Body Problems of Hyundai Santa Fe - part 1

The door was completely shut - I was driving on the highway - no alarm on the instrument panel, fully stage 2 latched ( even if it is just stage 1 latched - the instrument panel gives an alarm - there was no alarms about door not fully closed) everything was normal. 15 minutes into the drive - I was exiting the highway, making a right hand turn - the door suddenly popped open, alarm went off on the instrument panel - thankfully did not swing open, I was able to hold onto the door. I shut the door again - drove for 200 miles - no issue again. This was the first ever time I saw this issue at 90k miles.

See all problems of the 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe 🔎.

Driving on sunny day, the fixed roof glass located between the windshield and sunroof exploded across the entire width of the glass insert with a very distracting noise.

See all problems of the 2023 Hyundai Santa Fe 🔎.

Rear subframe suddenly collapsed and broke due to extreme corrosion. Incident occurred while driving, allowing rear wheel to turn out causing loss of control. Luckily I was traveling at a low rate of speed and nobody was hurt. Found rear subframe was completely rotten out and collapsed on the driver side. Vehicle is now completely undrivable and has to be towed. Found that there was a recall/service program from Hyundai (campaign #947) and my vehicle was affected. I called my local dealership to schedule an inspection appointment regarding the recall. Dealership told me I had to call Hyundai customer care. I called customer care on Tuesday and my claim was escalated. The representative told me that I would be contacted by Hyundai within two days. I have not received any correspondence from the case manager. Called Hyundai customer care once more and the representative told me that they can't contact claims representatives directly and I would have to wait until they decide to call me.

See all problems of the 2012 Hyundai Santa Fe 🔎.

The passenger-side doors do not latch properly and may open after closing. This creates a safety risk while driving. The issue occurs continually and has worsened over time. Vehicle has approximately 106,265 miles. This causes the auto door locks no to work.

See all problems of the 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe 🔎.

Day 1 – Feb 11 at 4pm incident occurred my daughter was driving the vehicle on [xxx] , she was in the far right hand lane preparing to take an upcoming exit. Suddenly and unexpectedly the hood opened obstructing her view of the roadway and smashed the front windshield. Because she was in the right hand lane she was able to pull the vehicle to to the shoulder of the road immediately. No other vehicles were involved because of both her location (right hand lane) and ability to access the shoulder immediately. She could have been killed! the problem has not been confirmed Hyundai has informed me it will take 5/6 weeks to determine if an inspection is warranted. -Thursday February 19 we got the vehicle to the closest Hyundai dealer metro west in framingham massachusetts on Thursday February 19 - I explained to the service representative the history (recall and repair in 2017) and a request to investigate recurrence of the recall defect as well as to prepare an estimate for repair. I never received a phone back so I called them on Wednesday February 27 and was informed that the vehicle estimate and inspection was in progress. At that point I contacted Hyundai corporate offices and was given a case number. On March 3, I called again and completed the preliminary investigation report - I was informed they would get back to me in approximately 48 hours. - on 3/9/26 after a phone conversation I was emailed a request to inspect my vehicle authorization form and another form (11 questions that had been answer numerous time by phone already) both were completed and submitted the following day 3/10/26. Dealership now threatening storage fees - because the vehicle experienced failure of a component that was previously repaired under a federal safety recall, I am formally requesting that Hyundai preserve all evidence relating to the hood latch assembly and related components for purposes of regulatory review and potential insurance subrogation. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.

See all problems of the 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe 🔎.

I turned off the car and went inside the house. I was outside and could smell smoke. I walked to the front of the house and saw my neighbor who was calling 911 due to flames from my engine. The flames reached the yard and my garage where minor damage occurred. The vehicle was completely engulfed in flames before the fire department extinguished it.

See all problems of the 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe 🔎.

Paint is significantly peeling on the hood of my car.

