2009 Hyundai Santa FE problems
NHTSA has received 509 complaints about the 2009 Hyundai Santa FE, and 25% of them involve fuel system. Next are engine (13%) and cruise control (10%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 509 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Fuel system 25% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 44 and 7
- Injuries and deaths
- 44 and 9
- Typical mileage
- 78,000 miles 393 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 55 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 39 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 45 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 73 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 81 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 55 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 23 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 10 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 8 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 4 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 393 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 78,000 miles. For fuel system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 85,000 miles (110 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 44 complaints mention a crash; 7 complaints mention a fire; 44 injuries reported; 9 deaths reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2009 ranks 15th most-complained-about out of 26 model years of the Hyundai Santa FE with enough data (176 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 2 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
I was a passenger in my vehicle on the way to the license branch and was sitting still at a stop light, when a vehicle rear-ended my car.
On January 16,2025 I was driving my Hyundai Santa Fe on the freeway with my three children when the automatic brake system suddenly failed, causing me to lose control of the vehicle. As a result, we spun off the road, and the vehicle flipped four times, causing us multiple injuries. Additionally, due to a known recall involving the failure of the airbag deployment system, the airbags did not deploy during the crash.
Vehicle was being driven and pulled in to driveway of home to a controlled stop by pressing the brake pedal. At which point, vehicle suddenly accelerated and crashed through the closed garage door and proceeded at accelerating speed into garage and hit a wall (wooden beams and sheetrock walls) separating interior of garage and interior of kitchen area of home. Vehicle came to a stop against the wall with brake pedal continuously pressed down.
When slowing down to make a turn the engine shuts off. Power steering and breaks are gone. The car will crank right back off but this us very dangerous. I'm not sure if weather is a factor but when it has happened which gas been multiple times, it has been in the 80's. Mechanics and dealership have not been able to find anything and no codes are recorded.