2022 HYUNDAI SANTA CRUZ Complaints

My new car with less than 2000 miles stalled at a traffic light on Southlake Blvd. in Southlake, TX. It just died and would not start. All the electrical warning lights were flaring. Every time I tried to restart it, it would try, shudder, and die. I was lucky not to get run over on that busy street. It was towed to the dealership and has been there a month exactly. They cannot figure out what is wrong.

Low beam lights shine very low and only light about 20’ ahead. On Arkansas curvy country roads, it is difficult to see what is on the road ahead. I have talked to dealer and was told nothing can be done to improve them. Mine are LED. This has been a problem since purchase in April. I avoid night driving because of this.

I was driving on the highway (55mph) with my two children in the backseat. My vehicle started slowing down quickly even with my foot on the gas. There was no warning, no lights on the dash lit up warning me there was anything wrong with the car. The rpm’s we’re going up but it was like there was no power to the car. I got off the highway onto a side road as fast as I could do I wouldn’t get hit. Then I pulled off to the side of the road. I put it in park and turned it off. I tried to turn it back on and it would start. After a second attempt it turned on but was really rough and felt like it would stall. I used blue link to call for a tow truck. Then I called the dealership to tell them since I’ve only had the car for 9 months. I tried to turn the car back on and the dash said battery discharging due to electrical and it turned off before I could read the last word. Tonight checking my email blue link sent an email stating a possible condition with the engine control system. The vehicle was towed to the dealership where I bought the car.

Driving at 60 mph. Car stopped responding to accelerator. I was forced to pull off the road. Not a safe situation due to traffic. Turned off car and restarted. The car would then accelerate normally.. There was an error logged stating that " A possible condition with your Engine Control Module has been detected. A full system check is recommended to be done soon. Please consult your your local dealership to schedule an appointment. This is a common problem occurring on numerous Santa Cruzs.

Hyundia Santa Cruz was purchased Aug of 2021 and it has 5,655 miles on it. After making a stop, sometimes the Santa Cruz does not want to accelerate when pressing down on the accelerator pedal. While pushing more on the accelerator pedal to make the vehicle move, after a second or three elapses while still pressing on the accelerator will cause the vehicle to suddenly lurch forward at a rate of speed too fast and I have to immediately slam on the brakes to regain control of the forward motion of the vehicle to avoid hitting the vehicle in front of me. I took the vehicle to a dealership today (9/16/22). No codes or errors were found by computer check or by a technician driving the vehicle. Dealer comment on the paperwork "Unable to verify concern at this time". Next comment on paperwork, "There is a software update that will remedy this concern". I refused the software update, as I have read numerous comments from online forums of customers having issues after dealership upgraded software. If they are unable to verify the concern, how does the dealership know the software update will remedy the issue that they cannot verify the vehicle has. Dealership paperwork also states, "Shifting issue will continue if software is not updated". It is NOT a shifting issue; it is an uncontrollable/unreliable acceleration issue. This vehicle will be put in storage on 10/18/22 and not taken out of storage until mid-May of 2023. In May of 2023 I will investigate the software update in hopes that Hyundia will have a more stable software update.

When pulling out onto a major HWY, the vehicle lost power. Vehicle acted like it was in "neutral" but engine wouldn't rev when pressing gas and rpm was bottomed out. Vehicle then would not shift out correctly.

While driving down the road the transmission went out of gear and I lost all power to the wheels. After pulling over and trying to shift from park and back to gear it wouldn’t go into gear and I was left stranded on the side of the road at midnight after work.

On June 21, 2022 around 10:55AM, while driving in the center lane on I-75, close to Ocala, Florida, warning sounds and a message on the panel indicated, "Warning, stop the vehicle intermediately" . Doing 70MPH on heavy traffic with a huge truck to my right and cars doing over 70MPH on the left lane, the engine stopped responding with no acceleration to safely reach the emergency lane. The following seconds were simply very scary when all of a sudden my car was loosing speed quickly exposing me to be hit by cars that I'm sure were not ready for my deceleration. I was simply lucky to quickly coast to the edge of the road. Called Hyundai road assistance and after 5 hours on this black car, under sun and over 94°F a tow truck arrived. After 10 weeks, the car is still waiting for a new transmission at Jenkins Hyundai of Ocala, Florida.

Problem 1 - The vehicle has stalled twice at low speed (less than 5 mph). Both times I had just pulled away from a parking space, coasting (or slowing) before a STOP sign and the vehicle dies. It beeps loudly, says shift to Neutral and restart. It did restart both times. This happened both times while being in SMART mode. I drove it about a month in NORMAL mode between stalls and the issue did not happen. Maybe a coincidence, maybe not. I have had the Santa Cruz less than 2 months. Problem 2 - While accelerating away from a stop, it seems the vehicle revs and does not accelerate, almost like it is not in gear.

I have had this vehicle for less than 2 months, and the engine started knocking after about 800 miles. This seems to occur after putting about 100+ miles on the car throughout the day, letting it rest for a few hours between the long driving sessions. The knock occurs on first start up the next day. This is my second Santa Cruz that I have had in 3 months, as the first one did the same thing and they stated the engine has failed. Multiple calls to corporate and dealership visits and the issue is still occurring.