← New search

2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz

Owner reports · Recalls · Investigations

More warning signs than most Santa Cruz years

Owner complaints for the 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz are substantially higher than the model-year median of 35.

About this comparison →

When problems were reported

Mileage at the reported incident

Limited mileage data: 21 of 183 reports include usable mileage. There isn’t enough coverage to show a useful chart.

NHTSA’s mileage field refers to the reported incident, not necessarily the filing date. This shows report counts, not the likelihood of a failure.

What to inspect

Issues worth paying extra attention to based on owner reports.

  • Power Train. Review the 90 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
  • Engine. Review the 50 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
  • Electrical System. Review the 21 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →

NHTSA owner reports · September 18, 2026 snapshot.

5 crash reports1 fire reports4 injury reports

Unknown Or Other complaints

35 reports
Clear category filter
Mileage unknown · Oct 7, 2022
Electrical SystemUnknown Or Other

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 dealersh…

Read full complaint

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.

NHTSA ODI #11488348

Mileage unknown · Sep 15, 2022
Fuel/propulsion SystemPower TrainUnknown Or Other

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.

NHTSA ODI #11484633

Mileage unknown · Jul 25, 2022
EnginePower TrainUnknown Or Other

During the 6 months since I've purchased this vehicle, the power has intermittently, stalled upon pulling off from a traffic light, or excellerating onto the freeway, or while turning and pulling up onto a supermarket's parking lot. It revs up loudly, but without any power nor excelleration, without any warning. I'm always afrai…

Read full complaint

During the 6 months since I've purchased this vehicle, the power has intermittently, stalled upon pulling off from a traffic light, or excellerating onto the freeway, or while turning and pulling up onto a supermarket's parking lot. It revs up loudly, but without any power nor excelleration, without any warning. I'm always afraid that someone will run into my rear end because drivers behind me have no way of knowing that my car has suddenly stopped being able to excellerate. It keeps making the loud noise as if it's no longer in Drive, or the right gear as I'm pressing down on the excellerator peddle. It does this for approximately 10 seconds each time that it has happened. Had car in for service, first maintenance appointment, and for them to find out what's causing the transmission to keep failing, and to correct it, last Thursday, on 7/21/22. I was told that everything checked out okay, and that they drove the car, and couldn't reproduce the transmission problem that I've been having. Well, everything is clearly not okay, whether it's intermittent or not. This is very dangerous, but unfortunately, I can't will this to happen at any specific time, that I'm able to get a service appointment, in order for it be reproduced by the technician. I left the dealership with no resolution to my most important reason for scheduling the service appointment. I left with an oil change, tire rotation, a fluid level top off, but was notified that now, I had a screw in one of my tires. Then, the very next day, I experienced it happen again. I'm very concerned, each time I drive my new car, about the potential for this sudden loss of power. This is extremely unsafe, scary, and anxiety producing. I should be enjoying my new car. I've searched Santa Cruz owners forums and other sites, to see if other owners are experiencing the same, or similar problems with their vehicle. Some say they've reported the concerns to dealership and to the manufacturer, with no response. Please help!

NHTSA ODI #11475623

Mileage unknown · Jul 16, 2022
Power TrainUnknown Or OtherVehicle Speed Control

My 2022 Santa Cruz experienced an apparent fault of the automatic transmission control during operation on a ~20 mile trip including city and highway driving. Weather was low 80s and dry. Symptoms were sluggish and delayed upshifting; loss of acceleration power. The issue was most noticeable while attempting to accelerate uphill…

Read full complaint

My 2022 Santa Cruz experienced an apparent fault of the automatic transmission control during operation on a ~20 mile trip including city and highway driving. Weather was low 80s and dry. Symptoms were sluggish and delayed upshifting; loss of acceleration power. The issue was most noticeable while attempting to accelerate uphill; several times the vehicle topped out at 25-30 mph when going uphill and failed to accelerate further. As one of these occurred during moderate traffic while entering a highway on-ramp, I think this is a serious safety issue. I was able to pull to the side and eventually regained control of up/downshifting by placing the transmission shift lever in manual control - fortunately the transmission seemed to respond to manual up/down shifting and I was able to eventually accelerate to a safe highway speed (65mph). After a short ~2 mile drive on the highway I got off on the next exit and when stopped at the end of the exit ramp, turned the vehicle off and on. Following restarting the vehicle, automatic shifting seemed to operate correctly for the remainder of my travel (another ~20 miles of driving). During this malfunction I did not see any unusual indicator / warning lights on the dash or any indication that the vehicle wasn't in normal automatic driving mode. Reporting features such as the "vehicle health report" indicate that the vehicle had no issues, diagnostic messages or service due.

