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2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz

Owner reports · Recalls · Investigations

More warning signs than most Santa Cruz years

Owner complaints for the 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz are substantially higher than the model-year median of 35.

About this comparison →

When problems were reported

Mileage at the reported incident

Limited mileage data: 21 of 183 reports include usable mileage. There isn’t enough coverage to show a useful chart.

NHTSA’s mileage field refers to the reported incident, not necessarily the filing date. This shows report counts, not the likelihood of a failure.

What to inspect

Issues worth paying extra attention to based on owner reports.

  • Power Train. Review the 90 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
  • Engine. Review the 50 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
  • Electrical System. Review the 21 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →

NHTSA owner reports · September 18, 2026 snapshot.

5 crash reports1 fire reports4 injury reports

Power Train complaints

90 reports
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Mileage unknown · Jul 30, 2022
EnginePower TrainVehicle Speed Control

While driving between 30 to 40 MPH the vehicle jerks. It feels like the transmission is not getting in gear and it slows down. Then the engine and transmission kind of engage and it goes back to normal. I have tried to figure out as to when specifically it does it but it does it at different time and situations. I have not drive…

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While driving between 30 to 40 MPH the vehicle jerks. It feels like the transmission is not getting in gear and it slows down. Then the engine and transmission kind of engage and it goes back to normal. I have tried to figure out as to when specifically it does it but it does it at different time and situations. I have not driven it again in the highway since when it slows down vehicles behind me have to slow down also. I have had some instances where the vehicle is to closed to me or not paying attention and when it happens I hear those drivers blowing their horns as if I was slowing down on purpose which I wasn't. My opinion is this is a safety issue since the vehicle could be hit from behind, have an accident, injuries or even death. I keep reading the issues with this problem and the complaints keep coming. Thank you

NHTSA ODI #11476640

Mileage unknown · Jul 28, 2022
Power Train

The transmission says transmission error check transmission oil immediately then does not move unless you shut the car off

NHTSA ODI #11476283

Mileage unknown · Jul 26, 2022
Forward Collision AvoidanceFuel/propulsion SystemPower Train

Purchase the 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz with under 30 miles. At 329 miles was driving on a road going about 40mph and the big Check Forward Safety System warning light came on inside the tachometer screen. The car started to slow down, and wasn't responding to the gas pedal. Then the dashboard had the following lights on: Check eng…

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Purchase the 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz with under 30 miles. At 329 miles was driving on a road going about 40mph and the big Check Forward Safety System warning light came on inside the tachometer screen. The car started to slow down, and wasn't responding to the gas pedal. Then the dashboard had the following lights on: Check engine, front collision, downhill, EPB, Auto hold, traction control. Also the triangle with explanation point was on below the tachometer with a red bubble with the number 3 inside of it. Luckily I was able to roll into a parking lot. As the car was stopped and still running, without gas pedal working, the engine was revving between 1400-1600 rpms and the engine sounded very bad. The diagnosis light from the check engine light show up as POWERTRAIN - DTC - PO65312 Turned the car off and let it sit for a minute before starting again and only check engine light was on. Was able to drive home a couple minutes away and had the car towed to the dealership. Dealership had the car for almost 2 weeks and the paperwork just shows that they weren't able to duplicate the issue so they cleared the code. The service manager on the phone said they updated the system and said it was most likely an issue with the front radar system. Fast forward now the car has 3422 miles on it. Car was in the garage and I started it. It was running for under a minute and the same exact issue had happened as the first time. Same dash lights, same engine code. Had car towed same day to Hyundai dealer. A couple days later I was told the issue was the throttle body assembly. They replaced the throttle body, checked all the connections and cleared the code. Fast forward again to 4134 miles on the car. Was traveling on a parkway going about 65mph and the same exact issue happened again. Luckily I was able to get over and exit the highway all without the gas pedal not working. Three times with the same issue after being fixed twice is unacceptable.

NHTSA ODI #11475990

Mileage unknown · Jul 25, 2022
EnginePower TrainUnknown Or Other

During the 6 months since I've purchased this vehicle, the power has intermittently, stalled upon pulling off from a traffic light, or excellerating onto the freeway, or while turning and pulling up onto a supermarket's parking lot. It revs up loudly, but without any power nor excelleration, without any warning. I'm always afrai…

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During the 6 months since I've purchased this vehicle, the power has intermittently, stalled upon pulling off from a traffic light, or excellerating onto the freeway, or while turning and pulling up onto a supermarket's parking lot. It revs up loudly, but without any power nor excelleration, without any warning. I'm always afraid that someone will run into my rear end because drivers behind me have no way of knowing that my car has suddenly stopped being able to excellerate. It keeps making the loud noise as if it's no longer in Drive, or the right gear as I'm pressing down on the excellerator peddle. It does this for approximately 10 seconds each time that it has happened. Had car in for service, first maintenance appointment, and for them to find out what's causing the transmission to keep failing, and to correct it, last Thursday, on 7/21/22. I was told that everything checked out okay, and that they drove the car, and couldn't reproduce the transmission problem that I've been having. Well, everything is clearly not okay, whether it's intermittent or not. This is very dangerous, but unfortunately, I can't will this to happen at any specific time, that I'm able to get a service appointment, in order for it be reproduced by the technician. I left the dealership with no resolution to my most important reason for scheduling the service appointment. I left with an oil change, tire rotation, a fluid level top off, but was notified that now, I had a screw in one of my tires. Then, the very next day, I experienced it happen again. I'm very concerned, each time I drive my new car, about the potential for this sudden loss of power. This is extremely unsafe, scary, and anxiety producing. I should be enjoying my new car. I've searched Santa Cruz owners forums and other sites, to see if other owners are experiencing the same, or similar problems with their vehicle. Some say they've reported the concerns to dealership and to the manufacturer, with no response. Please help!

