2024 HYUNDAI SANTA FE Recalls, Complaints & Safety

My daughter was sitting down on the middle row and the button to fold the chair down was accidentally pressed. When she screamed bc she was getting smushed I jumped out of the vehicle and pushed the button to stop the chair from folding. Thankfully she was able to lay down sideways or I am sure the outcome would of been worse. She is so traumatized and does not want to even sit in the vehicle any more. She is only 8!!! This is traumatizing as a parent as well. This needs to be fixed !!!

When the power button on the seat is pressed to move the seat forward or fold it down, the second row captains chairs fail to stop from folding if someone or something is in the seat.

Vehicle will not brake assist in the front even though all of the settings are selected it to work and assist in the event of needing to brake suddenly.

The contact owns a 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that the camera had become inoperable. No warning lights were illuminated. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V808000 (Back Over Prevention). The dealer was recently contacted and informed that the parts were on backorder. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 16,000.

I purchased my new vehicle in June or July of 2024. I had to replace my windshield on September 26, 2024, then again on December 13, 2025 due to a crack. I recently have received another chip in my windshield on or about March 18, 2026. I am unsure whether all of these were due to rocks, but it seems unbelievable that a windshield would need to be replaced so often. I have safety concerns that the windshield is easily breakable and if it were in a crash, what would happen. I also had to pay $100 each replacement and now my insurance is going up because of these claims.

2024 Hyundai Santa Fe purchased new in May 2024. On three occasions since December 2025, while driving, the dashboard went completely black as if the vehicle shut off. The Hyundai startup logo then reappeared while the vehicle was still moving, and the vehicle lost acceleration. The most recent event occurred at highway speed, approximately 65-70 mph, requiring us to coast to the shoulder. No warning lights appeared before the event. A video of the most recent incident is available. Dealer inspected vehicle but could not duplicate the problem and reported no error codes.

This is related to the recent issue with a '26 Palisade Calligraphy and the stop sale due to the 2nd row seat killing a [XXX] . I just went out and tried this on my ’24 Santa Fe Calligraphy with the 2nd row captains chairs and the electric button on the top of the seat. First off, if the seatbelt is secured, the button is disabled. Our rear facing car seat is a Britax click tight which uses the seatbelt to secure it. If the seatbelt is not secured, the button works. I sat in the seat (adult male), reached back and pushed button, and the seat started to compress me while sitting in it. Once I started to resist, the seat stopped, but it did not back off. I had to use more pressure than expected. I had to reach back and push the button again to get out. I did the same test again this time using my arm and I had to put moderate pressure to get the seat to stop. More pressure than I expected was required. I don’t know many details on the tragic death of the [XXX] old but I believe they were in a rear facing car seat that was not using the seat belt and instead using the latch connectors to secure it to the seat. This means the button in the Palisade was operable (assuming it’s like the Santa Fe) and I can totally see the seat back coming down onto the rear facing toddler. Whatever fix Hyundai does for the Palisade needs to be done on the Santa Fe as well as it is dangerous for small kids with how it works currently. There has to be a way to detect pressure on the seat and render the button inoperable just like when the seatbelt is secured. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Rear bucket seat crushes occupant of seat belt is not buckled. Rear facing car seat is crushed posing huge risk to baby

A child was exiting the vehicle from the second row driver-side seat, and the seat fold-up button (on the shoulder of the seat) was accidentally tapped. The seat began to tilt forward to collapse, squeezing a toddler in a rear facing child seat between the seat and the back of the front driver seat. Thankfully, the child seat bore the brunt of the pressure, but the incident clearly demonstrated an absence of sensors or logic to disallow the button to function when a child seat (using latch) is installed. We then tested the passenger seat in the second row and found that, even if a seat occupant is present, if the seatbelt is not buckled, the button WILL continue to operate and crush the passenger. That is to say the collapse function of the seat is uninhibited by the weight or resistance of a seated passenger. This is especially alarming given our elementary age children enter and exit the car on their own with little assistance requested from us.

