While driving the vehicle during winter the temperature of the engine dropped due to thermostat failure leading to no heat in the cabin and a check engine light. Vehicle was towed to the dealer as this failure can cause both engine damage and is unsafe for the occupants in freezing temperatures.
2023 Hyundai Santa Cruz
Owner reports · Recalls · Investigations
Similar to other model years
Owner complaints for the 2023 Hyundai Santa Cruz do not stand out strongly from the model-year median of 35.
About this comparison →How this year compares
Owner complaints by model year
Compare all Santa Cruz years →Counts vary with age, sales and reporting. They are not failure rates.
What owners reported most
All reported categories
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: 6 of 79 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 25 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
- Engine. Review the 20 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
- Electrical System. Review the 14 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
NHTSA owner reports · September 18, 2026 snapshot.
Engine complaints
20 reportsRough Idle, Loss of engine power, and cylinder misfire on 2023 Santa Cruize Limited approx. 26,700 miles(currently) purchased new 04-28-2023 at Hyundai in North Knoxville, TN. Vehicle is stored in insulated garage at all times when not in use. 1) Approx. 2k-4k mi vehicle was having rough idling upon start up & have to sit, wait…
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Rough Idle, Loss of engine power, and cylinder misfire on 2023 Santa Cruize Limited approx. 26,700 miles(currently) purchased new 04-28-2023 at Hyundai in North Knoxville, TN. Vehicle is stored in insulated garage at all times when not in use. 1) Approx. 2k-4k mi vehicle was having rough idling upon start up & have to sit, wait several minutes to allow vehicle ample time to warm up like a cold natured, carbureted engine. Dealer was unable to replicate at vehicle service intervals(60 miles away from home). 2) During Oct 23 approx. 24k-25k experienced 3 occurrences of loss of power while accelerating to merge into traffic, toggled through drive modes, put in manual, then back. Power came back each time. 3) 11/12/2023 Second start of the day, immediately upon startup was running extremely rough in idle, very little response. Check engine light is on, made video of issue & documented miles: 26,121. Turned off, then back on, issue was resolved. 4) 11/15/2023 26,373 miles: Second start of the day, same issue described in "#3", extremely rough idle, check engine light, & sounds coming from tailpipe that can be identified as "drone". Opened hood, inspected intake components, removed engine cover to check for burned or odd colored wires to injectors & coil packs, but no evidence of fouled or damaged wires. Turned vehicle off, then back on & the issue cleared. Contacted dealer where purchased, advised to bring vehicle in for diagnostic evaluation. 5) 11/16/2023 26,606 miles: Again, second start of the day, check engine light, extremely rough idle & louder "drone" sound. Left vehicle in the state that it was in, drove to dealer from work(25miles away) to be diagnosed while issues were occurring. While driving vehicle had very little power, experienced odor while driving, shudder, & jolting during accelerations. Diagnostic eval. revealed misfire in cylinder #3, dealer inspected coil packs, wires, & removed spark plug. Currently being serviced, issued loaner by dealer.
Vehicle has multiple engine misfires, resulting from faulty fuel injectors. Unable to maintain speed, vehicle controls become hard to control due to vehicles engine misfires. Vehicle has less ten 20,000 miles. Dealership unable to obtain new fuel injectors due to manufacture not having supply. Vehicle in shop longer for 30 days.…
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Vehicle has multiple engine misfires, resulting from faulty fuel injectors. Unable to maintain speed, vehicle controls become hard to control due to vehicles engine misfires. Vehicle has less ten 20,000 miles. Dealership unable to obtain new fuel injectors due to manufacture not having supply. Vehicle in shop longer for 30 days. Contacted Hyundai USA told that Hyundai knows about problem but has so plan to rectify situation.
Car will not start properly and shuts itself off after which a strong odor of burning plastic is present in the vehicle. It will periodically do this almost once a day if not every other day. I have taken it in to the dealer 4 times last time they had my car for two weeks and could not replicate porblem because they only drive i…
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Car will not start properly and shuts itself off after which a strong odor of burning plastic is present in the vehicle. It will periodically do this almost once a day if not every other day. I have taken it in to the dealer 4 times last time they had my car for two weeks and could not replicate porblem because they only drive it 5 miles and it will not happen unless vehicle is being daily driven. I have found numerous other owners with the same complaint. Hyundai will not authorize shop to work on car and advises them to release it to me each time. They only attempted to fix once and gave it back to me all over times. The car is at the dealer again and they will not work on it till october to try to find the problem again. I will not drive this car due to risk of car deciding to turn it self off or start on fire due to whatever is melting when this happenns car is still at red mcombs northwest as of today.