I was riding on a suburban street and ran over a branch I did not see due to rain and darkness. I went back and looked at the incident and the branch did not seem like it was that big but I quickly lost power and my car stalled and I could not get it restarted. I later found out that that branch took out my hybrid battery connection under the car which rendered the car useless. It is a 5000 fix. I don't know why such an important part is exposed under the undercarriage of an awd SUV. I was traveling at 27 mph. If I had been on a highway it would have been very dangerous to have stalled out so fast. Once it was stalled the battery drained very fast from me running my hazards so that the tow truck driver had to jump it to get it to go from neutral to park and my parking brake is electric so I couldn't activate the parking brake either. I would also like to say that the headlights on this car are severely underpowered.

See all problems of the 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe 🔎.

Fuel access door does not open correctly. Fuel door does not have a lock or a require pressing of a button to open; you would normally just 'push' on closed door to make it pop open. Over the past (3) months, this has not always been working. Sometimes it requires multiple high-pressure pushes (or a light bump) for door to open. On other occasions, unlocking the vehicle (all doors) and not just the driver's door that unlocks when exiting the vehicle has somehow contributed to getting the fuel door open. Multiple online Hyundai Santa Fe forums make mention of the fuel door being a widespread issue and suggest requiring replacement of an actuator in fuel door by dealership or prying the fuel door open with a screwdriver. Prying door open, in my opinion, is not an option because of potential damage to door and painted surfaces around the fuel door.

See all problems of the 2022 Hyundai Santa Fe 🔎.

As I was driving the hood opened breaking the windshield which obstructed my view and caused me to veer off-road and crash. I acquired the vehicle less than a year ago and only learned of a recall for hood latches from the tow truck driver. Afterwards. I had no prior problems with the latch opening and I was not physically injured but my vehicle is a total loss.

The roof of my car between the sunroof and the windshield (called panoramic sunroof) shattered as I was driving down the highway. It was about 10:00 pm on a weeknight and there were no cars within sight distance in front of me. When it happened it sounded like a gun shot going off at point blank range and I immediately pulled over and checked for bullet holes. Since it was dark I could not see any damage. Today I took the car and had a small chip fixed in my windshield down by the windshield wipers and the service tech pointed out to me that the roof was shattered. He told me that this happens a lot with this vehicle. So I got online and searched and found a lot of vehicles have reported the exact problem. Down to the sounds of gunshots. So I stopped at my local Hyundai dealership and recorded the conversation. He told me that theres no recalls on this car and it probably shattered by a rock or debris. I told him that when this happened it was late night and no cars within sight in front of me. He didn’t even come out and look at the damage. He said to call my insurance company and I said that is a manufacturer defect and I shouldn’t have to pay for their mistake. When I searched for this on the internet people stated that the dealerships will deny this manufacturer defect and that’s exactly what they said to me. My main concern is that this defect is documented by many vehicle owners from their 2020 vehicles and their is a recall out for this problem but it stops at 2016 models. In this recall the shattered piece is replaced and there is actually compensation given for people getting scared or dealing with stress dealing with thinking they are getting shot at. I don’t care about any of that. I just want the issue fixed because I did not cause the issue, the manufacturer did. Reason being is that the exact thing is happening to numerous people across the country. Thank you for your time.

See all problems of the 2020 Hyundai Santa Fe 🔎.

Paint peeling and chipping will cause rust.

The stationary glass that is in front of the panoramic sunroof shattered for no reason. I found that this has happened to many other people's vehicle like mine. In several incidents, the glass chips fell on passengers in the car when they opened the sunroof. I had a glass repair shop look at it. It will cost $400. 00 out of pocket and I don't really want to file a claim to insurance. Can you offer any help?.

The trunk hatch is no longer functioning. The car beeps, but does not unlatch. Once the gate is manually open from a latch inside the trunk, it will not close by pushing the gate close button. It just stopped working. I went into the grocery store, and when I returned with groceries, it stopped working. Hyundai says it's out of warranty and will cost $1800 to repair.

I closed my door and the driver door latch became stuck and will no longer open from the inside or outside. I have tried to open it myself, ask a mechanic and a locksmith and no one can open the door without damaging the door.

Paint coming off of hood, no contact of any kind. Took to dealer and was told past its warranty sorry. Cost me over $1k to fix the problem.

