general problems of the 2025 Hyundai Santa Fe

Gas motor is not engaging to assist electric drivetrain on a hybrid awd 2025 Santa Fe. This resulted in a dangerous situation crossing a busy road from a stop sign. The Santa Fe rolled into the intersection at the drivers request, but did not accelerate normally (only to a maximum of a few miles per hour) and felt like an eternity to cross the road. Fortunately oncoming drivers from left and right were paying attention and slowed down and in one case honked aggressively to point out we driving badly. Pulling over to the side of the road, turning the vehicle off and then back on again has sometimes made it run normally, but we limited our trips at that point to first getting safely home and then delivering it to the dealer. The 20 mile drive to the dealer required pulling over twice to reset the vehicle so the electric motor would assist. We have had repeated warnings from the onboard system including "follow up checks required - engine management system" and "there may be a problem with the engine management system contact your dealer". I will note that we have 11,000 miles and 11 months experience with the vehicle with no problems. It may not be relevant, but these new faults began 2 days routine service for oil and tire rotation when recall was performed including ecu software update for recall 25-01-028-1. Dealer is uncertain of problem and referring with outside tech assistance from Hyundai but we were told to expect 2 weeks for parts and repair and uncertainty as to whether that would fix it. In the meantime a vehicle with unreliable acceleration and top speed is unsafe and parked. I do note on this NHTSA website 2025 Hyundai Santa Fe hybrid SUV awd that there are 47 complaints. 9 relating to this problem all beginning October 2025 and none prior back to the first post of Nov 2024 for this model. Complaints similar to this for engine management and speed and power loss account for 50% of complaints for this vehicle on the nhsta website since October 2025.

The 2025 Hyundai Santa Fe hybrid has had multiple occasions, most recently on February 3, 2026 with 12,330 miles on the car, where the gas-powered engine fails to provide any power to the drivetrain. The car experiences vast power loss and enters "limp mode" where only the small hybrid battery is powering the vehicle. Max speed ranges from 10 - 25mph and there is little, if any, acceleration, even when the gas pedal is pegged to the floor. It is necessary to pull over, engage the flashing safety lights and try to find a safe place to park. After turning the vehicle off and on several times, eventually, the gas engines re-engages. The first incident of this type for this vehicle was on August 7, 2025 with approximately 4,400 miles on the vehicle. It was taken to the dealer, key Hyundai of salem, who could not find any dtcs and could not replicate the problem. They said "bring it back if it happens again. " they next time was on February 3, 2026 where it happened several times on a trip to and from a local restaurant. This time, at dtc code of p088000 powertrain / powerloss was recorded and reported. However, by the time the car was seen by key Hyundai of salem on February 5, 2026, the code has cleared itself. Hyundai's corporate policy is that historical codes can not be used for warranty claims. So, the dealer tried one potential fix, cleaning the tcm connectors under the driver's seat, and returned the vehicle stating that Hyundai corporate would not authorize warranty work unless/until the car was presented to the dealership with a current / live dtc or visible broken parts. It seems unsafe to put a vehicle back on the road that could lose power and drivability at any time for no apparent reason. I am aware that there have been several other reports of similar power loss / limp mode situations by owners of 2024-25 Hyundai Santa Fe hybrids. At the moment, I am told that there is no current technical service bulletin on this from Hyundai.

I tried to drive my 2025 Hyundai Santa Fe hybrid; the vehicle displayed a gear selection error message stating something like "gear already selected". The vehicle would not shift properly and would not power off or restart. I attempted multiple shutdown and restart attempts using the start/stop button with no success. The vehicle remained in this condition for about 30 minutes and would not allow normal operation or shutdown. Due to safety concerns, Hyundai roadside assistance was contacted and a tow truck was dispatched. Before the tow arrived, the vehicle spontaneously allowed shutdown without any intervention. This was a safety related failure involving the shift-by-wire system and vehicle power-down logic. The issue occurred without warning and left the vehicle inoperable. The vehicle had app 7150 miles at the time of the incident.

