - he has never seen anything like this. Mechanic states 3 other wheels have more rust than he has ever seen on a vehicle, however, he didn't feel there was danger of an immediate failure.

- Baldwin, NY, USA