10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
2 / 2
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
7,765 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 2018 Hyundai Tucson:

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

Get free help with your lemon!
close ad

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #32

Sep 222020

Tucson

  • 21,000 miles
The transmission severely lags in the initial transition into first gear, as well as from first to second. When initially engaging into first gear from reverse, the car rumbles and chops into first gear. Although this is a dual clutch car, it severely lags into acceleration, causing a major safety hazard, especially on the freeway. We have taken the car to the dealer for repairs but they hide behind the excuse that this is a dual clutch transmission. The issue first occurred at around 500 miles. It has only gotten worse since.

- San Jose, CA, USA

problem #31

Aug 052020

Tucson

  • 18,000 miles
Has developed inttermintant shift stutter while driving (city and hightway) and dealyed power from a stop (no go syndrome). The problem isgetting worse and the Hyundai hasn't been able to fix it.

- Vancouver, WA, USA

problem #30

Sep 052020

Tucson

  • 55,000 miles
When the vehicle is at a complete stop it will have issues going when I push on the gas. It takes a few seconds to go and it will jerk forward and then go. It doesn't happen every time but it is often enough that it's worry some and could be unsafe.

- Omaha, NE, USA

problem #29

Jul 222020

Tucson

  • 36,607 miles
Vehicle caught fire while driving on the highway.

- St. Louis, MO, USA

problem #28

Jul 152020

Tucson

  • 12,200 miles
Bought the vehicle new. The problem originally began as intermittent now occurring almost constantly. If vehicle is in a stopped position upon pressing the accelerator the vehicle does not move forward for up to one to 2 seconds. The RPM shows that the engine is revving but no motion. Then suddenly the vehicle will lurch forward. The amount of pressure applied to the accelerator does not make a difference in the vehicle response time. I am very concerned about the safety of this vehicle as the vehicle will not accelerate when necessary. I have brought in the vehicle for repairs of this problem twice and was told that Hyundai knows of the problem but because the issue is not extreme enough nothing can be done. I do not believe that the vehicle can be operated safely given the current defect.

- Huntington Beach, CA, USA

problem #27

Jul 222020

Tucson

  • 43,000 miles
Mostly in the morning after the vehicle has sat all night and occasionally throughout the day after stopping at red lights or when leaving a parking lot. The vehicle will 'stall, shutter' or however else you want to describe a rapid jerking motion while trying to accelerate from a stop. It causes a delay in the ability to effectively and safely merge the vehicle into traffic at times.

- Freeport, FL, USA

problem #26

Mar 012019

Tucson

  • 6,000 miles
I purchased my 2018 Hyundai Tucson limited 1.6L forward drive new in November 2018. I started experiencing problems a few weeks after my purchase. The vehicle is slow to accelerate at times and other times the vehicle lurches/accelerates forward at a high rate of speed with my foot on the brake pedal. For instance, I was at a drive thru with my foot on the brake pedal and my Tucson began to accelerate forward. I was so afraid that I was going to hit the car in front of me that I turned the vehicle off. On numerous occasions it has lurched/accelerated forward with my foot on the brake pedal. Other times when I begin to accelerate after stopping at a stop light the vehicle just hesitates to move at all. It is very slow to accelerate for a turbo vehicle. Concerning my brakes, my brakes are making a high pitch squealing sound. I have taken my Tucson in for service for the brake issue, and I have been told that there is nothing wrong and that is the noise that Tucson brakes make. Brakes do not make a high pitch squealing noise for no reason at all. Also, I took my Tucson to be serviced for the engine/transmission problem and I was told that there was nothing that they could do about the problem. This SUV is a deathtrap. The 2018 Tucson 1.6L needs to be recalled and the engine replaced with a 2.4L engine and the brake system needs to be redesigned.

- Killeen, TX, USA

problem #25

Jul 112020

Tucson 4-cyl

  • 10,391 miles
, from a stop, when you move forward, you press on the accelerator the car hesitates to move forward then all of the sudden if reves high and then speed faster than it should, I have called the dealership two times, the vehicle has 11,000 miles on it and has never been in an accident. Something with the dual-clutch system is having issues and will lead to death. The vehicle does it intermittently, so you can not predict it when it will have an issue, at min, it does this frequently.