I have a Hyundai Santa Fe 2020 had it only a year my sunroof is a panoramic and it busted out of nowhere. Nothing hit it just shattered on its own when I was going down the road. I know nothing hit it because nobody was on the road near me and I looked around and saw nothing. I was told to report it here so that’s what I’m doing.

Paint is peeling for no reason.

See all problems of the 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe 🔎.

My wife was parking the car at carport, all of sudden unintended acceleration happened and hit through the wall. The damage on the car was $12478. 57 and damaged the wall and storage on both sides of carport. My wife is scared to drive this car.

Panoramic sunroof suddenly exploded while driving with passengers in the front in back seat.

The back passenger door will not open from outside or inside (driver side) which is safety issue that needs to be recalled immediately.

The sunroof glass violently shattered/exploded while driving the vehicle. The manufacturer claims the window meets current standards and is not defective. The curtain or fabric cover was extended covering the glass panel otherwise the driver would have been covered with broken glass.

Locked the doors normally with the remote. Went into the doctor's office. Returned to the car the driver's door would not unlock. All other doors worked normally. Could not unlock the door with either handle, the switch or the remote. The dealer says that the door latch mechanism failed in the locked position with the door closed. This would make it very difficult to exit the car in an accident, fire or submersion. The only exit is to crawl over the high mid console and exit through the right front passenger door, this is a very difficult maneuver.

White body paint chipping.

The paint is failing, it is coming off in sheets, there is no damage to the car where the paint is coming off.

The trunk will occasionally not open. The car and trunk are unlocked, and when you pull the handle to open the trunk the car beeps like it's trying to open it, but it will fail to open and will then give some failure beeps. This has happened to me several times, and I've read online this issue has happen to others too. This is a safety hazard and makes the trunk unusable when it happens. I have a video of the trunk not opening, but it doesn't look like I'm able to upload videos files to this submission.

Drive side door latch does not open from inside or out. Even after removing inner door panel and manually pulling latch cables the latch remains in the locked position. This is an obvious and major safety issue where the driver is unavailable to exit the vehicle. Other years were recalled for this issue however my 2014 model is not on the recall list for some reason. Even though the very same safety issue with door latch occurs.

My door lock actuator has gone out once again and it seems to be a common issue I believe it could potentially be a safety hazard if the actuator goes out and driver is unaware could potentially get drivers or other passengers stuck in vehicle.

Sunroof exploded at highway speed glass was contained by interior fabric. Sounded like tire or gun shot . Was able to stop but frightened. Took to dealer and left it. Car has less than 3500 miles on it.

Rear passenger door cannot be opened from the inside. Lock operates remotely and manually and door can be opened from the outside. This is a safety issue. The door cannot be opened from the inside in an emergency. The door has not been assessed by a dealer tech. I have an appointment at the dealer to repair. There were no warning lights, messages or warning tones.

02.

See all problems of the 2011 Hyundai Santa Fe 🔎.

The left back door of the vehicle is not operational. This issue is causing significant concern, especially in potential emergency situations where access through this door may be crucial. It is imperative that this problem is addressed promptly to ensure the safety and functionality of the vehicle.

Rusted out subframe, less than 95k miles. No “salt belt” treatment offered to this vehicle. Vehicle in ohio since bought. Took to dealer for engine recall, found $1200 subframe replacement bill. Car was garage stored all of the time.

See all problems of the 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe 🔎.

Automatic parking brake does not engage. Brake is totally not functional.

On November 2nd of 2023, I was driving approximately 5 miles away from home when all of a sudden the sunroof glass shattered. It sounded like an explosion of glass. I was driving at 45 miles per hour which is the speed limit in the area. It was very alarming when the sunroof glass shattered, I was nervous and thought that someone threw a rock at the car. I wasn't sure whether to stop the car or keep on driving. Thank god there was no traffic, otherwise it would have been a very dangerous situation. I safely pulled over into a gas station to check what had happened. There was nothing other than broken glass on top of the car. The sunroof looks like it had pressure from the bottom up.

See all problems of the 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe 🔎.