This car was in a bbb binding arbitration and Hyundai was told to fix: speed control malfunction, speed linit not posting to hub arbitrary fan engagement. The dealership alm west had the car 2 weeks and the car sat on their lot. They said we are unable to duplicate the problem. Now in addition I showed them the cracked windshield and they were not responsible. I had an insurance complaint I took it to safelite and replaced the windshield yesterday and I got it back with a new windshield and it also had a crack in the replacement windshield. I think Hyundai knows there's a problem with the glass which is also part of the safety system of the car.

My wife was parking our vehicle near the front of our home, simply rolling forward toward the car in front of her to complete parking on the left side of the street when the vehicle unexpectedly accelerated on its own. The vehicle turned hard to the right, struck the bumper of the parked car she was pulling up behind, continued right across the traffic lane where it hit two parked cars on the other side of the street with significant impact, lifting and turning one onto the sidewalk, at which point our vehicle went across the sidewalk and stopped after hitting a fence. The forward collision avoidance that we have experienced engaging previously, never engaged, despite hitting multiple vehicles on the lefft side and then right side of the street. The collision avaoidance alarms that we have experienced sounding previously, also never went off. The airbags never deployed, despite hitting 3 cars at two different sides of the street, as well as an iron fence that never moved. The vehicle went from traveling less than 5 mph while completing the last few feet of parking to a high rate of acceleration within a path of less than 40 feet, as evidenced by the significant damage it left. Had my wife not come to a stop as quickly as she did, she could have been seriously injured. If anyone had been on the sidewalk - there are 3 shcools on this block that children are often present - someone could have been killed. The vehicle is currently at a body shop being evaluated by insurance adjuster and likely a total loss. We reported tot the manufacturer and they intend to repsond to us by 9/16 and inspect the vehicle in its current state.

Hyundai's forward attention warning is so aggressively annoying it makes me want to drive off a cliff to shut it up. Driving with an arm in the 12 o'clock position? "beep! keep your eyes on the road!" polarized sunglasses? "beep! I can't see your eyes!" OH, there's a setting! let's turn it off. . . "beeeeep! where are your eyes!". I just purchased and cannot use cruise control I need to wear glasses it has a hard time seeing my eyes I cannot turn off I have tried many positions on steering wheel to no avail.

I purchased a new 2025my Hyundai santafe hybrid. Since the day of my purchase there has been a constant error message that is displayed on dash saying "driver attention warning system failure". This light stays on constantly and disables cruise control and adapative cruise system. This affects the usability of the vehicles. When asked Hyundai they say, drivers arent expected to wear sunglass if this system has to work properly, they even say constant blinking will cause system to fail and disable cruise control. This is a serious concern. How can people drive a car without blinking and how can a new car have disabled cruise control all the time.

Hyundai disabling critical vehicle safety systems if people wear sunglasses. I brought my2025 Hyundai santafe hybrid, this has driver attention monitoring system. Since the day I brought this vehicle I have been getting issues related to driver attention warning system. This error is being caused for no reason, this comes on when vehicle comes on and stays on (sometimes for days sometimes for weeks and sometimes for hours). Hyundai says this issue is because I have a dash cam in car, error wont go away even when dash cam is removed. Recently Hyundai engineers said its because you may be wearing sunglasses. What? wearing sunglasses will disable aeb and cruise control !!!omg. I removed sunglasses and tried still wont work. Hyundai sent me list of things not to do, including not to laugh, not to shorten your eyes and not to wink. This is a major safety concern, not allowing drivers to wear sunglass which will disable safety critical systems.

The cruise control system cuts of with message on screen stating that , system camera can’t see my face and the system DE-activates. This is especially dangerous at highway speeds. The vehicle behind me doesn’t see a brake light as my vehicle suddenly looses speed. This is from Hyundais driver attention warning (daw) function. This function cannot be DE-activated by myself or my dealership which is webb Hyundai of merrillville indiana.

