2023 Hyundai Palisade: What to check before buying

The ABS kicks in when the car brakes over bumps, rail crossings, gravel, potholes or even painted road markings. The pedal shakes or grinds, and the car keeps rolling at low speeds, sometimes past stop signs or into intersections. Most reports describe speeds under 30 mph with no warning light. Dealers often cannot reproduce the problem and find nothing wrong. Three complaints involve crashes. One describes a stiff pedal with a "Radar blocked" warning in stop-and-go traffic. One owner noticed the problem at 23000 miles.

Second-row side windows look hazy or cloudy in direct sun, which blocks the view out to the side and backward. In one case, replacement glass from the dealer looked just as bad. The panoramic sunroof can shatter with a loud bang while driving with no impact, and dealers sometimes refuse warranty coverage. Wipers stop working after snow or ice builds up and may need an engine restart to move again. Some windshields crack and the cracks spread with no visible cause.

Most complaints cover two problems. Second-row windows look cloudy and distorted in sunlight, and owners say they are much less clear than the third-row glass. The sunroof can also explode while driving, often at interstate speed and with a gunshot-like sound, sometimes sending glass into the cabin. One dealer blamed a rock. Another replaced the glass at no cost and cited a service bulletin. Smaller groups of complaints describe windshield specks or blur in low sun, cracked windshields, and wipers that act up in snow.

Buckles in the front and second rows come undone while the car is moving, even after they were clicked in and tugged. Other buckles take several tries to latch, or will not latch at all, which makes it impossible to install some forward-facing child seats. Federal recall 25V607000 covers the problem, but many complaints say the parts are not available yet. Owners report waiting months, or leaving the car at the dealer for weeks. One failure happened at 44,000 miles.

The engine loses power or stalls without warning. Some cars do this at highway speed, and others will not move from a stop, especially in Snow Mode. Several cases happened very early, between 1700 and 5000 miles, sometimes with a misfire or an engine control warning. Some owners hear a clunk and feel hesitation when pulling away while turning. In one case, a rear coupling replacement at 17,000 miles did not stop the problem from coming back. One owner reports a shudder and delay on upshifts. Many complaints here also mention the ABS problem or seat belt recall parts delays.

Faults often appear in nearly new cars. Doors read as open, the push-button start fails, and cameras or parking sensors quit within the first few thousand miles. Batteries die without a low-voltage warning and show a "Check ESC" message instead. Some owners describe sudden brake application with the horn and headlights dead, plus false wrong-way alerts, and in one case cruise control jumped to 90mph. One injury crash says the car did not shift into Park and rolled into a tree. Bluelink and SOS button failures also appear.

The rear shocks fail, causing thumping, clunking, creaking and a bouncy, unstable ride, worst on small bumps and turns under 30 mph. Failures start as early as 4988 miles. Replacement shocks often fail again within 10,000 to 20,000 miles, and some owners are on their seventh or eighth shock. Owners point to the self-leveling shocks on upper trims. Dealers replace shocks and mounts under warranty, sometimes citing TSB 22-SS-001H, but parts are often back-ordered.

The wheel locks or thuds hard when Idle Stop and Go restarts the engine, which makes turning from a light difficult. Some cars shut down while driving, with every warning light on and power steering lost, then recover after a restart. Dealers often cannot find the cause, and one car sat at the dealer for weeks. A few owners report the wheel hitting a hard stop at low speed or the car pulling to the right. Several complaints filed here actually describe the ABS problem over bumps.

The sunroof glass shatters on its own while driving, sometimes at highway speed and with no sign of debris. In one case, fragments cut the driver's arm and struck a following car, and another owner had it happen twice. Wind noise is the other main complaint. It comes from the driver or passenger door above 40 mph and is loud enough to cause headaches. One owner reports a cracked door trim panel.