2024 Hyundai Tucson: What to check before buying

The car slows sharply on its own, sometimes dropping to 20 or 25 mph while the driver presses the gas. Some reports point to speed limit assist switching on unprompted. A restart usually clears it. Others describe hard automatic braking at highway speed when cars pass on both sides at once. A smaller group reports sudden acceleration while parking or stopped, including a crash with an injury at 2,900 miles. Dealers typically find no codes.

Automatic emergency braking engages at 50 to 75 mph with no vehicle ahead. The red warning flashes and the car brakes hard for a few seconds, sometimes several times within minutes. Drivers describe near rear-end collisions, including with an 18 wheeler behind. Dealers cannot reproduce the fault and find no trouble codes, and some owners turn the system off. A few report the opposite problem: no warning or braking when another car cuts in.

Horns fail, often in under 15k miles. They sit low behind the front bumper, which must come off to replace them, and a service bulletin covers the horn assembly. The battery drains after the car sits for several days, leaving the fob dead and the engine needing a jump. Other reports describe stalling at speed with warning lights and a dark cluster, headlights cycling on and off in daylight, and water leaking past the windshield. One crash involved sudden acceleration while parking.

Most of these reports describe automatic emergency braking with nothing ahead, on highways, side roads, and in cruise control. It cuts speed sharply while the driver is still on the gas. One driver was rear-ended in an intersection and injured. Many cars were only weeks or months old. A separate crash involved the brakes not responding on an icy road in snow mode, with a concussion and fractured ribs. Other reports cover constant brake squeal and a lane assist swerve.

No deployment occurred in an intersection crash that left the driver badly bruised across the chest and abdomen, with neither the seat belt nor the air bag holding them. The SRS warning light also comes on, and replacements happen early: one car needed a new air bag at 6,176 miles, another had it replaced twice. Several reports filed here actually describe the emergency braking system braking hard for no reason, then releasing. Dealers could not duplicate that fault.

Hybrid models lose power with a check hybrid system warning. The car coasts and cannot climb a hill until it is restarted. Hesitation from a stop appears very early, in one case at 331 miles, and other cars shut off without warning. One crash involved the car rolling forward in stopped interstate traffic despite the brake and Park, then hitting a semi. Dealers generally cannot duplicate these faults.

Hybrids hesitate when pulling away from a stop. There is a delay of a second or more, sometimes several seconds, before the car responds, and then it lunges forward. Drivers describe nearly being broadsided pulling into busy intersections. No codes or warning lights appear, and repeat dealer visits have not fixed it. One crash involved the engine revving and the car accelerating on its own when shifted into drive, hitting two parked vehicles.

Rear turn signals sit low and are small, so a close or tall vehicle behind may not see them. Drivers report other cars not expecting their turns, and some add aftermarket lights to make the signals more visible. In winter, the headlights get covered in slush and snow, cutting night visibility. An obstruction warning appears, and the driver must pull over to wipe the lights clear. Dealers have found no fault.