NHTSA ODI #11474243

10,200 miles · Jul 1, 2022
EnginePower TrainUnknown Or Other

The contact owns a 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz. The contact stated while driving at undisclosed speeds, the vehicle lost motive power and failed to shift into gear. The contact was able to pull over and restart the vehicle. The “Stop Vehicle Immediately” message was displayed. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer but the vehicl…

Read full complaint

The contact owns a 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz. The contact stated while driving at undisclosed speeds, the vehicle lost motive power and failed to shift into gear. The contact was able to pull over and restart the vehicle. The “Stop Vehicle Immediately” message was displayed. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 10,200.

NHTSA ODI #11472012

Mileage unknown · Apr 9, 2022
Unknown Or Other

Several times, when sitting at a stop sign or red light, I will press on the gas’s to go forward. The engine revs, the rpm’s go very high but there is little forward exceleration. This one time almost caused an accident as a car almost hit me because I could not make the car move faster. I have had the truck for just over tw…

Read full complaint

Several times, when sitting at a stop sign or red light, I will press on the gas’s to go forward. The engine revs, the rpm’s go very high but there is little forward exceleration. This one time almost caused an accident as a car almost hit me because I could not make the car move faster. I have had the truck for just over two months and has happened many times.

NHTSA ODI #11460237

Mileage unknown · Mar 25, 2022
Unknown Or Other

Sudden loss of power. I was pulling away from a traffic light. I stepped on the throttle and found the engine unable to respond. I had just enough power to reach 20 MPH. The engine never quit. No warnings or cautions were displayed. Pulled over and shut off the vehicle. Did a quick visual inspection and found nothing out of plac…

Read full complaint

Sudden loss of power. I was pulling away from a traffic light. I stepped on the throttle and found the engine unable to respond. I had just enough power to reach 20 MPH. The engine never quit. No warnings or cautions were displayed. Pulled over and shut off the vehicle. Did a quick visual inspection and found nothing out of place Waited a few minutes, restarted and all is back to normal operating condition.

NHTSA ODI #11458360

Mileage unknown · Mar 4, 2022
Unknown Or Other

Engine shut off on its own at low speed (4 mph) while driving in a parking lot and a warning light indicated to put the car in neutral and restart the engine.

NHTSA ODI #11455145

Mileage unknown · Mar 2, 2022
Unknown Or Other

While driving on a surface street, engine stopped responding while pressing the accelerator. Vehicle would not go faster than 28mph. Once turned off and restarted, engine acted normally. Vehicle is less than 1 week old with approximately 200 miles. This appears to be the same problem mentioned by multiple Santa Cruz owners on th…

Read full complaint

While driving on a surface street, engine stopped responding while pressing the accelerator. Vehicle would not go faster than 28mph. Once turned off and restarted, engine acted normally. Vehicle is less than 1 week old with approximately 200 miles. This appears to be the same problem mentioned by multiple Santa Cruz owners on the following forum: https://www.santacruzforums.com/threads/loss-of-power-as-others-had.9477

NHTSA ODI #11454929

Mileage unknown · Feb 23, 2022
Unknown Or Other

I accelerated at 10mph, the engine rpm's increased to 3000rpm but the vehicle speed did not increase. After I stopped at a stop sign the car accelerated normally. I did not restart the car. The car was in NORMAL mode.

NHTSA ODI #11453685

Official recalls

4

23V181000 · Trailer Hitches

Mar 17, 2023

Hyundai Motor America (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2019-2023 Santa Fe, 2021-2023 Santa Fe HEV, 2022-2023 Santa Fe Plug-in HEV and Santa Cruz vehicles potentially equipped with a tow hitch harness installed as original equipment, or purchased as an accessory through a Hyundai dealership. Water accumulation on the tow hitch harness module printed circuit board (PCB) may cause an electrical short, which can result in a fire.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: A fire while parked or driving can increase the risk of injury.

