10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
3 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
4 / 0
Average Mileage:
8,955 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.

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problem #13

Dec 302023

Santa Fe

  • miles
We noticed that we had our airbag light was on in our dashboard along with that we also notice that the buttons and horn did not work in to the steering wheel. When we took the car to get checked by the Hyundai dealership in Lakewood. We were told that the clock spring was the cause of this problem to the airbag, horn, and the buttons not working. They told us that this clock spring part it was broken and it needed to be replaced. Our concern is the number one safety which making sure that all of the airbag and horn to be working. When this was communicated to the dealership person he response was that he could not say anything much about other then him saying that it was not under warranty and it was due to the mile of the car. Which I the moment we told them we totally understand about warranty and miles to the car but the safety of someone should not be put at risk just because of one part that connects all of this things. To us this is safety concern due to the airbag and horn not working. We are not sure by us reporting this would be something can be considered for a recall or be done about without costing any money to those who own a vehicle like this.

- Centralia , WA, USA

problem #12

Dec 012023

Santa Fe

  • miles
air bag warning light repeatedly goes on and off. code B1764, B1490, sometime both.

- Ladera Ranch, CA, USA

problem #11

Nov 012023

Santa Fe

  • miles
I purchased this vehicle 05/05/2019 as a certified pre-owned vehicle from the dealership. I have kept regular maintenance on the car. Three same day of purchase, the engine quit as I was driving it. I was making a left hand turn and it quit while I was in the intersection. My children were in the car. Hyundai replaced the engine, but about a year and half later, that engine did the exact same thing. This time I was coming off the freeway. I can't imagine the possibilities if this had happened while on the freeway. Now, the engine is making the same sound as with the first two engines. I took it to Hyundai, and they claim it's normal. The car has issues where I will be trying to safely merge into traffic and it will hesitate. There are multiple intermittent issues that occur, but the scariest is knowing how the first two engines felt/ran and sounded prior to their failure, and once again experiencing those exact issues. How many times should an engine have to be replaced in a four year period? It is very likely that one of my children could be fatally injured depending on where we happen to be when this most recent engine fails, because it will - guaranteed. Online forums are full of thousands of people who purchased vehicles from Hyundai that have the EXACT same issue. No check engine warning. Just a rough sounding engine, and then it will just quit as they're driving. Something needs to be done. Lastly, June 18th, 2023 I had a collision with another vehicle. I collided with another vehicle, my front end to the other drivers driver's side. My air bags did not deploy. Nobody was injured, but I truly feel my airbags should have went off for the amount of damage to my front end. Pictures will be included.

- Oceanside, CA, USA

problem #10

Aug 282023

Santa Fe

  • miles
ABS light, passenger air bag light and skid light came on. Passenger airbag light flashes whenever car is in drive

- Amsterdam, NY, USA

problem #9

Feb 202023

Santa Fe

  • miles
The airbag light won't turn off. I was told the car is out of warranty and my extended warranty does not cover this issue.

- Tustin, CA, USA

problem #8

Nov 142022

Santa Fe

  • miles
With no warning lights, no unusual sounds coming from engine (knocking, or otherwise) - complete engine shutoff. Driving on highway at 55-60mph during acceleration. I was able to coast to the side. Unable to restart engine for about 30 minutes. Engine able to restart, then shutoff again a few minutes later at 45mph. There have been reports of unusually high motor oil consumption with the Theta 2 engine. There are no leaks, smells, smoke (from engine or exhaust) however, I must continuously add motor oil and check levels about every 100 miles. Oil level will reduce from max line to almost empty very quickly, maybe 1-3 weeks after refilling. All service maintenance is timely and done at authorized shops (Goodyear and Hyundai dealership). Dealership will perform oil consumption test to determine if eligible for powertrain warranty. Further research shows Hyundai denied many claims related to this issue.

- Palm Harbor, FL, USA

problem #7

Jan 182021

Santa Fe

  • miles
Airbag light stays in constantly in vehicle that is 5yrs old with less than 100,000 miles. Dealer wants $3,000+ to repair.

- Disputanta, VA, USA

problem #6

Jul 092021

Santa Fe

  • miles
There is a defective passenger presence detecting bladder on front passenger seat. My safety and the safety of my family are put at risk because if this sensor is not working, the car won't be able to detect if has someone on the passenger seat or not, causing a malfunction on the air bag system and the airbag won't be triggered in case of an accident. The problem was confirmed by Hyundai dealership by performed diagnostics according to the Hyundai service procedure. The airbag light show up on the dashboard at first blinking sometimes and finally stays on all the time. This happened in July/2021 and since then I've been trying a solution from Hyundai but the dealership and the manufacturer simply doesn't care about saying that they can do anything about since the car was not long cover by warranty and charging me in U$20 to fix it. Which I didn't agree and didn't pay. This causing me a lot stress because my car was rejected by state inspection and until today (Feb/2022) I have a useless car that I can't drive because I don't have the sticker from the state inspection. Besides that I can't feel safe driving and let my wife driving this car with this problem. In fact I heard from a mechanic from another Hyundai dealership that this is a common issue on this Hyundai model.