I was on a semi residential-commercial street that turns on to a freeway entrance. I was turning right and unavoidably entered the freeway when the sudden loss of power occurred. The car slowed down to about 20 mph and pressing on the gas medal didn't yield any more power. I immediately pulled over to the emergency lane upon entering freeway to let fast moving vehicles pass me on the left side. I turned off the vehicle and turned it back on. It seemed to turn on as normal so I proceeded to drive home slowly, staying on the slow right lane of the freeway driving under the speed limit until I took my exit to get to my home. All seemed ok until I turned onto residential street near my home. Again the car slowed down suddenly to 20mph and giving it more gas did not make a difference. The time difference between the first and second (recorded) incident was 25 minutes apart, having driven the vehicle only 140 total miles. The dashboard flashed a 20mph speed limit even though I never set those parameters, didn't set cruise control, and I didn't have auto stop or hold buttons engaged. The car simply slowed down to a 20mph speed limit without my input to the vehicle settings.

I am unable to use speed control while wearing sunglasses due to the driver attention monitoring. It would be dangerous to drive without sunglasses.

The driver assist program will not work if the driver is wearing sunglasses. If you are using driver assist, which includes cruise control, and are wearing sunglasses, the vehicle gives a driver attention warning. The vehicle will them cut off the cruise control causing the vehicle to rapidly drop its speed. This is incredibly dangerous at highway speeds way speeds. Hyundai and its dealerships are aware of this issue but have not offered a solution. Also you cannot disable the driver camera that cause the driver attention warning. We have also had this occur while driving at night without sunglasses. My understanding is that this issue is across all model lines.

The sensor always goes off stating my eyes aren't on the road to the point it trys to stop the vehicle in traffic. This prevents me from being able to use cruise control because the sensor is causing issues by not detecting my eyes.

The forward attention warning (faw) on the 2025 Hyundai Santa Fe calligraphy can not be deactivated. Correction, it can be turned off for normal driving. For instance, driving around the city or not using Smart cruise control. As soon as you turn on the Smart cruise control it's reactivated and can't be turned off. The faw does not work when using prescription sunglasses / non prescription sunglasses or if the sun is hitting the inside of the cabin a certain way. The faw constantly flashes warnings and beeps at you even though you are looking forward and keeping your eyes on the road. If you look far down the road you shift your eyes up some, and the system beeps and flashes warnings to keep your eyes on the road. On a recent 230 miles trip I did not wear my prescription sunglasses / non prescription sunglasses and the faw system went off at least 50 plus times and I had my eyes on the road at all times. Very distracting, I then had to take my eyes off the road to see why it was beeping and telling me to keep my eyes on the road. The faw system actually makes for a stressful and distracting drive. At this time the faw is useless. I took the vehicle to the dealer and the faw is not a system that can be turned off. Hyundai needs to allow the dealers to be able and deactivate the system.

The contact owns a 2025 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that while driving 55 mph, the forward collision avoidance warning alert system failed to operate as needed. The contact stated that the vehicle independently accelerated, and the contact depressed the brake pedal and the vehicle responded as needed. The vehicle was not taken to an independent mechanic or dealer to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 133,000.

Hyundai distracted driver feature is faulty and very hazardous! if someone puts on sunglasses to drive safely, the vehicle says you are distracted; and cuts the cruise control and starts braking on its own. Very bad!!! the vehicle is almost undrivable. Many others are having their dealerships buy their Hyundai Santa Fes back because they are nearly undrivable and are a general us roadway hazard, due to the way the faulty "distracted driver" feature kills cruise control and actually distracts drivers constantly . . . Causing very unsafe driving conditions. Might have to get our dealership to buy back our brand new 2025 Santa Fe limited (as many others have already done). The distracted driver feature actually distracts drivers constantly and causes unsafe and hazardous driving conditions. Please . . . Please . . . Please strongly compel Hyundai to fix this a. S. A. P. , by Hyundai issuing a patch to their system update that allows drivers to turn off/disable the hazardous "distracted driver" feature. . Read more...