2026 Hyundai Santa Fe Safety Report

Seats

3 owner complaints mention this component in the current safety profile.

Visibility/Wiper

2 owner complaints mention this component in the current safety profile.

Forward Collision Avoidance,Lane Departure

1 owner complaint mention this component in the current safety profile.

Tires

1 owner complaint mention this component in the current safety profile.

Power Train,Electrical System,Engine

1 owner complaint mention this component in the current safety profile.

Steering

1 owner complaint mention this component in the current safety profile.

Issues with the instrument cluster and navigation display panel have been reported.

Recalls have been issued for potential airbag malfunctions.

The power-fold feature for the middle row has been reported as dangerous.

Squeaky noises have been reported when rotating the steering wheel.

Summary: Hyundai Motor America (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2025-2026 Tucson Hybrid, Tucson Plug-In Hybrid Electric (PHEV), 2026 IONIQ 5, Santa Cruz, Kona, Palisade, Palisade Hybrid, Santa Fe, Santa Fe Hybrid, Sonata, Sonata Hybrid, and Tucson vehicles. Due to a software error, the instrument panel display may fail. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 101, "Controls and Displays."

Consequence: An instrument panel display that fails to show critical safety information, such as the speedometer or warning lights, increases the risk of a crash.

Remedy: The instrument panel display software will be updated over-the-air (OTA) or by a dealer, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed March 27, 2026. Owners may contact Hyundai's customer service at 855-371-9460. Hyundai's number for this recall is 293. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall became searchable on NHTSA.gov on January 28, 2026.

Summary: Hyundai Motor America (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2025 Tucson, 2025-2026 Santa Cruz, Santa Fe, Santa Fe Hybrid, and 2026 Genesis GV70 vehicles. The side curtain air bags may not have been installed properly, which can cause the air bags not to deploy as intended.

Consequence: Side curtain air bags that do not deploy as intended increase the risk of injury in a crash.

Remedy: Dealers will reinstall the side curtain air bags, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed beginning December 29, 2025. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1-855-371-9460. Hyundai's numbers for this recall are 289 and 029G. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall became searchable on NHTSA.gov on November 22, 2025.

Summary: Hyundai Motor America (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2025-2026 Tucson and Santa Fe vehicles. The connecting rod bolts in the engine may have been improperly tightened, which can cause a loss of drive power and engine damage, possibly resulting in an oil leak.

Consequence: A loss of drive power increases the risk of a crash. An oil leak in the presence of hot engine components can increase the risk of an engine compartment fire.

Remedy: Dealers will replace the engine, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed October 23, 2025. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1-855-371-9460. Hyundai's number for this recall is 281.

My 2026 Hyundai Santa Fe has a dangerous power-fold feature for the middle row. This problem is making headlines in another model, the Hyundai Palisade, and for good reason. Why isn't the Santa Fe included in the recall(s) that are intended to correct the problem in the Palisade? In my vehicle, the second row has two seats (captain's chairs). The power-fold feature is the only way to fold the ...

vehicle unable to determine when a passenger is seated with seatbelt fastened in 2nd row captains chairs and the ‘one-touch’ tilt-and-slide button is pressed. The seat will keep folding and crushing the passenger. This is a known issue with the Hyundai Palisade at this time and is affecting my vehicle as well. Please have Hyundai issue a recall immediately. My teenage son was in the seat at the ti...

The contact owns a 2026 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that while attempting to adjust the front driver's seat, the second-row passenger’s side seat engaged unintendedly. The child was seated in the booster seat, and the main seat started to fold down. The contact was unaware that the seat had been activated, but was able to stop the seat from fully folding. The child was unharmed. The deale...

Pirelli Scorpion MS (size 255/45R20)

"TAKE A BREAK" - the feature prompts the driver to “Take a Break” with that text and a‘Coffee Cup” logo after a certain period of continuous driving. There are instances when turning it off is necessary and Hyundai has removed that option - high distracting false alarm rate. The alert, visual and auditory are intrusive, unnecessary, demonstrate a high false alarm rate leading to frustration an...