- Lawrence, MA, USA

problem #5

Nov 132019

Santa Fe

  • 59,000 miles
My airbag light came on and stayed on just before the 60K mile warranty expired. I called the dealership and was advised to bring it in to the dealership because the airbags might not deploy if we were in an accident. They said it just needed to be reset. Well, at just over 62K miles, it came back on this morning. A quick google search indicates it is a known problem across Hyundai's entire fleet of vehicles. How has this not already been addressed?! I have 4 kids and cannot take the chance of the airbags not deploying.

- Chunchula, AL, USA

problem #4

Dec 052019

Santa Fe

  • 35,000 miles
On Dec 5, 2019 at 7:50 am, I was stopped at a red light waiting to turn West at a city intersection. When the light turned green, I accelerated and drove towards the middle of the intersection. There was no oncoming traffic, so I continued and was about to make a left turn when I got hit by 2018 Ford escape. The driver ran the red light and hit my vehicle in the front drivers side quarter panel, causing visible damage to my fender, wheel, panel and bumper (more damage will be determined by insurance adjuster). The impact was so hard that it moved my car, pushing the front end of my car towards East of the intersection. I had my two children and my dog in the car. The airbags did not deploy, at all. The other vehicle hit us head on and their airbags did deploy. My head and upper body slammed into the drivers side window. Everyone in my car had their seatbelt on and my dog was tied, by his leash, to an anchor in the back. The impact to my head was so hard, I went to the er and they did a ct scan to make sure there were no fractures or bleeding. I was diagnosed with a concussion due to the impact. I am attaching photos of the scene and the damage to my vehicle.

- Winnetka, CA, USA

problem #3

Feb 202018

Santa Fe

  • 17,137 miles
I was in an accident traveling approx 20mph on a city street when I hydroplaned and hit a stationary light pole head on. My frontal air bag never deployed. My head struck the windshield, created significant winshield damage. The over all damage to the front end, winshield, front end under the car damage that resulted in the car being totaled out. My concern is that my frontal driver side airbags never deployed

- Chester, SC, USA

problem #2

Jul 042016

Santa Fe

  • 2,700 miles
In the affected vehicle, the wires in the can wiring harness assembly and airbag wiring harness assembly may be damaged by the passenger seat's height adjuster mechanism. A metal 3rd party power inverter was positioned underneath the passenger seat. Prior seat adjustments caused the sheath around the harnesses to become bare, exposing the electrical wiring. The metal power inverter become lodged against the wiring causing a short in the wiring and causing the entire vehicle's electrical system to fail. The epb (electronic parking break) became engaged and it was impossible to drive the vehicle. Although acknowledge that the 3rd party power inverter was under the seat, the vehicle had been driven 4 times with it under it, totaling less than 800 miles. It is not known how long it would take for that box to rub against the sheath on the harness and bare the wiring, therefore it is suspected that the power seat adjuster caused the wires to become bare and that recall #141 safety campaign #16V145000 may not have been properly resolved. We believe the seat adjuster caused the wires to become bare, prior to the inverter being placed under the seat. The inverter was positioned such that it wasn't making contact with the bare wire, until the seat was adjusted on 7/2/2017. The car was not driven on 7/3/2016. The incident occurred on 7/4/216 as the vehicle was driven across railroad tracks. It is believed the inverter was then jarred against the bare wire, causing the short. The dealership has not validated this; they are suggesting it was the inverter that caused the wires to become bare. Our opinion is that the inverter was not there long enough to cause that wiring to become bare. It wasn't until I discovered this previous recall that everything started to make sense. It is a $5,300 repair because the other wires involved that are bare are for the airbags.

- Phoenix, AZ, USA

problem #1

Apr 152016

Santa Fe

  • 2,583 miles
On April 15, our brand new Santa Fe was involved in an accident. While driving in low speed traffic suddenly, while my fiance rear ended someone. To this day she cannot figure out what happened. She is a careful driver, does not speed and knows that the area were she was driving is high traffic and was coming up to a red light. Both of her hands were on the wheel and she wasn't on a phone or anything. She believes she hit the breaks, and as stated before still does not know what happened. After reading these complaints we are wondering if we had the same issue as someone else who reported and is the cause of the accident. We figured we would report this. We are also wondering if other people are having similar accidents since there has been a major issue getting parts to repair said car (car has now been off the road for 11 weeks most parts required for repair have been externally backordered and Hyundai has been extremely unhelpful to help us get our car repaired). The consumer stated the vehicle lunged forward, while slowly depressing the breaks. The manufacturer was notified. Updated 11/2/2017

- Saddle Brook, NJ, USA