Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid Transmission Problems

Transmission complaints by model year

Mileage when the problem started

• Under 25k
  267%
• 25k–50k
  133%
• 50k–75k
  00%
• 75k–100k
  00%
• 100k–150k
  00%
• 150k+
  00%

What owners report

The contact owns a 2025 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that while driving approximately 65 MPH, the vehicle unexpectedly decelerated to 25 MPH with a "Vehicle Will Shut Down" warning message displayed. The contact stated that the engine then began to shut down, and although the accelerator pedal was depressed, the vehicle failed to accelerate and stalled. The failure occurred on multiple occasions, requiring the vehicle to be towed each time. The vehicle was towed to the dealer; the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired and the contact was informed that the failure could not be duplicated. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and multiple cases were opened, The failure mileage was approximately 3,300.

Vehicle was turned on and in park. I placed my child in the back seat, opened the driver door and was able to enter the vehicle. The car began to roll down the driveway, while in park, and ran me over. It continued to roll backwards into a tree and was stopped by rolling into my neighbors home.

While driving on the highway the vehicle lost power and then lowered the transmission gear and would not accelerate over 17mph regardless of pressure on accelerator. I switched from auto hybrid mode over to sport mode so the gasoline engine could be used yet the transmission would not increase power to the tires. I stopped several times and restarted with no corrections. Vehicle battery drained quickly and vehicle alarm told me to pull over to charge battery. Sat for a few minutes to charge battery, put in drive and vehicle went forward to 17-20 mph and would not go any faster. Pedal was to the floor. The vehicle then gave several alarm lights and system failures. I limped the car home and called roadside assistance. Tried to put car in reverse for an easy tow and the car wouldn't move in reverse.

When accelerating from a stop, the transmission fails to engage causing the engine to rev but not allow for movement until the gas pedal is disengaged then engaged again. This happens sporadically and I have not been able to find a pattern or reason for this issue. I have reported this to Hyundai and taken the vehicle in but the dealership was unable to reproduce the issue after driving the vehicle for 20 miles. This is a safety issue as the vehicle does not always accelerate as expected from a stop and could potentially cause an accident.

The issue I'm about to describe has occurred multiple times during the seven (7) months I've owned the vehicle - including again today. In all cases, I was attempting gradual acceleration to merge onto a highway or high-traffic street (e.g., when exiting a mall parking lot onto a busy city street). When I press the accelerator nothing happens - NO power whatsoever for at least two seconds! And on three of these occasions, I was almost broadsided by oncoming high-speed traffic! I've reported this issue to my dealership (both sales and service) and their response was that this is a known problem with the Hyundai hybrid models BUT that there is NO fix available nor, to the best of their knowledge, is there one in the process of being developed! …

It started in April 2024. After the dealership performed an oil change we heard a strange noise whenever we accelerated. The dealership said it was either the transmission or the hybrid motor and both were on back order (usually an indicator that these parts are in great demand). After several weeks both parts arrived but they only replaced the transmission because that took care of the noise. A few days after we got the car back, we heard a clunking sound whenever we shifted. I tried to take the car to a different dealership but they said we had to return to the place that installed the transmission because bolts were missing. We went back to that dealership and they said no bolts were missing but they did need to be tightened. After that the clunking stopped, however, the next day we started experiencing other problems. …

The contact owns a 2022 Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid. The contact stated while shifting into reverse (R) and depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle hesitated and responded slowly. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that she then shifted into drive(D) and was able to drive; however, the failure recurred while driving and depressed the accelerator pedal. Additionally, the contact stated that the vehicle failed to exceed an unknown speed while driving. The contact stated that she had parked the vehicle and allowed the vehicle to run for 20 minutes. The contact stated that she then turned off and restarted the vehicle, and the vehicle responded as needed while driving. The dealer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the next availability for diagnostic testing was in a month. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. …

2022 Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid. This incident has occurred twice at the time of this write up. Both incidents have happened on the first start up of the vehicle engine for the day in the early morning (on the way to work). The temperature outside was cool (10-35 degrees, Maine). On at least one occasion it had rained during the night before using the vehicle. It may have been damp on the other occasion as well. After about 3 miles of driving the vehicle it completely loses power. No amount of movement to the accelerator changes the sudden loss of all power. This is a hybrid and the battery gauge below charge/economy/power rpm area of the vehicle starts to completely and instantaneously drain to what would be zero had I not been able to pull the vehicle over and turn the vehicle off. …