2023 Hyundai Santa Fe Complaints

Shifter malfunction has appeared since I bought the vehicle new. Once I took it in, they said it was the software. The vehicle now skipped and hesitate in the lower gears. When in high gears ride fine. But once it stops and start driving again, lower gears won’t drive properly. Drives with hesitation and skips.

Two unsafe scenarios in past two months: 1) Driving 80 mph, engine misfire, vehicle will not accelerate past 1 rpm, had to drive home from out of town with very slow acceleration, dangerous to not be able to accelerate efficiently on highways 2) Driving 55 mph, all driver safety systems malfunction, accelaration completely disabled, had to coast to safe stopping point. Restarted vehicle and could drive home with check engine light on, incredibly dangerous for car to lose all ability to accelerate in the middle of a highway.

While driving on the interstate, while using cruise control, my vehicle braked and decelerated, uncontrollably. The collision alert alarm went off. I forced the vehicle to accelerate and it stopped the braking and the collision alarm ceased. I took the car to the dealer and they spend the day checking it over. They said they couldn’t get the same reaction I reported, but reset the cruise control. On my way back home on, again on the interstate, and with the cruise control activated, it again had the same failures. I called the dealer and told them. They asked if I had recently mounted any new equipment on the windshield. I said I had Velcro attached and EZPASS toll reader. They asked me to remove it, because might be interfering with the cruise sensor. After I removed it, and while continuing on the interstate, with cruise activated, it again repeated the same failures. The dealer arranged to have my vehicle towed to their shop.

It is not just this vehicle; it is ALL vehicles with adaptive cruise control and automatic emergency braking. When sensors get snow or debris on them, they shut the vehicles down without warning. I have had 3 times this winter when the roads were fine, cruise control set, and because another vehicle was kicking up road salt, the vehicle instantly shut off the cruise control without any warning to the driver, all 3 times I had traffic behind me at 55mph or on the highway at 70mph. The emergency braking is another issue, as it will bring the vehicle to almost a stop, and does not take into account if there are other vehicles behind it or not! How more people have not been killed because of these 2 systems is beyond me! BOTH of these systems and the vehicle they are on NEED to be recalled and either sensors removed or workarounds implemented, that at least give the driver some advanced notice before the cruise control is turned off or before a vehicle decides to hard-brake itself!

The front rotors need machining every 10,000 to 15,000 miles. The rotors experience exceeding distortion due heating by the brake pads. When brakes are applied, there are large vibrations in the front suspension which inhibits braking. This is especially true when braking on wet pavement where stopping distances become unsafe.