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2023 Hyundai Santa Fe: engine and transmission complaints

HIGH COMPLAINT SIGNAL
43%
109 of 264 relevant owner complaints are about the engine, transmission or fuel system

43% of relevant owner complaints filed with NHTSA on the 2023 Hyundai Santa Fe are about the engine, transmission or fuel system. That is a model-level pattern, not bad luck.

Worse than 51% of the 1,230 model years we track (2010–2023).

NHTSA data checked September 13, 2026
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Drivetrain complaints
109
engine, transmission, fuel
Total complaints
264
this model year
Fires reported
3
owner-reported
Recall campaigns
1
12 crashes · 17 injuries

Complaints by component

UNKNOWN OR OTHER69 · 26%
POWER TRAIN59 · 22%
ENGINE58 · 22%
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM49 · 19%
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE45 · 17%
SERVICE BRAKES27 · 10%

The years either side

2010
66%
159 of 258
2011
51%
83 of 181
2012
74%
246 of 353
2013
57%
443 of 802
2014
66%
410 of 654
2015
71%
220 of 336
2016
75%
214 of 304
2017
78%
992 of 1,308
2018
69%
277 of 427
2019
48%
99 of 221
2020
49%
97 of 208
2021
48%
77 of 166
2022
58%
111 of 198
2023
43%
109 of 264

Manufacturers fix things mid-generation. A bad year next to a clean one is common; the fix usually arrived in between.

Cleaner alternatives

Other midsize SUVs with no elevated signal in 2023

The percentage is each model year's drivetrain complaint share. No elevated signal describes the model year, not any one car; a well-kept example of a flagged model can still be the right buy, and any of these still needs an inspection.

What owners reported

UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM,FORWARD 02/24/2025FIRECRASH2 INJURED
The accelerator stuck and the vehicle crashed. The vehicle is totaled. It happened [XXX]. No one has yet inspected the vehicle. I notified Hyundai about 5 days ago. The phone number of the towing company is 516 433 1011. The following link is a YouTube video of the accident: [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE…
POWER TRAIN02/06/2024CRASH2 INJURED
While parking my 2023 Hyundai Sante Fe, I hard pressed the break and pushed the Park button. The engine revved up and the vehicle took off instead of going into park; smashing into a building. The parking block was 6ft from the building. The engine accelerated to a high enough speed that it totaled the vehicle complete…
POWER TRAIN07/14/20231 INJURED
The contact owns a 2023 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that while driving at 75 MPH, the vehicle stalled and decelerated to 25 MPH as several warning lights flashed on the instrument panel. After multiple attempts, the contact managed to restart the vehicle and drove to her destination. The contact sustained seve…

Three of 109 drivetrain complaints. The full report shows more, with quotes about the engine in the car you are looking at first.

Recall campaigns on this model year (1)

TRAILER HITCHES
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 equipp…

This does not say whether a particular car has an open, unrepaired recall. That depends on the VIN.

Before you buy a 2023 Hyundai Santa Fe

Have the VIN?Paste it and get the full report for that car. First report free, then a 30-day pass covers a whole car search.

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Experimental model-level information. This is not a vehicle inspection, vehicle-history report, financial advice or purchase recommendation. It describes patterns across a model year, not the condition of any individual vehicle. Combined across 2 body styles NHTSA files separately.