2011 Hyundai Santa FE problems
NHTSA has received 268 complaints about the 2011 Hyundai Santa FE, and 26% of them involve engine. Next are electrical system (10%) and cruise control (9%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 268 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Engine 27% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 26 and 10
- Injuries and deaths
- 17 and 1
- Typical mileage
- 40,000 miles 221 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 | 50 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 57 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 29 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 20 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 16 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 17 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 18 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 9 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 4 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 1 |
What the data shows
Of the 221 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 40,000 miles. For engine specifically, the median reported mileage is about 40,000 miles (57 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 26 complaints mention a crash; 10 complaints mention a fire; 17 injuries reported; 1 death reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2011 ranks 16th most-complained-about out of 26 model years of the Hyundai Santa FE with enough data (164 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.
Driver lost control of vehicle on highway which resulted in the drivers fatality, previous driver of vehicle indicated something was "odd" with the steering.
On june 11, 2013 I was driving my 2011 hyundai santa fe. I was in a parking lot and had pulled into a parking place. I was stopped and putting my car into park. As I reach neutral my car accelerated fast...this was more then a lunge forward, it was more like a power surge. My car continued forward at a very fast speed, despite my braking ( there were skid marks) and hit a wall. I ended up with lots of massive bruising and sprained muscles. Plus I was very frightened. There was lots of damage to my car.
I perched it on sept. 9. 214 I reported this in sept 214 problem the back wheels sound like I had a flat tire as soon as you pick up speed of 50 to 65 miles hour they replace tires and still no change I had the tech. Take a road trip to here it and how loud it was on highway. Then they thought it was out of liniment so the did that, and still no change, they told me that the wheels are wobbly and it will continue.so.
Tl* the contact owns a 2011 hyundai santa fe. The contact stated that while reversing out of the driveway, the vehicle was making an abnormal noise coming from the passenger side of the vehicle. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 74,759.