10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
0 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.

2021 Hyundai Santa Fe engine problems

engine problem

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2021 Hyundai Santa Fe Owner Comments

problem #6

Jul 102023

Santa Fe

  • miles

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

Hyundai filed Recall Campaign 236 for the vehicle entering an unsafe state. On July 10th I took in our 2021 Santa Fe Limited with just over 15,000 miles, which had been operating normally with the serious safety defect and received the Remediation for this recall filed under NHTSA Recall Campaign 236. I took possession back of the vehicle and within a few miles of driving had the exact issues the recall remediation was supposed to fix, occur. I lost the ability to safely control the vehicle followed by multiple warning lights displaying and then experienced full loss of power. I could not signal or use emergency blinkers while going at speed on I-405 between mile marker 5 and mile marker 6, this placed everyone around me on the highway at risk. I am deeply concerned that the Recall Remediation for Campaign 236 may not work.

- Mercer Island, WA, USA

problem #5

Jul 242023

Santa Fe

  • miles
The vehicle will accelerate unexpectedly without using the accelarator. Usually this occurs when releasing the brakes and on a slight incline.. To date no injuries or damage has occurred due to this. My dealer has not reproduced this defect as far as I know. This vehicle has nor been inspected by the daeler or insurance reps to my knowlwdge. There is no prior indication that an acceleration will occur-no lights or any warnings. This issues has occurred several time within the last year.

- Ashland, MA, USA

problem #4

May 202023

Santa Fe

  • miles
My transmission keeps slipping. I was on freeway this time and it slipped out of gear but it was like I pushed all the way down on pedal the RPM went way up so I had to wait until it slipped back into gear to be able to continue on down the freeway. I backed up traffic for a minute because I can't put on gas until it goes back in gear.

- Fort Worth, TX, USA

problem #3

Jan 302023

Santa Fe

  • miles

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

On January 26th, 2023 at 9:57am the vehicle was unable to shift into reverse, drive, or neutral. The vehicle's system sent automatic messages indicating to have the transmission control system checked. We had the vehicle towed to a Hyundai dealer to be serviced. The dealership advised they performed a software update and that nothing else needed to be done. Then on January 30th, 2023 at 7:44pm the vehicle's check engine light came on and the vehicles system sent us another notification to our phone and email that there was a transmission control system issue. The vehicle shakes abruptly when accelerating after a stop. I have photos of the warning messages as well as video of the car shaking.

- Queen Creek, AZ, USA

problem #2

Sep 272022

Santa Fe

  • miles
While driving on the highway, when I pushed on gas pedal the car would not accelerate, I was uncertain if I was losing power of the vehicle, luckily it maintained the current speed and did not decelerate, but I was unsure at the moment if I was losing complete power, because it wasn't responding, it felt like the car was going to stall similar to when you run out of fuel. This occured for around 20 seconds, i would guess, long enough to notice that the car was not responding and continued to not respond, and to be concerned from a safety perspective. The night before I had filled the fuel tank and I noticed to guage that predicts fuel mileage kept changing by 3-5 miles difference, back and forth repeatedly, before I even left the fueling station and as I continued to drive. I'm unsure if that is related to the driving performance issue of not accelerating the next day. The next morning when the non acceleration occurred the predicted fuel mileage was consistent. The next time I drove the vehicle following the non accelerating issue, there was an error that popped up on my digital dash stating "A possible condition with your engine control system has been detected. A full system check is recommended to be done when convenient. Please contact your local dealership to schedule an appointment." Also, the check engine light came on. MyHyundai app showed a DTC - P040B00, DTC system - powertrain, DTC sub system- EMS. I took the vehicle to the Hyundai dealership to confirm that the car was safe to drive or if I should rent a car until it can be further inspected. They read the codes and said it is safe to drive and no additional information, I will be taking the car back to the dealership in a week, which is their first available appointment with a hybrid certified technician. Both the dealership and Hyundai corporate customer service states there are no current recalls, but through other car forums, it appears to be a similar issue that has occurred with other Hyundai models.

- Bloomington, IN, USA

problem #1

Apr 192021

Santa Fe

  • miles
This vehicle is the first Santa Fe that only comes with adaptive cruise control and there is no way to disable it and set regular cruise control. Here are just a few examples of the safety risk. We were on State Highway 29 which is a rural 4 lane highway. There were 4 cars near us. Our cruise was set for 70mph. A vehicle came in front of us to pass which it did. There was no issue. However, our vehicle saw this as a threat and our vehicle slowed from 70mph to 50mph until the other vehicle was out of the set car length distance. Meanwhile the other cars around us had no indication or warning why we would have slowed down this much and we were nearly rear ended. There was screeching of tires and brakes suddenly applied by the other vehicles. All for nothing. I am on the highway with the cruise set at 75mph when again vehicles will come in front of me and my vehicle slows from 75 mph to 54mph, causing the surrounding vehicles to not know what is going on and I hope they are paying attention because there is nothing really going on other than normal driving. It is terrifying to have your vehicle control itself and you don-??t know when it will start to accelerate again so for the most part, I am shutting the cruise control off and on constantly. At our most recent Hyundai service appointment for this problem, we were told by Hyundai Care Manager that this is exactly how it-??s designed and there is no problem. And we-??ve been told just simply don-??t use the cruise control at all. That is not a solution. We feel like all these -??safety-?? features are creating a sense of driver coma on our roads. Instead of the left lane being used for faster cars as a passing lane, the adaptive cruises are creating a chain of vehicles that are well under the speed limit

- Green Bay, WI, USA

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