When making a right turn from a complete stop, the vehicle intermittently exhibits noticeable hesitation and reduced acceleration compared to normal straight-line launches. This has occurred approximately 5–6 times. The delay in power delivery creates an unsafe condition when merging from on-ramps into higher-speed traffic, as the vehicle does not accelerate as expected. This mismatch between expected and actual acceleration can lead to misjudgment of traffic gaps. No warning lights or diagnostic messages have appeared. The issue appears intermittently and specifically during right-turn launches from a stop.

What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? Unsure, but likely transmission. I no longer own the vehicle, it is at Tom Ahl Hyundai in Lima, Ohio. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? When the vehicle was put in reverse, without pressing the gas the car would rapidly accelerate and jerk as if it was going to stall. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? Yes, the dealership. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? The manufacturer was working on a fix but unable to figure out the issue, so I returned the car. Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? No, no warning lights.

I put my vehicle in park but it kept going anyway and hit a car in front of me.

Crash

Auto dimming headlights. The headlights have stopped auto dimming. I feel like this is a safety issue because if you have them on you have to push the switch forward and then pull backward to change them back to dim. It is not something that happens occasionally it is every time they are on. Not only is it dangerous for me but also on coming vehicles. I have taken it to the dealer and was told they were waiting on some way to test what the problem is.

Both driver and front passenger seat belts are nearly impossible to snap it and it is just as hard to get them to release. Sometimes you think it is snapped together and it comes out going down the road. I have taken it to the dealer and they said the parts are on back order and have been for a long time. This is a serious safety issue. It looks to me like they would be on top of something like this. If there is an accident I don't trust the seat belts to protect me and my family. It has not been listed as a recall yet so I do not understand why they would be on back order for so long.

On November 18, 2025, at 24,370 miles, the vehicle suffered a catastrophic powertrain failure, triggering a dashboard warning: "Transmission system error! Check transmission oil immediately." The vehicle suffered a loss of reliable motive power. This sudden failure is a severe safety hazard that presents a high risk of stalling or stranding in active traffic, which is especially dangerous as this vehicle is used for a 40-mile round-trip school commute four days a week on local highways. The dealership replaced the transmission, keeping the vehicle out of service for 27 days. However, the exact same critical failure occurred a second time on December 24, 2025, at 24,878 miles. The vehicle was once again completely incapacitated and required a second transmission replacement as well as a new TCU, resulting in an additional 50 days out of service. Two catastrophic transmission failures within a 500-mile span on a brand new vehicle demonstrate a highly dangerous defect that puts the driver, passengers, and other motorists at unreasonable risk of a crash due to sudden loss of power.

One of the original OEM tires (Pirelli Scorpion MS KS NCS XL - 245/45R21) had the acoustic dampening foam on the inside of the tire fall apart. Dealership indicated that there was 'no impact damage or modifications found with the tire during inspection; meaning this was likely a manufacturing defect due to adhesion issue. Despite the problem and the fact that this tire has less than 12K miles on it at the time of the incident, the local Hyundai dealership, Hyundai corporate and Pirelli all refused to cover the cost to replace the tire. Hyundai dealer said to file a complaint with Hyundai corporate, Hyundai Corporate said that this was a Pirelli tire warranty issue (no paperwork provided about Pirelli tire warranty at time of purchase) and Pirelli indicated that only the local dealer or an authorized dealer of their tires can submit warranty claims, and that it is contingent upon a Pirelli inspection and prorated based on the remaining tread of the tire. This leaves the consumer in a difficult position having to bear the burden of the tire replacement cost upfront, and little chances of recourse as these 3 parties skirt responsibility of the OEM tire. When the acoustic foam fails, the car shakes violently at high speeds, for us this stats at ~50mph. There is no warning light that appears for this, dealer originally thought this was related to ice build up which did not rectify the problem causing us to have to go to the dealer twice for diagnostics. Online forums seem to point that this acoustic foam adhesion issue is especially common in colder climates. Symptoms of problem first appeared in early January, with full diagnosis confirmed early Feb.

