10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
1 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
998 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz drivetrain problems

drivetrain problem

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2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz Owner Comments (Page 4 of 4)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #17

Jul 222022

Santa Cruz

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

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 #16

Jun 272022

Santa Cruz

  • miles
Complete transmission failure on the highway without warning. Issue occured at 12,237 miles on the vehicle. While traveling under cruise control at 75MPH on the highway in the far left lane and the dashboard lit up and told me to pull over immediately. There were no warning signs ahead of the failure. No warning lights or any mechanical noises/vibrations to indicate the transmission was about to fail. I had no drive and was unable to accelerate and had to make my way across 4 lanes of traffic without the ability to accelerate at all which was very dangerous and I was fortunate nothing happened to myself or anyone else. I pulled off to the side of the highway and once the vehicle was power cycled I had a check engine light. No drive was available and the vehicle refused to move under it's own power. The vehicle was immediately towed to a Hyundai dealership, who after a 2 week delay confirmed it was a total failure in the transmission. DTC Code: P1CD0 The dealership called it into the engineering team, and they stated there was a "fluctuation in oil pressure in the transmission and the engineering team recommend replacing the whole unit". As of right now I am still waiting on the transmission replacement.

- Austin, TX, USA

problem #15

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 #14

Jul 122022

Santa Cruz

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Left my neighborhood and as I pulled away from the stop sign the 1-2 shift felt abrupt, which has never happened before. No other issues were noticed until I got about a mile from home and my Santa Cruz wouldn't accelerate past 25-30 mph. The transmission wouldn't shift and the engine wouldn't rev past 3000 rpm. I pulled over at the closest spot I could find and restarted my vehicle and made it to work with no other issues. No warnings were present on my dash, and the problem seemed to remedy itself. I will keep an eye on it and also cross my fingers that this isn't the beginning of a DCT issue at 4300 miles.

- St Robert, MO, USA

problem #13

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

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problem #12

Jun 162022

Santa Cruz

  • miles
Was driving along and the truck said pull over immediately and the power train disengage. It slow down in a construction zone with no place to pull over and cars coming right at me. It stopped and was not able to get it at first to restart after four attempt was able to get it to startup but would not pull forward or backward restart again was able to pull forward and get it to go about 40 miles an hour to get off the road. Got it a mile to the dealership was told it will need a new transmission not sure how long to get it. No car or trucks to loan and no rent car to be had. Had to wait till the next week to get one and pay $150 in Tax money for a rent car and still make the payment on the truck this is so wrong.

- League City, TX, USA

problem #11

Jun 162022

Santa Cruz

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Merging onto interstate and experienced loss of power. Slowly accelerated to 50 mph with gas pedal to the floor could not exceed 50mph. No warning lights just sudden loss of power. I had to drive onto side of the road to avoid being hit from cars behind me on interstate. Pulled over and restarted vehicle and drove normally back home.

- Proctorville, OH, USA

problem #10

Jun 072022

Santa Cruz

  • miles
2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz Limited, 2.5T with 8-speed DCT, with 11,765 miles. This has happened 3 times in a 3 day period. Upon accelerating from a stop, there was a complete loss of power. I applied more pressure to the accelerator and still no power. It seemed like the vehicle was out-of-gear or had an engine misfire. After about 10 seconds, a puff of thick, dark smoke came out from the tailpipe and acceleration resumed as if nothing happened. Upon coming to a stop and exiting the vehicle, there was a smell of burnt rubber coming from under the hood, but I could not locate the source. There have been at least 3 other instances in the last week where there was some hesitation when accelerating from a stop (again, it felt like it was in the wrong gear or there was a misfire) but not a complete loss of power and dark smoke like in the other instances. After each of the above instances, I attached an OBDII tool to look for error codes but there were none.

- Hutchinson, MN, USA

problem #9

Jun 022022

Santa Cruz

  • miles
Vehicle took longer to start after pressing start button. Upon leaving my driveway, vehicle struggled to accelerate, taking nearly 60 seconds to reach 55 MPH. No warning lights indicated on dash. I manually changed gears with paddle shift, which did nothing. Also changed driving mode from "smart" to "normal" to "sport" which did nothing. Both from exiting my driveway, and later attempting to get up to speed on the highway after a stoplight a crash could have happened as the vehicle struggled to make it into the proper lanes in time. Vehicle is only 2 weeks old, 670 miles. Vehicle was not making any unusual noises. In summary, vehicle was barely accelerating despite peddle being all the way pressed.

