Every safety complaint, recall and defect investigation the US government
holds on this vehicle.
204
Complaints
11
Crashes
3
Fires
15
Injuries
0
Deaths
Owners of the 2023 Hyundai Santa FE have filed 204
safety complaints with NHTSA
between September 2022 and August 2026.
The most complained-about system is the power train,
named in 43 of them
(21%). The typical failure was reported at 9,100 miles, the median
across the 19 complaints that gave an
odometer reading.
NHTSA has issued 1 recall covering this
vehicle.
Recalls (1)
TRAILER HITCHES
23V181000 · March 17, 2023
Park outside until repaired
The defect
Hyundai Motor America (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2019-2023 Santa Fe, 2021-2023 Santa Fe HEV, 2022-2023 Santa Fe Plug-in HEV and Santa Cruz vehicles potentially equipped with a tow hitch harness installed as original equipment, or purchased as an accessory through a Hyundai dealership. Water accumulation on the tow hitch harness module printed circuit board (PCB) may cause an electrical short, which can result in a fire.
The risk
A fire while parked or driving can increase the risk of injury.
The remedy
Owners are advised to park their vehicles outside and away from structures until the remedy is completed. Dealers will install a new fuse and wire extension kit as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed starting May 16, 2023. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1-855-371-9460. Hyundai's number for this recall is 244. This recall is an expansion of previous recall number 22V-633.
Hyundai Motor America · up to 584,784 vehicles across all model years covered
What owners report
Complaints naming each system. One complaint can name several, so these add
up to more than 204.
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 59 29%
POWER TRAIN 43 21%
ENGINE 35 17%
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 34 17%
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 34 17%
SERVICE BRAKES 21 10%
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 14 7%
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 11 5%
VISIBILITY/WIPER 11 5%
STRUCTURE 6 3%
LANE DEPARTURE 5 2%
WHEELS 5 2%
When the complaints arrived
By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures
happened. They peaked in 2025 at 65.
2022 to 2026, the last of them a part year
In owners' own words
Quoted from NHTSA's complaint file. These are unverified accounts by the
people who filed them, not findings of fault.
SERVICE BRAKES
4 injured · crash · towed
While parking, the brakes failed. Although the brake pedal was correctly and completely depressed the car failed to stop until it hit the building causing damage to structure and injuries occurred to passengers. The brake pedal pulsated but the car did not stop. Prior to this, the brakes would sporadically pulsate while braking. There were vehicle health issues that were reported.
NHTSA complaint 11560485. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.
POWER TRAIN
2 injured · crash · towed
While parking my 2023 Hyundai Sante Fe, I hard pressed the break and pushed the Park button. The engine revved up and the vehicle took off instead of going into park; smashing into a building. The parking block was 6ft from the building. The engine accelerated to a high enough speed that it totaled the vehicle completely out. The engine code readings after the vehicle was towed to a repair shop was P0112 and P0114. The mechanic says that's the initial cause of the accident. The insurance reps are supposed to be following up on the mechanics diagnostics currently. There were no warning lights or anything on before the issue occurred as this was a brand new vehicle with only 8,000 miles on it.
NHTSA complaint 11570165. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.
AIR BAGS
1 injured · fire · crash · towed
I was recently involved in a front side swipe accident where a person ran a red light and hit me while I was passing through an intersection. The impact was all in the front of the vehicle where the air bag had deployed. The air bag caught on fire within seconds after it had deployed. Thankfully I was conscious to where I was able to unbuckle my seat belt quickly and someone came to my aid quickly enough to where I was able to exit the vehicle safely.
NHTSA complaint 11531008. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.
AIR BAGS
1 injured · crash · towed
I had adaptive cruise control on and debris hit my windshield and I went into the rumble strip and eventually into the guard rail where the car essentially pingponged from there until it eventually stopped when the metal hit the front. It appears the emergency brake did not activate and the lane keep did not activate. My air bags did not deploy.
