2025 Hyundai Tucson: What to check before buying

Automatic emergency braking engages when there is no real hazard and brings the car to a full stop, at city speeds and on the highway. Owners report it firing while they are already slowing for a light, turning, changing lanes, or after the car ahead has moved away. Of 72 complaints, 11 involve crashes, mostly rear-end hits from following drivers, and 4 involve injuries such as whiplash and neck pain. Dealers often cannot reproduce it. Reported responses include clearing a front camera blockage code or switching the system off, which resets at every restart.

The instrument cluster and head-up display go dark while driving. The blackouts last from a few seconds to over 30 seconds and leave the driver with no speed or fuel reading. Some cars light every warning lamp at once. It often starts within the first 1000 miles. Dealers have replaced cluster modules, head units and wire harnesses, sometimes without fixing it, and some parts were back-ordered. Other reports describe hybrid system failures, a car that would not move after a failed over-the-air update, and brake and steering warnings. One parked car burned, and the cause was found to be a lithium battery failure.

Adaptive cruise control shuts off without warning at highway speed, and the car starts slowing in traffic. Most reports trace this to the driver-facing camera of the attention warning system. Sunglasses, even light lenses, or an arm resting on top of the wheel can block its view of the driver's eyes. The alert is a long text message that is hard to read in time. Separate reports describe cars that will not go faster than 25 mph or 4 mph until they are restarted, and one crash blamed on unintended acceleration. Dealers often find nothing wrong.

Transmission and hybrid drive failures leave the car unable to move or losing power on the highway, often within the first 2,000 miles. Hybrid system, powertrain and check engine warnings come on. Dealers have replaced transmissions and a transmission control module. One back-ordered transmission kept a car out of service for at least 10 weeks. Other reports describe harsh, bucking shifts when the engine is cold, shuddering, engine misses, surging without throttle input, and a car limited to 25 mph until restarted. Auto stop/start can be slow to restart the engine at a light.

All four wheels lock and the car skids to a stop with no hazard ahead. Owners link this to the forward collision avoidance system. It happens at low speed in roundabouts and turns, and on the highway when the car ahead changes lanes. One rear-end crash caused $12,500 in damage, and drivers describe being thrown toward the windshield. Setting the warning to late does not stop it, and dealer scans find no codes. Because the system cannot be shut off permanently, several owners turn it off every time they start the car.

In a rear-end crash with 2 injuries, the steering wheel came loose in the driver's hands and no airbag deployed. Other reports describe a loose steering wheel connection that made the car sway at 40 mph. Some owners report heavy steering when the screens go blank and the car stops accelerating, and this continued after a recall repair. Horn failures set code C2A23, which points to the horn switch or clock spring. Owners worry this could also affect the airbag. Lane-keeping steering also shuts off when the driver wears sunglasses.

The rear turn signals sit low in the bumper, and owners say following drivers cannot see them in bright sun or heavy traffic. One crash during a highway lane change is blamed on this placement, and owners report several near rear-end collisions. Dealers say the lights work as designed and cannot be moved. A separate complaint describes a dark spot in the driver-side low beam that a dealer also found on another Tucson of the same trim. One report filed here actually concerns the cluster and head-up display blacking out.

Just 2 complaints are filed here, and neither describes an airbag failing in a crash. One, about a rental car, reports the engine stopping and restarting on its own while driving. In the same car, reverse sometimes failed to engage, the car once accelerated unintentionally, and the brake pedal felt stiff, in an incident with 2 injuries. The other reports an air bag warning light that stays on. These complaints show no clear pattern.