2020 Hyundai Santa Fe: What to check before buying

Heavy oil burning is the dominant pattern. The low oil light flickers or flashes, and owners find the engine several quarts low between changes with no visible leak. It often shows up around 78,788 to 110,000 miles. Left unchecked, it brings shuddering, misfires, knocking, power loss, and stalling at highway speed, and some engines fail outright. Other reports describe oil drain plug leaks that seize the engine and a sudden high-rev surge while parked. Two complaints involve fires, one shortly after a valve cover gasket repair.

Air conditioning stops blowing cold, which owners and mechanics tie to a failed evaporator temperature sensor covered by a service bulletin, reported at 30,000 and 59,000 miles. Horns quit early, sometimes traced to the airbag clockspring. Owners also report false forward collision braking, backup camera flicker or blue screens, batteries draining overnight, and sudden clusters of ADAS, ABS, and stability warnings. One report has the vehicle rolling while in park, and another describes a driver seat fire overnight that totaled the car.

Excessive oil use shows up again here, with one owner adding a quart every 300 miles. Many reports describe the vehicle not responding to the accelerator from a stop, or stalling at lights when auto stop is on, until it is shifted to park and restarted. Transmission complaints include rough shifts, shuddering, lockups, and dealers recommending full replacement. Other failures include repeat high-pressure fuel pump failure, engine seizure from an oil drain plug leak, and check engine codes dealers cannot resolve.

Sunroofs explode at highway speed with a loud bang, spraying glass into the cabin, with no object striking the car. Dealers often refuse to cover it under warranty. Several complaints involve recall campaign 21V00M000, where owners waited a long time because repair parts were not available, though none reported an actual failure. One wiper was eventually fixed with the proper glue. A separate report describes the air conditioning intermittently blowing warm, diagnosed as an evaporator temperature sensor failure.

Airbags fail to deploy in serious collisions, including a rear impact at about 60 mph. Both crash reports here involve injuries. The other pattern is a passenger airbag warning light that comes on while someone sits in the front passenger seat. One dealer traced this to a failed occupant detection module and seat mat, with a repair estimate of $2,800. Only a few complaints are on file for this category.

Pressing the brake does not stop the car in several reports. Drivers describe the vehicle surging forward while braking in a parking garage, which caused serious injury, and repeated failures to stop that led to two collisions. Other complaints describe a brake pedal that locks up at low speed and an electronic parking brake that engages by itself while driving or stopped, with warning lights that stay on. Two crashes and one injury appear in this category.

Hesitation and power loss on acceleration dominate these complaints, mostly from 2.0T owners. Symptoms include turbo lag when pulling into traffic, gasoline fumes in the cabin at low speed, and hard starts when cold. One dealer diagnosed a faulty fuel pump and high-pressure hoses at 49100 miles, quoted at over $1800. A separate report describes the vehicle accelerating into a garage while braking, plus the throttle cutting out on a freeway ramp. A failing catalytic converter is also mentioned.

Sudden acceleration while parking is the main complaint. Drivers report the engine roaring and the vehicle surging backward into a wall or forward through a building window, with braking unable to stop it. Both of those incidents ended in crashes. A third report describes cruise control abruptly slowing the car at about 75 mph on the interstate, with rapid beeping and no apparent cause. Only three complaints exist in this category.