Owners have filed 1,130 complaints on the Hyundai Santa Fe Sport, covering 2013–2018. The system named most often is Engine (483 reports). Worst years by volume: 2017, 2018, 2013; cleanest: 2016, 2015, 2014. 16 reports describe a crash, 58 a fire. On average the car was 6.1 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Hyundai Santa Fe Sport
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 1,130 Santa Fe Sport complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Engine 483 Read
I own a 2018 Honda Santa Fe it is using oil so fast. I know that there is other people complaining about the oil consumption so my engine just blew up because I had it changed on March 13 brand new oil change and on Monday night the engine blew up.. The people who changed my oil said that there have been a complaint…
The contact owns a 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle stalled with the oil warning light illuminated on the instrument panel. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer who replaced the gasket, engine plug, and replenished the oil. After return of the vehicle,…
The engine on my 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe sport was deemed defective according to Downey Hyundai. They ran a diagnostic test on it and it failed the test. They offered to replace it for me at no cost to me. On December 11, 2025 the engine caught fire while the service technician from Downey Hyundai was “test driving” it…
Service Brakes 172 Read
The contact owned a 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport. The contact stated that while driving 5 MPH, while depressing the brake pedal, the vehicle failed to respond. No warning lights illuminated. The contact pulls over to the right side of the road, exits the vehicle, and notices flames coming from the engine, and smoke…
I rented the vehicle from enterprise rent a car on may 28. It seemed to run fine then and on the morning of may 29. But about 3.45p.m. I was driving on city streets in arcadia to my doctor's appointment when I saw a car ahead of me suddenly put on its brake lights. I pressed my brakes, but my car did not slow. I had…
I submitted a complaint on june 11, #11219391 but have received no response, and it does not show as a filed complaint. Please advise the status of this complaint. Thanks
Power Train 81 Read
I was slowly crossing three traffic lanes and turning left. No one was coming from the right, so I applied the throttle in the inside lane and nothing happened. The car stalled without warning. It left me in the road and I was t-boned in the driver's door. The other driver was injured, and I have had neck issues. We…
The engine was replaced under a recall related to an engine knock code. About two weeks later, the vehicle lost all power while driving. The dealership confirmed a failure in the high-pressure fuel line and that the turbo had failed at the same time. The same visit revealed oil leaks, and shortly after, the vehicle…
Enterprise car sales sold me this vehicle when it had 3 open recalls on it. The vehicle itself was a problem from the beginning. When I took it in for it's first oil change the mechanic told me it had no oil in it. He said they sold me a car that is notorious for consuming oil and or seizing or blowing up. I had the…
Electrical System 67 Read
My husband was driving our vehicle on the highway when the engine began to smoke and the caught fire. Unfortunately it was not able to be saved. We filed a claim with our carrier and are pending an inspection. We looked up our vin and confirmed a fire recall from 2022
The contact owns a 2018 hyundai santa fe sport. While the vehicle was parked and shut off, the rear brake lights were illuminated and smoke and flames were present under the front passenger side of the vehicle. The flames were extinguished by the campus police prior to the fire department's arrival. The fire…
While sitting in park at a restaurant parking lot eating lunch, an Employee noticed smoke coming from my hood area on my vehicle. Upon exiting the vehicle I noticed flames coming from the hood area, The employee attempted to use a fire extinguisher to put out the fire to no avail. Fire department arrived on scene and…
Engine And Engine Cooling 52 Read
The contact owned a 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle in stop-and-go traffic, a burning odor was suddenly present inside the cabin of the vehicle. After stopping the vehicle smoke and flames were coming from under the hood and the fire department was called to the scene…
The contact owns a 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport. The contact stated that while driving approximately 65 MPH and attempting to overtake another vehicle, the vehicle lost automotive power and decelerated with the check engine, battery, and oil warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was parked on the shoulder of the…
The contact owns a 2015 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport. The contact stated that while driving approximately 75 MPH, the vehicle lost motive power and stalled. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer who diagnosed that the engine was faulty and needed to be replaced. After replacing the engine, each time the vehicle was in…
Vehicle Speed Control 27 Read
Vehicle has no acceleration after a stop. When taking off from a stop sign or stop light the vehicle does not respond when stepping on the gas pedal putting our lives in danger of a collision. Seems to happen when switching from eco to normal mode. It has happened multiple times in the short month I have owned it. No…
The contact owns a 2018 hyundai santa fe sport. While the vehicle was stopped at a stop light and attempting to make a left turn, the accelerator pedal was depressed, but the vehicle failed to accelerate and went into idle mode. The contact had to pump the accelerator pedal several times for the vehicle to move. There…
Several incidents of stalling when making turns from stops or yields with slow acceleration. Intermittent incidents, though seem to be more noticeable with a/c running. My hyundai santa fe sport, 2018, AWD, does have approximately 12,000 miles on it. When pulling onto the busy highway near where we live, a left turn…
Structure 23 Read
As I was driving the hood opened breaking the windshield which obstructed my view and caused me to veer off-road and crash.I acquired the vehicle less than a year ago and only learned of a recall for hood latches from the tow truck driver. Afterwards. I had no prior problems with the latch opening and I was not…
After driving the vehicle 15 miles on the highway, we drove on residential street for about 1.5 miles. As I was turning into a parking structure the engine stopped and the vehicle lost power. I glided the vehicle to a red zone no parking area on the street and stopped the vehicle. Black smoke quickly appeared from…
The 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport's body coating is clearly a hazardous manufacturer defect. The paint warranty for this and other models and model years was extended to 5 years late last year, but did not provide us with any safeguard. As a warranty, correction of the defect would only be approved by Hyundai if there…
Air Bags 22 Read
The contact owned a 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact’s son stated that while driving at 45 MPH, the brake pedal depressed with no warning light illuminated. The contact’s son stated that the ABS braking system failed, and the brake pedal did not function when attempting to stop the vehicle. As a result of the…
While driving on US-rt1 in Dinwiddie Va, in my 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport. I was in a collision where a vehicle pulled out in front of me at no fault of my own, and I hit that vehicle going about 47mph. The front nor rear/side air bags deployed. My body slammed into the steering wheel causing severe whiplash as well…
Involved in a crash on 12/30 totally my vehicle being hit in the front right. None of the airbags deployed. Not happy at all , seems to be a common problem with this vehicle
Santa Fe Sport years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Air Bags | 7 | 8 | |
| 2017 | Air Bags | 4 | 7 | |
| 2016 | Air Bags | 3 | 10 | |
| 2015 | Air Bags | 1 | 6 | |
| 2014 | Air Bags, Service Brakes, Engine | — | 13 | |
| 2013 | Air Bags | 1 | 14 |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 450 |
| Average complaints per series | 2.5 |
| Worst single series | 15 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 6.1 years |
A model average of 2.5 hides a worst series at 15. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
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How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,109,349 of them, covering 2,013 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the Santa Fe Sport?
By complaint volume, 2017, 2018, 2013 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which Santa Fe Sport years are the cleanest?
2016, 2015, 2014 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Hyundai Santa Fe Sport have?
1,130 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2013–2018. Of those, 16 describe a crash and 58 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.
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