Remedy: Owners are advised to park their vehicles outside and away from structures until the remedy is completed. Dealers will install a new fuse and wire extension kit as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed starting May 16, 2023. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1-855-371-9460. Hyundai's number for this recall is 244. This recall is an expansion of previous recall number 22V-633.

23V038000 · Structure:body:roof And Pillars; Structure:critical Fasteners

Jan 31, 2023

Hyundai Motor America (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2022 Tucson and 2022-2023 Santa Cruz vehicles. The roof moldings may detach.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: A detached roof molding could become a road hazard, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy: Dealers will inspect and replace, or secure the roof moldings, as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed March 30, 2023. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1-855-371-9460. Hyundai's number for this recall is 241.

Additional source detail variants (2)

Structure:critical Fasteners

Hyundai Motor America (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2022 Tucson and 2022-2023 Santa Cruz vehicles. The roof moldings may detach.

Consequence: A detached roof molding could become a road hazard, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy: Dealers will inspect and replace, or secure the roof moldings, as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed March 30, 2023. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1-855-371-9460. Hyundai's number for this recall is 241.

Structure:body:roof And Pillars

Hyundai Motor America (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2022 Tucson and 2022-2023 Santa Cruz vehicles. The roof moldings may detach.

Consequence: A detached roof molding could become a road hazard, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy: Dealers will inspect and replace, or secure the roof moldings, as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed March 30, 2023. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1-855-371-9460. Hyundai's number for this recall is 241.

22V746000 · Power Train:automatic Transmission

Oct 6, 2022

Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2021-2022 Santa Fe, Sonata, Veloster N, 2022 Santa Cruz, Elantra N, and Kona N vehicles. The vehicle's "fail-safe" limited-mobility drive mode may be impaired, when prompted by a transmission oil pump malfunction, which can result in a complete loss of drive power.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: Loss of drive power increases the risk of a crash.

Remedy: Dealers will inspect and replace the transmission, as necessary. Dealers will also update the transmission control unit software. All repairs will be performed free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed January 10, 2023. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1-855-371-9460. Hyundai's number for this recall is 236.

22V197000 · Engine And Engine Cooling:engine:gasoline:turbo/supercharger; Engine And Engine Cooling:engine:oil/lubrication:pipes, Hoses, And Fittings

Mar 28, 2022

Hyundai Motor America (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2022 Santa Fe and Santa Cruz vehicles. The oil supply pipe to the turbocharger may crack, which could result in an oil leak in the engine compartment.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: An oil leak in the presence of an ignition source such as hot engine or exhaust components, can increase the risk of a fire.

Remedy: Dealers will replace the turbocharger oil supply pipe, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed May 26, 2022. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1-855-371-9460. Hyundai's number for this recall 222.

Additional source detail variants (2)

Engine And Engine Cooling:engine:oil/lubrication:pipes, Hoses, And Fittings

Hyundai Motor America (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2022 Santa Fe and Santa Cruz vehicles. The oil supply pipe to the turbocharger may crack, which could result in an oil leak in the engine compartment.

Consequence: An oil leak in the presence of an ignition source such as hot engine or exhaust components, can increase the risk of a fire.

Remedy: Dealers will replace the turbocharger oil supply pipe, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed May 26, 2022. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1-855-371-9460. Hyundai's number for this recall 222.

Engine And Engine Cooling:engine:gasoline:turbo/supercharger

Hyundai Motor America (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2022 Santa Fe and Santa Cruz vehicles. The oil supply pipe to the turbocharger may crack, which could result in an oil leak in the engine compartment.

Consequence: An oil leak in the presence of an ignition source such as hot engine or exhaust components, can increase the risk of a fire.

Remedy: Dealers will replace the turbocharger oil supply pipe, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed May 26, 2022. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1-855-371-9460. Hyundai's number for this recall 222.

Model-level recall history does not show whether a particular VIN is affected or has received a repair. Check a VIN with NHTSA ↗

NHTSA investigations

0

No exact-year investigations in this snapshot.