- Terre Haute, IN, USA

problem #8

Nov 012021

Santa Cruz

  • miles
The main concern is loss of power. Have non-turbo version and have no idea what is a cause of the problem. Probably is computer. Had this issue once or twice. Switched to Normal mode from Smart.

- Maple Grove, MN, USA

problem #7

Mar 312022

Santa Cruz

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

On March 31, 2022 my Hyundai Santa Cruz SEL Premium flashed a warning to pull over immediately. The engine lost power. I had the gas pedal floored but it wouldn't move. I stopped in the middle of the road, shut the car off and turned it on again 3 times before getting the car to drive. The car sent an email saying it was a transmission problem. I called the dealership and had it picked up. They determined it was a bad chip on a pump for the transmission. Three weeks later, after numerous attempts to get an update, the dealership told me the Hyundai Corporation wouldn't allow the pump to be replaced. The dealership has to replace the entire transmission. The estimated date of arrival to California is June 16th! Then it will have to be shipped to Hawaii. This is infuriating. I leased the car 10/16/21 and it only has 2799 miles on it.

- Ewa Beach, HI, USA

problem #6

Oct 272021

Santa Cruz

  • miles
I purchased a 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz, Limited edition. The vehicle went into neutral while driving on a busy highway. There was no forward or reverse gear operation. I had to call the local police to block off the lane till a tow truck arrived. After 60 days the dealer finally located the problem. A ground wire to the transmission control module came loose and caused the vehicle transmission to fail. The ground ID Number was GE204 and is located inside the left front fender. This problem took 2800 miles to occur. I feel one ground connection should not cause this type of safety issue.

- Forest Hill, MD, USA

problem #5

Mar 112022

Santa Cruz

  • miles
I was driving in a residential area, and my vehicle indicated that I should pull over immediately. During that time, the shifting was hindered and top speed was limited (below posted speeds). When I stopped, my vehicle would not move forward or backward again. This is the second time that this vehicle has had an issue where it would not shift or be able to achieve posted speed (the first time happened on an interstate highway and the top speed was about 40 miles per hour). This failure in being able to maintain appropriate speed and also not moving forward again after stopping is very concerning when in traffic. My vehicle was inspected, the high pressure pump was indicated to be at fault, and the transmission (housing the pump) was replaced.

- Houston, TX, USA

problem #4

Mar 312022

Santa Cruz

  • miles
This car only has 150 miles on it. At 50 miles an hour the transmission refused to shift & the car RPMs surged with a loss of power. It remained at 5000 rpms with my fott OFF the accelerator. I then needed to manually shift out of automatic it to get it to drop the RPMS start driving again. It was dangerous & another person might not have known how to get going again & caused a chain reaction accident at highway speeds.

- Los Angeles, CA, USA

problem #3

Feb 162022

Santa Cruz

  • 1,200 miles
The contact owns a 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz. The contact stated that while accelerating from a complete stop, the RPM revved up; however, the vehicle would not exceed 25 MPH. The contact exited the highway and veered to the side of the road. The contact stated that as he turned off and restarted the vehicle, he was able to drive the vehicle with no further issues. The dealer was notified of the failure. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and a case was opened. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 1,200.

- Santa Fe, NM, USA

problem #2

Feb 102022

Santa Cruz

  • miles
As other owners have reported, there is an issue that happens, seemingly at random, when accelerating from a stop. The vehicle feels as if it-??s stuck in too high of a gear and accelerates very slowly despite high RPMs. The maximum speed I could achieve was 16 MPH after keeping the gas pedal nearly floored for 3-5 seconds, which normally would have had me to nearly 60 MPH. This happened to me in rush hour city traffic on a busy street with no shoulder. The only apparent solution is to shut off the vehicle and restart it, at which time the problem resolves itself and normal operation is resumed. In my case this caused a brief traffic backup that extended through the intersection of two major arterial streets and lots of upset drivers behind me. This has only happened once (occurred on 2/10/22) since purchasing the vehicle new on 12/28/21 and having driven it approximately 1,100 miles.

- Seattle, WA, USA

problem #1

Feb 122022

Santa Cruz

  • miles
When taking off from a stand still the Santa Cruz will hesitate.. Not all the time but it's usually when you need to get into traffic... It will lose power and finally take off...

- Meridian, ID, USA

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