- Encinitas, CA, USA

problem #24

Sep 102019

Tucson 4-cyl

  • 31,623 miles
The dual clutch, 7 speed automatic transmission in my 2018 Hyundai Tucson does not always move the car. When pulling out of a driveway, intersection, or crossing oncoming traffic lanes the car will stop moving while partially in the street/intersection. It will not move, the engine RPM's rev up and then all of a sudden the car lunges forward. I am afraid that a car approaching me may not stop in time and run into me, even though I had plenty of time to make the turn. I took the car to the dealer on 9/24/2019 and they said they were 'unable to duplicate the issue'. I returned the car to the dealer for the same issue on 5/5/20. The car was returned to me after 6 weeks and the dealer stated they replaced the transmission and dual clutch assembly with a new unit and I was informed that this may not resolve the original issue. On 6/24/20 the car was returned to the dealer for the same issue and the dealer was unable to duplicate the problem. At no point did Hyundai tell me they've had ongoing issues with their dual clutch transmission. It was my own research and contacting another dealer that I was told Hyundai is aware of the problem and has no current solution to resolve the matter.

- Oceanside, CA, USA

problem #23

May 262020

Tucson 4-cyl

  • 24,000 miles
The car will not go into reverse.

- Lawrence, NY, USA

problem #22

Feb 172020

Tucson

  • 12,000 miles
I have the 2018 tuscon limited 1.6T dct with no more than 12,000 miles. When accelerating from a stop or accelerating after braking and pressing the gas pedal normally, the car stops accelerating and the car slows down. This also happens after coming to a stop and turning onto a different street. When it happened to my wife she pulled over into the center turning lane, because the car would not accelerate and there were cars turning behind her. I have taken it in to have it serviced and they either applied an update or reset the transmissions computer; however, a few hundred miles later and it's doing it again. My wife is concerned that this will happen one day and will cause an accident; she said she does not feel safe driving this car anymore. My first vehicle was a manual and I know how a manual drives and how they accelerate after shifting. I understand that a dct may have similar behaviors. However, this would be similar to someone holding in the clutch on a manual and not being able to shift gears, grinding them, causing the vehicle to not accelerate and any vehicle behind them to stop or slow down suddenly. We love the car, but the transmission makes us feel unsafe and hopefully we do not get into an accident due to this dct issue. I have also contacted Hyundai directly about this and I am supposed to be receiving a call from Hyundai Consumer Affairs in 3-5 business days.

- Owensboro, KY, USA

problem #21

Nov 082019

Tucson

  • 19,000 miles
When I went to accelerate out of a business drive way, the car hesitated at least 1-3 seconds before engagng the transimission to acclerate the vehicle out of the driveway into traffic. As I was turning out of the driveway, I was almost struck by an oncoming vehicle. I was in 2 other separate incidents either accclerating to get into a lane or accelerating from a stopped position almost causing accidents because of this problem. I was so scared, I traded the 2017 tuscon in for a 2018 tuscon hoping the problem would be solved. It did not. It happens in the 2018 tuscon less often, but more intermittently making it even more dangerous as you do not know when or if its going to happen and be able to react appropriately.

- Bloomingdale, IL, USA

problem #20

Nov 202018

Tucson

  • miles
This is my 2nd issue with this vehicle. Ever since I bought the vehicle I have always noticed that when I come to a complete stop (at a red light or stop sign) and I go to press on the gas the car doesn't go. It's like it hesitated before it starts to pick up speed. I always chalked it up to the fact that it was a 4 cylinder but after speaking to my mechanic I find out that this is not normal and can be the sign of a serious problem. There is currently no fix for this.

- Junction City, KS, USA

problem #19

Apr 152019

Tucson

  • 8,500 miles
Same dual clutch problem as on 2016 Hyundai Tucson. Hesitates for several seconds prior to engaging which causes significant danger in oncoming traffic. I had this same problem with the 2016 and Hyundai continued to deny any known problems. Now there is a class action lawsuit regarding this issue. I traded my 2016 in for the 2018 to get away from the problem because I was so scared. Now I have the same problem with the new car. This problem is ongoing. Also I was coasting with foot not on the pedal and not in cruise control and the RPM's shot up to 4200 then down to normal, then back up to 2200 and then back to normal. Very scary. Had clutch engaged car would have shot forward into car in front of me. Dealer has acknowledged trouble with both problems and informed me that Hyundai has switched clutch manufacturers.