-I had just exited from the highway and was driving into my town. While doing so, I had both hands on the steering wheel and suddenly the car started beeping and flashing warnings/ alerts indicating that my hands were not on the steering wheel, which they were. Within seconds the car began to deaccelerate and pull me off the road to my right hand side. I initially had no control over the vehicle. Then again- without explanation it began to register hands on the steering wheel and I was able to resume control of the vehicle. I believe the lane assist feature was on at the time. It all happened very quickly. Had I still been on the highway as I was moments before, there was enough traffic that I would have been pulled into another vehicle or caused an accident if people saw me suddenly rapidly deaccelerating/braking in front of them because they would have no warning and a very tiny amount of time to react. Then, in an other instance that followed shortly thereafter, my boyfriend was driving with one of the lane assist on. While driving, the weather changed and it began snowing and freezing rain that was freezing when it hit the windshield. The lane assist began to have trouble seeing the lines on the road since the snow and ice were obscuring them somewhat. It began to beep and gently correct the car- which was not appropriate in this case (we understand that the road conditions were beyond its abilities to safely discern things accurately). My boyfriend who had two hands on the wheel trying to carefully navigate this sudden burst of weather so at not to slide. He tried turning it off, but it wasn't turning off, and couldn't troubleshoot it without taking his hands off the wheel. He instructed me to turn it off through the settings menu in the infotainment system, which seemed to disable it. Prior to these dangerous problems, I had experienced some seemingly sensor- related malfunctions with the tire pressure monitoring system. I'm out of room to write more.

when using lane following the system repeatedly warns you to pay attention, usually when in heavy traffic and after repeated warning shuts of the cruise and lane following system. when using the cruise control system the system will suggest you take a break. both problems appear to be associated with an in cabin camera. i have driven my vehicle almost 25,000 miles and taken two cross country trips. the warning system has almost never warned me of a real problem. 99 percent of the time it is a false reading by the camera and occurs under challenging driving conditions when the last thing you need it to be told to pay attention when you truly are. during this winter i have driven more at night and the vehicle is basically un drivable because of false notifications. this has repeatedly happened in the 14 months i have owned the vehicle - the date below is just for when it happened today. i am more than willing to share details and would welcome a call

I have had the driver’s side wiper blade stop working properly twice since purchase. The first instance involved ice within the vicinity of the wiper arm mount on the driver’s side. There was compacted snow and ice next to the arm motor mount location. When the wiper was activated, the wiper could not extend fully vertical due to the snow and ice in the corner and this caused the wiper arm to become loose. The driver’s wiper arm then failed to properly operate and frequently overlapped the passenger wiper arm/blade which still functioned. The arm was replaced under warranty at a dealership. The second time this happened, I was driving during a snowstorm and the wiper was turned on with minimal snow and ice accumulation from roughly one hour of driving and occasional wiper use. The snow buildup between the driver’s wiper blade and the A pillar prevented the blade from completing a full sweep of the windshield and the driver’s side wiper came loose and failed to function properly. It frequently became entangled with the passenger wiper blade, causing visibility issues while driving. I have an appointment for this. The wiper arm itself has splines that match up with the wiper motors located between the hood and windshield. If an obstruction of snow or ice either holds the wiper blade down or prevents a full range of motion, the wiper motor easily strips these splines from the wiper arm, resulting in wiper arm failure, damage/bending of the arm(s) and cosmetic damage to the plastic A pillar trim (from wiper over extending past A pillar. The design of the vehicle wiper recess location prevents lifting the wiper arms if there is any snow or ice accumulation on the vehicle and the wipers are in the normal down position. Combine this with the lack of any melting capability from the windshield defroster or a dedicated wiper defroster, there is no way to ensure the wipers will function properly when needed during a snow or rain storm and freezing conditions.

I have had my car for less than a year. I do drive it a lot. I have about 23,000 miles on it. I have three rock chip repairs that have already been done. In addition, I have tiny dots all over my windshield where rocks have just imprinted on it. That is very abnormal.

