Which parts fail
Components named in complaints (doors, hood, frame, rust, paint and trim).
Mileage when the problem started
Owner reports
Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
I have a white 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport. About 5 years after having the car, my cars paint started to peel and now rust. I talked to the dealer and they said the warranty for paint on my car is up. Recently I have discovered new articles, multiple facebook groups and forums discussing the same issue. When I drive around, almost all white Hyundai's are having a similar issue. Reached out to Hyundai and the denied the issue is due to them, even though every body shop I have taken the car to ensures me it is a manufacture defect. There are also people out there who have been lucky enough to get Hyundai to get the car repainted even though they are out of warranty. The pictures provided due no show the most up to date peeling. There are small spots that are starting on the side of the car.
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.
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.
Driving in the far left lane on the interstate at roughly 55 MPH I attempted to avoid a drifting car as I corrected the steering wheel and accelerator failed to respond. As a result I struck a vehicle stopped on the shoulder of the interstate. The airbags in the other vehicle deployed. The airbags in my vehicle did not deploy. The front end collision was bad enough that the SUV was declared a total loss. The adjuster also found that the firewall had split and appeared to be faulty. Due to the airbags not deploying during the collision I suffered a concussion and various other injuries as well as loss of hours at work, loss of pay, medical bills and expenses in addition to owning money on my car loan as the insurance did not cover the cost of the loan.
While driving home, my vehicle began to make clunking noises, while in the process of exiting the highway, for safety reasons, the car cut off on the exit ramp. Before attempting to restart the vehicle; a passerby shouted that the vehicle was on fire. Upon exiting the vehicle the police were on the scene and extinguished the fire. The vehicle was then towed to a local body shop to await a tow to my place of residence.
I was driving down a two lane road about noon on dec. 22. The temperature was about 70. I was going approximately 60 MPH. I was not turning, just going straight down the road. It sounded like there was an explosion. I pulled off the road as the glass sunroof shattered and fell in on my daughter and me. There was no other car near me. Nothing hit my car. I called Hyundai was told that it wasn't covered by them and would be my responsibility to have fixed. I was stuck on the side of the road with the glass literally falling in on us. I closed the cover and we drove very slowly (about 15 miles) to a place where we could vacuum up the glass. It was in both the front and back seats. We cut our hands trying to clean it up but we had no choice. The glass continued to fall as we drove and rain was predicted. …
Vehicle spontaneously burned in a ski area parking lot in maine. Fire started at rear left (driver's side) of car. The car was driven approximately 15 minutes in the morning and parked for over 4 hours when local police and fire were notified of a car burning. By the time I returned to the car, the fire had been extinguished. Although no cause of origin was determined, it appears the fire ignited from an electrical issue in the rear left. The back half of the vehicle was heavily damaged. Much of my personal property was salvageable and any bags which burned/melted did so from the outside in, a further indication that the vehicle fire started with a vehicle issue. It was the first day the car experienced above freezing temps in about 3 weeks. …
Recall 17V358000 (issued 6/30/2017) for secondary hood latch not securing hood and causing hoods to fly open if the primary is not properly secured. Vehicle serviced 8/21/2017 (53,633 miles). Recently went for an emissions test. Technician pulled the primary hood release but neglected to open/close the hood. Accelerated on a secondary road up to approx. 35 MPH and my hood flew open. Dvr showed the technician released but did not open/close the hood. Shop accepted liability and auto body shop is replacing/painting hood/pillars. Inspection of the secondary hood latch found the release handle and latch to be seized in the open position due to corrosion. The recall "fix" did not fix anything. Hyundai corporate notified (case: 16847464). Current odometer is 100,418 miles. Incident occurred 2/20/2020. No injuries. $3,000+ in damages per invoice. …
Starting approximately two months after purchasing my vehicle, June 2017, my paint has been steadily chipping off of my car, mostly in the front area (hood, roof, sides of hood). As you will see in the video, touching the paint makes it chip off. It started out as just a couple of chips and has steadily turned into large pieces of missing paint especially after taking road trips of more than two hours, I notice a big difference. I tried to load a video so that you can see, all I have to do is touch the large spot on the right side of my hood and the paint literally falls off.
Vehicle has panoramic sunroof. On 5/22/17 my wife was traveling on the interstate at approximately 6:30 am and the sunroof glass shattered and blew out. There were no foreign objects involved. This is already a known problem on Hyundai veloster. And also to my knowledge there is a pending class action lawsuit regarding this type of failure. Fortunately my wife was able to pull off of the freeway quickly and no one was injured.
Body complaints in other Santa Fe years
Frequently asked questions
How common are body problems on the 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe?
NHTSA has 20 complaints about the body & structure of the 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe, 4% of the model year's 493 complaints. The component named most often is body (20 mentions).
Is there a recall for 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe body problems?
No. NHTSA lists no body & structure recall for the 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe, though it has 3 recalls for other components. If the problem is widespread, a repair may still be covered by an extended warranty or a manufacturer service bulletin — ask a dealer.
At what mileage do 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe body problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 59,000 miles, and 23% before 25,000 miles.
Is it dangerous?
Owners linked 2 crashes, 2 fires and 5 injuries to body & structure problems on this model year. If you notice symptoms, have the car checked before driving further.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.