After turning off the radio with the push button control the instrument cluster and navigation display panel went completely dead black. After pushing multiple buttons several times the panel came back to life. This has not yet been reported to the dealer. On 12/12/2025 this same vehicle also experienced faulty engine / power train components which required replacement @1199 miles. Throttle bod...

A brand new Santa Fe Hybrid AWD SEL(less than 2500 miles) makes squeaky noises when rotating the steering wheel to the counter clock wise. It is very annoying and frustrating. Due to the noise I can't fully concentrate to driving the car. Brought the vehicle to a local dealer and they would not do anything about it.

The vehicle has a feature that puts a message on the dashboard that reads “Consider taking a break “ that is not able to be adjusted by the consumer or the dealer. This message can come up repeatedly and has an audio portion that overrides the audio in the vehicle. Weather conditions, back roads, and unmarked lanes of traffic will trigger this message and without the ability to adjust the sensit...

2026 Hyundai Santa Fe - Front windshield had spontaneous horizontal crack about 8" on driver side WHILE PARKED WITH NO IMPACT. Car is new with NO ROCK CHIPS. Our winter nights were about 15-25 degrees and the crack would spread WHILE PARKED overnight. Within a week it spread to 24" while trying to get the dealer to agree that this is a warranty issue with no luck. Was told it is NOT a warranty iss...

It was snowing lightly/moderately, and prior to driving, the windshield was cleared with snow and the wipers set to Low. Once driving began, the wipers stopped working on multiple occasions for a brief period each time, before resuming on their own. During the period that the wipers stopped, the snow accumulation on the windshield caused poor visibility and potential danger to our car as well as o...

The car was brought to the dealership where it was purchased. The right rear passenger window exploded while on the highway; the pieces then shattered and fell into the child safety seat installed. There were no other vehicles around as I was driving and the temperature inside the car and outside were about the same. There were no warnings and there was no abnormal noises or flexing prior to the w...

I engaged the adaptive cruise control at 50 MPH. This enabled the driver attention system which I had turned off at the start of my drive. The driver attention system is unable to see my eyes through my prescription corrective lenses. This caused the Hyundai to throw multiple 'failure to control vehicle/failure to watch road' warnings over the course of a few seconds; culminating with the system t...

The contact owns a 2026 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that while attempting to clean the front windshield, the contact noticed that the windshield washer fluid only sprayed approximately 2-3 inches from the lower section of the front windshield, which prevented the contact from cleaning the windshield adequately and created a visibility hazard for the driver. The local dealer was contacted ...

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has identified the presence of substandard and dangerous driver’s-side airbag inflators manufactured by Jilin Province Detiannuo Automobile Safety System Co., Ltd. (DTN). These inflators were not supplied, approved, or authorized by the vehi...

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued an urgent safety advisory regarding dangerous, counterfeit driver‑side airbag inflators manufactured by Jilin Province Detiannuo Automobile Safety System Co., Ltd. (DTN), that have been identified in U.S. vehicles following prior ...

Some vehicles may exhibit a loss of connectivity or interruptions in the middle of using Bluelink functions. This may be due to an occasional disconnection on Verizon’s communication network. Follow the procedures in this bulletin to verify Bluelink Data Communication Unit (DCU) network connection a...

Certain Santa Fe (MX5A) vehicles may experience battery drain and inoperative heated seat capacitive touch buttons due to incorrect ECU logic for the Seat Heater Unit – Front (SHU_FRT). This bulletin provides instructions to perform a software update for the Seat Heater Unit – Front to correct the l...

Certain Santa Fe (MX5A) and Santa Fe Hybrid (MX5A HEV) vehicles may experience battery drain and inoperative heated seat capacitive touch buttons due to incorrect ECU logic for the Seat Heater Unit – Front (SHU_FRT). Technical Service Bulletins (TSBs) 25-01-025H-1 and 25-01-028H-1 provides instructi...

This bulletin provides information regarding condensation related to the accumulated moisture in the headlamp, rear combination lamp, daytime running lamp (DRL), or fog lamp. This TSB illustrates the various causes of condensation inside the lamp assembly. Lamp assembly replacement is NOT necessary ...