While driving my 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe, the vehicle experienced a complete dashboard and system blackout, as if the vehicle shut off and rebooted. This has occurred on two separate occasions. On one occasion, while stopped at a traffic light, the dashboard went completely black and restarted. After the system rebooted, the vehicle would not accelerate or move when the accelerator was pressed. I had to turn the vehicle off, restart it, and wait before it would drive again. The suspected malfunction involves the vehicle’s electrical/infotainment and related vehicle control systems. The vehicle is available for inspection upon request. My safety and the safety of others were put at risk because the vehicle lost critical dashboard information and temporarily lost the ability to accelerate while in traffic, creating the risk of being struck by other vehicles. The vehicle was inspected by an authorized Hyundai dealership (World Hyundai of Matteson). On December 23, 2025, I was informed by the dealer that a system/infotainment “glitch” had been identified and that a replacement part would be ordered. However, the part was never replaced. The dealer later stated that because the issue could not be duplicated during test drives (approximately 85 miles driven), the repair was not authorized. The dealer acknowledged the issue could not be reproduced on demand. The manufacturer (Hyundai) has not yet physically inspected the vehicle beyond dealership involvement. No police or insurance inspections occurred, as there was no crash. There were no warning lamps or messages prior to the failure. The failure occurred suddenly with a complete dashboard blackout and system restart. The first occurrence happened prior to December 23, 2025; the second occurred afterward. The issue is intermittent and unresolved. I am concerned that the defect must reoccur while driving in order to be repaired, posing an ongoing safety risk.

The In-Cabin Camera system is having non stop issues. I have had this car since 2024 and have never experienced issues with this system like I have for the past month or so. I don't know if this is because of the latest update that was done on 11-26-25 or not.The system constantly goes off telling me to keep my eyes on the road when I am staring at the car in front of my while I am driving. It dings and displays the message on the dash which is a major distraction while driving. On the 8th of January I decided to count how many times it goes off. On all these drives I was only driving for 20-25 minutes at a time. On the 8th the system went off 26 times, on the 9th it went off 18 times and on the 12th it went off 27 times. That is excessive and very dangerous as if I turn the system off in the car it will disable the safety features on the car because it can’t detect my eyes at that time even though I am staring at the car in front of me. It does it in any type of weather, any time of day, and if I’m wearing my prescription glasses, sunglasses or anything. I took it to the dealer and they couldn’t duplicate the issue so they weren’t able to fix it as per Hyundai they have to duplicate the issue for them to fix it.

Hyundai - DAW - Driver Attention Warning / Forward Attention Warning System This issue warrants immediate consideration for a recall. Despite wearing glasses, sunglasses, or no glasses, the problem persists. I occasionally remove my glasses while driving, and the warning continues to sound. This occurs regardless of the time of day, weather conditions, or whether I am sitting upright or reclining. The warning randomly activates and deactivates, sometimes without any intervention. Occasionally, I simply allow the warning to sound without taking any action, and it remains active for a few seconds or until it triggers a warning that the system will be turned off, at which point it deactivates. I have attempted various troubleshooting methods, such as keeping my eyes open, adjusting my seating position, wearing and removing my glasses, and tilting them to minimize glare. None of these methods have proven effective in preventing the warning from activating or in making it deactivate. This is a persistent problem. Hyundai dealerships initially informed me that the warning might be an annoyance and their response was to simply refrain from using it. However, if a basic feature like cruise control in a 2024 & 2025 model is rendered unusable due to a design flaw (which this certainly is), it constitutes a clear violation of safety standards and should be addressed through a recall. The incessant alerts are highly disruptive and can be quite frustrating. For instance, driving with an arm in the 12 o’clock position triggers a warning, while wearing polarized sunglasses also results in an alert. The presence of a setting to disable the warning is a welcome feature, but the system’s persistent alerts can be overwhelming. The alerts continue even after taking a break. It is distracting and a safety hazard. Drivers should be able to adjust the sensitivity of the feature to turn off this feature. Currently, there is no way to disable or temporarily disable this feature.