NHTSA complaint 11649463. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.
POWER TRAIN
Subject: Formal Dispute: Warranty Breach and Failure to Repair – 2023 Hyundai Santa Fe Timeline & Facts:11/2/25 (~52,000 miles): I officially reported an intermittent loss of power and severe engine revving (up to 7,000 RPM). This created a severe safety hazard when merging and accelerating from an idle stop.3/28/26 (Under 60k miles): After months of diagnostic delays, Hyundai confirmed the Dual-Clutch Transmission (DCT) needed replacement under the 60,000-mile warranty. A Hyundai Case Manager tracked the issue.Service Delay: Hyundai delayed repairs due to a lack of loaner vehicles, which were grounded for recall updates. Commuting pushed my mileage to 60,218. The Case Manager assured me …
NHTSA complaint 11756570, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.
POWER TRAIN
This complaint concerns a serious, unresolved powertrain/propulsion safety defect in my 2023 Hyundai Santa Fe. While traveling approximately 70 mph, the vehicle suddenly lost propulsion and would not accelerate normally while surrounded by highway traffic.MOST IMPORTANTLY, THERE WAS NO WARNING OR ADVANCE INDICATION. No warning lights, messages, or symptoms appeared before the loss of propulsion. I had no opportunity to anticipate the failure or prepare to safely exit traffic. This placed me and other motorists at immediate risk of a serious or potentially fatal collision.A Hyundai dealership inspected the vehicle and documented DTC P284001, Shift Fork D Position Fault. Despite this …
NHTSA complaint 11755949, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.
ENGINE
I was driving, and the SUV all of a sudden lost power. I was trying to press harder on the gas pedal to keep up with the traffic, but the SUV was stalling. The SUV would not move, and as I kept trying to press on the gas pedal, a roaring noise like something was trying to turn but the engine kept trying to move the car. It felt like something in the car was trying to move but something kept slipping. I had to turn the car off in the middle of the street and restart it before it would move. Cars were blowing their horns. This is a safety issue and a dangerous Problem. The SUV just did the same thing a few days ago. I am calling the dealer to see what is wrong. I brought this car new 2023. It …
NHTSA complaint 11755136, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
The horn stopped working.
NHTSA complaint 11754698. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.
POWER TRAIN
COMPONENT/SYSTEM: The powertrain launch control system — the Transmission Control Unit (TCU) and 8-speed wet dual-clutch transmission paired with the 2.5T engine — fails to deliver engine power in response to full accelerator input from a stop. The engine does not rev and the vehicle does not move for approximately 1–2 seconds despite the accelerator pedal being fully depressed, then power engages abruptly and violently. The vehicle is available for inspection upon request. SAFETY RISK: The failure occurs when launching from a stop into intersections and cross-traffic. In the most recent incident, I was turning left across the roadway from a stop with an oncoming vehicle approaching. I …
NHTSA complaint 11749868, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.
SERVICE BRAKES
My dealership has reground the rotors on my car twice. Now with less than 40,000 mileson the car the brakes need ground again. The issue with the brakes is it causes the front end of the car to shake when the brakes are applied. This could lead to loss of control on down hill stops in slippery conditions.
NHTSA complaint 11748226. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.
If this is your car and a dealer keeps failing to fix it, your state's lemon
law may require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back.
What each state asks for
, read from the statutes.
Where these numbers come from
Complaints: NHTSA's ODI
complaint file
, published August 20, 2026. One
complaint is one ODI number, which is how NHTSA counts them.
Recalls: NHTSA's recall
campaign API
, most recent campaign filed August 12, 2026.
Investigations: NHTSA's ODI
investigation file
, published 2026-08-19.
A complaint is one owner's account and has not been verified by NHTSA or by
us. A vehicle with more complaints is not necessarily worse: models that
sold in larger numbers collect more of them. How this is counted.
G
Compiled and maintained by guarledes Independent developer and analyst