- Scottsdale, AZ, USA

problem #18

Jan 242019

Tucson

  • 2,000 miles
When shifting gears, ie P to R or R to D or P to D, the car jerks / catches. Some have called it "turbo lag". it's definitely most noticeable at a dead stop. I have experienced this "lag" while backing up out of a parking spot and then trasferring to drive, as well as being at a dead stop at a stop sign / red light, and then accelerating. Both experiences have been in the city, highway, turning, and local roads. I don't know what has caused or what is causing this issue. Perhaps it's the torque converter? I bought this car new in Nov 2018 and have had this issue since Jan 2019. I have had other people drive my car and they have also experienced this issue. Other Hyundai tuscon drivers have also experienced this issue, and have discussed it at this website: Https://www.carcomplaints.com/Hyundai/Tucson/2018/transmission/will_not_accelerate.shtml

- Newport, NC, USA

problem #17

Jun 202019

Tucson

  • 19,000 miles
The 2018 Hyundai Tucson sel has an intermittent issue when accelerating from a stopped position. The engine will rev up, but idle forward for about 3-5 seconds, until the vehicle goes. This does not happen consistently. The dealership has reset the programming on the transmission 2X. There are other individuals online that are experiencing similar intermittent issues with their 2018 Hyundai Tucson. In June 2019, I was almost struck by a vehicle while I was completing a left hand turn on green when an oncoming vehicle decided to run the light. This has happened numerous times. On 10/7/19 - I brought it back to the dealership again to ride with a technician. During the 30 minutes ride, I felt like I had replicated the issue slightly but the mechanic only asked me what kind of car I previously drove. When I checked out of the dealership, I asked for paperwork to document my encounter, even if the mechanic claimed it was unfounded - but was not provided with any and told that there was nothing to document.

- Valparaiso, IN, USA

problem #16

Sep 012018

Tucson

  • 5,000 miles
The contact owns a 2018 Hyundai Tucson. While stopped at a traffic light and attempting to avert being struck in the rear by another vehicle, the contact depressed the accelerator pedal, but the vehicle hesitated to respond. After several seconds, the vehicle responded. The vehicle was taken to mike kelly Hyundai (254 pittsburgh rd, suite B, butler, pa 16002, (724) 287-2701) on several occasions where it was diagnosed that the dct transmission operated as intended. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted on several occasions and informed of the failures. The manufacturer provided case numbers 12236015, 15808024, and 16248911. The approximate failure mileage was 5,000.

- Gibsonia, PA, USA

problem #15

Sep 272019

Tucson

  • miles
Bought new. Vehicle has acceleration issues. Rpms skyrocket. If on downward slope, car will roll into intersection upon depressing pedal. On upward hill, car will hesitate, then suddenly jerk and take off. I have a rolled into an intersection trying to cross a 2-lane roadway and the car stopped. I have mentioned to dealership and they just say it's the way the dual clutch works. The dealership has done a factory reset. I will be good for about a day. Still no acceleration when needing to merge with traffic. This is a dangerous situation and feel Hyundai needs to come up with a solution to fix these vehicles before someone loses a family member. I don't want it to be one of mine! or do a recall.

- Mechanicsburg, Pa, PA, USA

problem #14

Sep 052019

Tucson

  • 14,000 miles
Starting at about 12000 miles, my car will at times fail to accelerate from.a stop. It happened again today and I had to jam the pedal down and my car revved to 7000rpm before it would actually accelerate. It kept doing this the whole rest of the time I was out and it was very dangerous since I was driving on a highway and couldn't get my car to accelerate. I took it to the dealership and they claimed there was no problem. This is very dangerous!

- Tampa, FL, USA

problem #13

Nov 152018

Tucson

  • 5,500 miles
Dual clutch automatic transmission started having problems around 5K miles. The car has 15K currently. The following problem occurs about 2-3 time daily under normal driving 10-20 miles per day on surface routs. From stop to accelerating in 1st gear there is a much longer than safe lag time between the gas pedal being depressed to the car actually gaining in speed. It seems like the transmission is in neutral and then shifts hard into first gear. It does not matter how lightly or firmly the pedal is depressed. It is a large concern for me and my family that the car will not accelerate or perform as expected when the gas pedal is depressed. We have taken the vehicle to the dealership with no results or improvements. They stated that all Hyundai/ Kia dual clutch automatic transmissions have that problem- stating that we should deal with it or trade to another vehicle.

- Sioux Falls, Sd, SD, USA

Read the next 12 complaints »