2018 Hyundai Santa FE problems
NHTSA has received 144 complaints about the 2018 Hyundai Santa FE, and 40% of them involve engine. Next are brakes (13%) and drivetrain & axles (7%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 144 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Engine 40% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 10 and 7
- Injuries and deaths
- 12 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 18,000 miles 47 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 | 24 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 9 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 4 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 4 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 1 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 1 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 0 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 4 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 47 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 18,000 miles. For engine specifically, the median reported mileage is about 19,000 miles (16 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 10 complaints mention a crash; 7 complaints mention a fire; 12 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2018 ranks 22nd most-complained-about out of 26 model years of the Hyundai Santa FE with enough data (92 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.
Driving a rental car at 4:30 a.m. On country road attempting to catch our flight back home. After driving approx. 20 minutes, headlights went out and dashboard lights. We had no visibility, attempted to stop vehicle, left pavement and struck a tree. During our week rental of this vehicle we did have issues with SUV losing power when climbing a hill, but not a steep one at all. SUV would drop at least 10 MPH when doing so. Not sure if these two issues are related at all.
LED headlights particularly on unlighted roads present a darken shadow on the top half of the windshield while car is in motion. Narrowing view is a safety hazard as one is unable to see approaching traffic or pedestrians. Dealership and hyundai customer support stated that headlights meet specs. Service manager drove car at night and told me that he sees the issue but has no fix.
A recall letter from hyundai on my 2018 santa fe on a knock sensor took it to my dealership they did what ever the recall was 3 miles down the road my car went intp limp mode took me from 70MPH to 30 call the dealer had to limp it back they hah it for 3 weeks had the wire harness replaced asked they had any trouble with this as we were going on vacaton they said no half way through our trip to south dakota it went into limp mode again this time the speed was 80MPH on the highway I called hyundai doesnt seem they…