My issue was that I would press the gas pedal, but once I got to 20 mph the engine would stop giving power and I couldn’t get up to speed. My top speed was 30 mph, even though I would give it gas to speed up. This was the worst after I would come to a stop at a traffic light. As I pressed the gas to gain speed, it would struggle…
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My issue was that I would press the gas pedal, but once I got to 20 mph the engine would stop giving power and I couldn’t get up to speed. My top speed was 30 mph, even though I would give it gas to speed up. This was the worst after I would come to a stop at a traffic light. As I pressed the gas to gain speed, it would struggle to gain speed in the middle of the intersection, causing the cars behind me to be frustrated and aggressively tailgate. I was able to find a parking lot, parked and turned the car off for approximately 20 minutes. After that I turned the car back on, I went for a test drive and there was no problem at all. When this all happened no warning lights came on. Very concerned that this will happen again, as I have no clue what triggered this incident. I have reported this to my dealer, but as this just happened today nothing has been inspected.
The contact owns a 2023 Hyundai Santa Cruz. The contact stated while slowing down at approximately 25 MPH, the vehicle downshifted roughly and would jolt while shifting into gear. The contact stated that the failure had been occurring intermittently. Additionally, the contact stated that the RPMs would remain high while he was a…
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The contact owns a 2023 Hyundai Santa Cruz. The contact stated while slowing down at approximately 25 MPH, the vehicle downshifted roughly and would jolt while shifting into gear. The contact stated that the failure had been occurring intermittently. Additionally, the contact stated that the RPMs would remain high while he was at a complete stop. The contact stated that the RPMs would rise above 3,000 RPM while depressing the brake pedal, and he would turn the vehicle off to stop the engine from revving. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed that the throttle body needed to be replaced. The part was replaced; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken back to the same dealer. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 4,000. The contact stated that the information in this complaint is inaccurate. The manufacturer has resolved the issue now so the contact would like to withdraw this complaint.
Coolant leaking onto engine shield and ground from front a small rock that hit of vehicle radiator. The radiator is not nearly shielded well enough to protect it from rocks and other debris. A 1/4 inch diameter rock struck the front of radiator through grill opening resulting in a leak and possible risk of overheating the …
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Coolant leaking onto engine shield and ground from front a small rock that hit of vehicle radiator. The radiator is not nearly shielded well enough to protect it from rocks and other debris. A 1/4 inch diameter rock struck the front of radiator through grill opening resulting in a leak and possible risk of overheating the engine. The radiator tube size is also made of extremely insufficient material to withstand any impacts. Hyundai dealer and corporate at this time refuse to take any responsibility for this issue and will not warranty the replacement. The car is a 3 month old 2023 Santa Cruz Limited with just over 3,000 miles on it. This is an extremely common issue with a quick google search of the 2022-2023 Santa Cruz.
The car has 1,360 miles and is only a month old since I bought it. Car sat for 8 hours at my work parking lot. When I went to start it it ran rough like an engine misfire for about 10 seconds then normal. When I drove off with engine cold... the transmission would not shift up and was at 4,000 rpms. The accelerator pedal …
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The car has 1,360 miles and is only a month old since I bought it. Car sat for 8 hours at my work parking lot. When I went to start it it ran rough like an engine misfire for about 10 seconds then normal. When I drove off with engine cold... the transmission would not shift up and was at 4,000 rpms. The accelerator pedal was not responsive.. even flooring it yielded no acceleration and the car would not go over 25mph. No check engine lights or trouble lights. I was able to put the automatic into paddle shift mode but the car still did not want to accelerate and when it did it seemed to get stuck at 3500-4000 rpm and no accelerator input. Shut the car off then back on again after I pulled over because the car would not accelerate. - now it is fine with no issues it seems like. Took to the dealer and they could not recreate the issue .. no trouble codes or open flash information available for a fix.
Brand new. I hit the gas trying to pull out onto a busy road and I couldn't go above 30-40Mph. The RPMs went up but the car would not accelerate. I pulled onto a slower road and tried changing gears manually, and different drive modes such as sport or snow. The problem persisted. I shut the vehicle/engine off and started it back…
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Brand new. I hit the gas trying to pull out onto a busy road and I couldn't go above 30-40Mph. The RPMs went up but the car would not accelerate. I pulled onto a slower road and tried changing gears manually, and different drive modes such as sport or snow. The problem persisted. I shut the vehicle/engine off and started it back up. Everything ran perfect after that. I googled "Hyundai Santa Cruz No Power" and came across dozens of post of the 2022 and 2023 model experiencing the same thing. Like me, no warning lights or codes came up on the dash or the smart app which reports errors. This could cause an accident if someone was behind me.
Joined a Santa Cruz Owners blog immediately after purchase. This safety defect involves BOTH the 2022 and 2023 - ALL models. The front grill (especially the lower section) has no mesh and the openings are too big. Road debris entering this area can disable the Engine Cooling System and/or the vehicles Air Conditioning System. …
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Joined a Santa Cruz Owners blog immediately after purchase. This safety defect involves BOTH the 2022 and 2023 - ALL models. The front grill (especially the lower section) has no mesh and the openings are too big. Road debris entering this area can disable the Engine Cooling System and/or the vehicles Air Conditioning System. A protective mesh or screen has to be designed by Hyundai, to fit behind the grill, to deflect large rocks and objects that could disable the motor.
Official recalls
223V181000 · 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.
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
0No exact-year investigations in this snapshot.
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