2022 Hyundai Tucson: What to check before buying

The engine suddenly loses power while driving, often on highways or while merging. Revs climb without the car speeding up, speed drops sharply, and some cars stall completely. Restarting usually clears it until the next time. Many reports start very early, some within the first few hundred miles, and dealers often find nothing. When a cause is found, it is usually a misfire or a failed fuel injector. Other complaints describe jerky low-speed shifts and warnings to park immediately. One crash followed an unintended surge while parking. In another, a parked car rolled into a vehicle after a child pressed the drive button.

Fuel injector failure is the dominant pattern. A check engine light comes on, the engine shakes and misfires, power drops, and some cars stall at highway speed. In one case a stalled car was rear-ended. Dealers often replace only the failed injector, and another fails weeks or a few thousand miles later. Some later repairs use a full injector kit under a service bulletin. Back-ordered parts and missing loaners leave owners stranded for days. Owners with failures past warranty report paying out of pocket. A few complaints describe a fuel door that will not release.

Stalling and misfires are the most common reports, usually traced to failed high-pressure fuel injectors and sometimes spark plugs. Cars quit at highway speed or crawl along unable to pass walking pace, often with little or no warning. Repeat failures on different cylinders are common because dealers replace one injector at a time. A smaller group reports engine knocking or cylinder scuffing that calls for a full engine replacement, some at low mileage. One owner was told the problem was carbon buildup and was asked to pay for a decarbonizing service.

Horns stop working, sometimes losing one tone first, and some cars need them replaced three or more times. Audio cuts out across all speakers, which also silences safety chimes. A service bulletin exists, but external amplifiers have been back-ordered. Other cars lose several systems at once, including turn signals, side cameras, driver aids, and the dash display, until restarted. Rear brake lights and turn signals failing is tied to an open recall that had no remedy yet. Complaints also include a parked-car fire and crashes blamed on sudden acceleration, with 2 injuries.

Two main problems show up here. Automatic emergency braking slams on at highway speed with no traffic ahead, sometimes several times in one drive. The brake pedal can also go soft or stop responding, and several low-speed crashes are blamed on brakes that did not engage. A few owners describe brake system warnings with the car creeping at stops, fixed by replacing the IEB module and the brake pedal module. A master cylinder failure and a garage fire also appear, along with 3 crashes and 2 injuries.

Airbags fail to deploy in serious collisions, including head-on, side, and high-speed rear impacts. Several of these cars were totaled. Nine of the 11 complaints involve crashes, and occupants report concussions, head injuries, and bruising. One crash with an elk ended in an engine fire with no airbag deployment. Outside of crashes, an airbag warning light can point to a failed control unit. One owner was quoted $2100 for the repair and told that the airbags and seatbelt locking would not work while the light was on.

Phantom braking dominates. The car brakes hard with nothing ahead on highways, off-ramps, parking lots, and even in reverse, which risks rear-end collisions. Owners link it to vehicles slowing in adjacent lanes, low sun throwing the car's own shadow ahead, and a blocked radar warning on sunny highway trips that also shuts off cruise control. Turning the feature off does not always stick, because it reactivates on its own. Dealers often cannot reproduce the problem, and one reportedly said no fix was available. One crash complaint says the system failed to brake at all.

Acceleration problems go both ways. Some cars hesitate badly from a stop or will not go faster than about 40 mph until the pedal is floored, often in the first few thousand miles. Others surge unexpectedly while parking or reversing, and two crashes resulted, one with an injury. Cruise control has jumped to a much higher set speed on its own. Speed sign recognition has slowed cars to 25 mph in faster zones. Dealers frequently do not diagnose or repair these problems.