Tap a category to read its complaints. One report may name several components.
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
What owners actually said
183 reports
Mileage unknown · May 12, 2022
Electrical SystemExterior Lighting
2022 Santa Cruz 764 miles. Washed vehicle April 1st with hose, water & soap bubbles in grill of DRL. I was told that its a lens cover & not the LED DRL, but it collects and holds water & soap. I can't clean in there. Field service engineer came out, deamed normal by Hyundai, grill & lens are not sealed. Unacceptable, water coll…
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2022 Santa Cruz 764 miles. Washed vehicle April 1st with hose, water & soap bubbles in grill of DRL. I was told that its a lens cover & not the LED DRL, but it collects and holds water & soap. I can't clean in there. Field service engineer came out, deamed normal by Hyundai, grill & lens are not sealed. Unacceptable, water collecting by electrical component. Can't get behind lens cover to clean. Eventually im going to have a film in there, and DRL won't work as they should. If soap and water get in now, what happens during winter when it gets road spray from rock salt melting snow and ice turn things to a slush? Who's going to clean that? What happens when the water turns to ice? I mentioned windshield gets foggy and has to be cleaned inside, I was told to use my defroster to clean it. There is no defroster in grill. I'm seeing water collect by an electrical component and soap during a wash. Thats now, the winter road spray won't be as kind. Those are not individual lights, it's one component of 4 lights. The longer this goes on, the effectiveness of those lights will go down. That's not gonna help me at night. Those lights are expensive and you have to have the entire panel replaced. Im not a mechanic or body & fender man. Who's going to pay for that? But, the big question is, "why aren't these lights sealed?
NHTSA ODI #11464351
Mileage unknown · May 6, 2022
Power Train
On March 31, 2022 my Hyundai Santa Cruz SEL Premium flashed a warning to pull over immediately. The engine lost power. I had the gas pedal floored but it wouldn't move. I stopped in the middle of the road, shut the car off and turned it on again 3 times before getting the car to drive. The car sent an email saying it was a tran…
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On March 31, 2022 my Hyundai Santa Cruz SEL Premium flashed a warning to pull over immediately. The engine lost power. I had the gas pedal floored but it wouldn't move. I stopped in the middle of the road, shut the car off and turned it on again 3 times before getting the car to drive. The car sent an email saying it was a transmission problem. I called the dealership and had it picked up. They determined it was a bad chip on a pump for the transmission. Three weeks later, after numerous attempts to get an update, the dealership told me the Hyundai Corporation wouldn't allow the pump to be replaced. The dealership has to replace the entire transmission. The estimated date of arrival to California is June 16th! Then it will have to be shipped to Hawaii. This is infuriating. I leased the car 10/16/21 and it only has 2799 miles on it.
NHTSA ODI #11463574
Mileage unknown · Apr 26, 2022
Exterior Lighting
The low beam headlight position creates a "shadow shelf" in the middle of the windshield making visibility poor while using only the low beams. This is made worse in inclement weather. This is a hazard as the illuminated area distance is drastically less than that of most other vehicles.
NHTSA ODI #11462198
Mileage unknown · Apr 24, 2022
Electrical SystemPower Train
I purchased a 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz, Limited edition. The vehicle went into neutral while driving on a busy highway. There was no forward or reverse gear operation. I had to call the local police to block off the lane till a tow truck arrived. After 60 days the dealer finally located the problem. A ground wire to the transmis…
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I purchased a 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz, Limited edition. The vehicle went into neutral while driving on a busy highway. There was no forward or reverse gear operation. I had to call the local police to block off the lane till a tow truck arrived. After 60 days the dealer finally located the problem. A ground wire to the transmission control module came loose and caused the vehicle transmission to fail. The ground ID Number was GE204 and is located inside the left front fender. This problem took 2800 miles to occur. I feel one ground connection should not cause this type of safety issue.
NHTSA ODI #11461935
Mileage unknown · Apr 19, 2022
Power Train
I was driving in a residential area, and my vehicle indicated that I should pull over immediately. During that time, the shifting was hindered and top speed was limited (below posted speeds). When I stopped, my vehicle would not move forward or backward again. This is the second time that this vehicle has had an issue where i…
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I was driving in a residential area, and my vehicle indicated that I should pull over immediately. During that time, the shifting was hindered and top speed was limited (below posted speeds). When I stopped, my vehicle would not move forward or backward again. This is the second time that this vehicle has had an issue where it would not shift or be able to achieve posted speed (the first time happened on an interstate highway and the top speed was about 40 miles per hour). This failure in being able to maintain appropriate speed and also not moving forward again after stopping is very concerning when in traffic. My vehicle was inspected, the high pressure pump was indicated to be at fault, and the transmission (housing the pump) was replaced.
NHTSA ODI #11461372
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…
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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 · Apr 4, 2022
Engine
E.ngine took longer than normal to start. After starting, I drove 1/4 mile and engine had no power at all. RPM would rev but no power. Pulled over and stopped. Restarted vehicle and everything returned to normal.
NHTSA ODI #11459550
Mileage unknown · Mar 31, 2022
Power Train
This car only has 150 miles on it. At 50 miles an hour the transmission refused to shift & the car RPMs surged with a loss of power. It remained at 5000 rpms with my fott OFF the accelerator. I then needed to manually shift out of automatic it to get it to drop the RPMS start driving again. It was dangerous & another person migh…
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This car only has 150 miles on it. At 50 miles an hour the transmission refused to shift & the car RPMs surged with a loss of power. It remained at 5000 rpms with my fott OFF the accelerator. I then needed to manually shift out of automatic it to get it to drop the RPMS start driving again. It was dangerous & another person might not have known how to get going again & caused a chain reaction accident at highway speeds.
NHTSA ODI #11459153
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…
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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 10, 2022
Exterior Lighting
My Santa Cruz headlights have a dark shadow on the drivers side while driving at night. It is extremely distracting and it can be a danger. The blind spot is very obvious. It can lead the driver to look at the shadow instead of the road as well as a portion of the headlight projection is not illuminating the road. The 2022 Tucso…
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My Santa Cruz headlights have a dark shadow on the drivers side while driving at night. It is extremely distracting and it can be a danger. The blind spot is very obvious. It can lead the driver to look at the shadow instead of the road as well as a portion of the headlight projection is not illuminating the road. The 2022 Tucson has the same front headlight configuration and while searching the Hyundai forum, the same problem exists for that vehicle. This is a constant problem while driving at night.
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.
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.
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.
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.
2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz Problems, Complaints & Recalls | Skip That Year