Bought in Sept 2026 with 30,000 miles. Would not stop when breaking at low speed but would jerk and accelerate, causing me to drive through red lights and stop signs. How to swerve to avoid collisionHappened about 6 times. Returned to dealer. States could not duplicate. Traded car in

In TWO separate occasions, the middle row seatbelts have unbuckled on THEIR OWN. We have also had issues with the buckles NOT buckling OR unbuckling when prompted. (Like it’s stuck in the buckle to unbuckle or won’t click in) Other issue is the car will randomly tell me my child is unbuckled but they are NOT. Today, the sensor went on and off multiple times telling me buckled, unbuckled, over and over meanwhile my child was buckled. Why is it telling me she’s not buckled if she is….??? And why has the belts unbuckled on their own? (The first time it was my toddler in his car seat who CANNOT reach the buckle)

Something is wrong with the front windshield. Since I bought this SUV the last year, I've noticed that the wipers are very noisy and the windshield gets dirty very frequently. The last week, the windshield cracked for no apparent reason. I called the dealer and their response was that it's not covered by the warranty and I have to claim it from my car insurance. They also have no explanation for the wiper problem and the stains that appear on the windshield.

The contact owns a 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that while driving at 5 MPH, the brake pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to stop as intended. In addition, the contact stated that the Auto START/STOP feature was activated, and the vehicle stopped. The contact stated that the failure occurred while parking the vehicle in the driveway. The Auto START/STOP feature was activated before the vehicle crashed into the garage door. The contact stated that the failure had occurred twice. The contact stated that the second failure occurred while driving approximately 35 MPH, and the brake pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to stop. The contact stated that the brake pedal was depressed to the floorboard and the vehicle stopped. The vehicle was taken to the dealer; however, the failure was not duplicated. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 9,500.

The turn signal is hidden by steering wheel. I always keep lights on auto.when using to turn left My fingers turns the switch from auto lights to off position and always think it's on auto. Two times while driving at night use left turn signal and turns my lights off. Very scary because immediately tried to find side of road Rarely drive at night now

I bought the car back on September 2, 2024, and on October 3, 2024, we brought to shop but of a bubble we saw. 005PR-41205-00 Scorpion MA KS NCS EL 245/45R2. In April tire blew and end up on a spare tire. While using spare tire for around two weeks waiting on tire to get approved another tire blew which left me strained, so left car in Springfield MA. Next day towed the car to the dealership and after getting approved from the extended warranty company all 4 tires were replaced. After this a complaint under lemon law to buy this car back do to 5 tires were replace having the car 6 months. While in the shop it was indicated Front Driver side and Rear Driver Side has Side Bubble. Right passage front tire is believed to have caused a accident on 09/16/25 to having car deemed totaled. 4 tirers - 005PR-41205-00 Scorpion MA KS NCS EL 245/45R2.

Crash

the Driver Attention Warning and Forward Attention Warning features are triggered way too often and even when I have my eyes on the road ahead of me. even if I try to disable it. It's very annoying!!

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.

The contact owns a 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that while driving behind a trailer at 61 MPH with the cruise control activated, the indicator was activated to switch to the left lane, and the vehicle independently accelerated to the set speed of 68 MPH. The contact immediately depressed the brake pedal to slow down. There was no warning light illuminated. The failure had occurred several times and now occurred whenever the cruise control was activated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who was unable to determine the cause of the failure; however, the contact was unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 26,434.

The "take a coffee break" system is out of control. Encourages me to take a break repeatedly, even when i have both hands on the wheel and am staring straight ahead. It's distracting and frustrating, and cannot be turned off.

While driving my 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe on the interstate, the “Keep your eyes on the road” alert repeatedly activated even though the driver was attentive and looking forward. After multiple warnings, the system escalated to a message that the vehicle was about to be disabled, which created a serious safety concern. This happened even though the Driver Attention Warning feature is disabled in the vehicle’s settings. The issue appears to be caused by the steering-column driver monitoring camera system falsely detecting inattention. The constant alerts are distracting, and the threat of the vehicle disabling features while driving at highway speeds is dangerous.

Having great difficulty releasing the seat belt. At times, have to repeat pressing red release button. I’ve been using seat belts in more than 50-75 cars on my life experience and never had trouble releasing my seat belt. This problem is consistent with all family members who drive this car. I’m concerned if an emergency situation occurs, my family will not be able to get out of car quickly.