NHTSA ODI #11475623

Mileage unknown · Jul 21, 2022
Power Train

Complete transmission failure on the highway without warning. Issue occured at 12,237 miles on the vehicle. While traveling under cruise control at 75MPH on the highway in the far left lane and the dashboard lit up and told me to pull over immediately. There were no warning signs ahead of the failure. No warning lights or any …

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Complete transmission failure on the highway without warning. Issue occured at 12,237 miles on the vehicle. While traveling under cruise control at 75MPH on the highway in the far left lane and the dashboard lit up and told me to pull over immediately. There were no warning signs ahead of the failure. No warning lights or any mechanical noises/vibrations to indicate the transmission was about to fail. I had no drive and was unable to accelerate and had to make my way across 4 lanes of traffic without the ability to accelerate at all which was very dangerous and I was fortunate nothing happened to myself or anyone else. I pulled off to the side of the highway and once the vehicle was power cycled I had a check engine light. No drive was available and the vehicle refused to move under it's own power. The vehicle was immediately towed to a Hyundai dealership, who after a 2 week delay confirmed it was a total failure in the transmission. DTC Code: P1CD0 The dealership called it into the engineering team, and they stated there was a "fluctuation in oil pressure in the transmission and the engineering team recommend replacing the whole unit". As of right now I am still waiting on the transmission replacement.

NHTSA ODI #11475136

Mileage unknown · Jul 16, 2022
Power TrainUnknown Or OtherVehicle Speed Control

My 2022 Santa Cruz experienced an apparent fault of the automatic transmission control during operation on a ~20 mile trip including city and highway driving. Weather was low 80s and dry. Symptoms were sluggish and delayed upshifting; loss of acceleration power. The issue was most noticeable while attempting to accelerate uphill…

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My 2022 Santa Cruz experienced an apparent fault of the automatic transmission control during operation on a ~20 mile trip including city and highway driving. Weather was low 80s and dry. Symptoms were sluggish and delayed upshifting; loss of acceleration power. The issue was most noticeable while attempting to accelerate uphill; several times the vehicle topped out at 25-30 mph when going uphill and failed to accelerate further. As one of these occurred during moderate traffic while entering a highway on-ramp, I think this is a serious safety issue. I was able to pull to the side and eventually regained control of up/downshifting by placing the transmission shift lever in manual control - fortunately the transmission seemed to respond to manual up/down shifting and I was able to eventually accelerate to a safe highway speed (65mph). After a short ~2 mile drive on the highway I got off on the next exit and when stopped at the end of the exit ramp, turned the vehicle off and on. Following restarting the vehicle, automatic shifting seemed to operate correctly for the remainder of my travel (another ~20 miles of driving). During this malfunction I did not see any unusual indicator / warning lights on the dash or any indication that the vehicle wasn't in normal automatic driving mode. Reporting features such as the "vehicle health report" indicate that the vehicle had no issues, diagnostic messages or service due.

NHTSA ODI #11474243

Mileage unknown · Jul 12, 2022
EnginePower Train

Left my neighborhood and as I pulled away from the stop sign the 1-2 shift felt abrupt, which has never happened before. No other issues were noticed until I got about a mile from home and my Santa Cruz wouldn't accelerate past 25-30 mph. The transmission wouldn't shift and the engine wouldn't rev past 3000 rpm. I pulled over at…

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Left my neighborhood and as I pulled away from the stop sign the 1-2 shift felt abrupt, which has never happened before. No other issues were noticed until I got about a mile from home and my Santa Cruz wouldn't accelerate past 25-30 mph. The transmission wouldn't shift and the engine wouldn't rev past 3000 rpm. I pulled over at the closest spot I could find and restarted my vehicle and made it to work with no other issues. No warnings were present on my dash, and the problem seemed to remedy itself. I will keep an eye on it and also cross my fingers that this isn't the beginning of a DCT issue at 4300 miles.

NHTSA ODI #11473499

10,200 miles · Jul 1, 2022
EnginePower TrainUnknown Or Other

The contact owns a 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz. The contact stated while driving at undisclosed speeds, the vehicle lost motive power and failed to shift into gear. The contact was able to pull over and restart the vehicle. The “Stop Vehicle Immediately” message was displayed. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer but the vehicl…

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The contact owns a 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz. The contact stated while driving at undisclosed speeds, the vehicle lost motive power and failed to shift into gear. The contact was able to pull over and restart the vehicle. The “Stop Vehicle Immediately” message was displayed. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 10,200.

NHTSA ODI #11472012

Mileage unknown · Jun 24, 2022
Power Train

Was driving along and the truck said pull over immediately and the power train disengage . It slow down in a construction zone with no place to pull over and cars coming right at me . It stopped and was not able to get it at first to restart after four attempt was able to get it to startup but would not pull forward or backward …

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Was driving along and the truck said pull over immediately and the power train disengage . It slow down in a construction zone with no place to pull over and cars coming right at me . It stopped and was not able to get it at first to restart after four attempt was able to get it to startup but would not pull forward or backward restart again was able to pull forward and get it to go about 40 miles an hour to get off the road. Got it a mile to the dealership was told it will need a new transmission not sure how long to get it. No car or trucks to loan and no rent car to be had. Had to wait till the next week to get one and pay $150 in Tax money for a rent car and still make the payment on the truck this is so wrong .

NHTSA ODI #11470796

Mileage unknown · Jun 16, 2022
Power Train

Merging onto interstate and experienced loss of power. Slowly accelerated to 50 mph with gas pedal to the floor could not exceed 50mph. No warning lights just sudden loss of power. I had to drive onto side of the road to avoid being hit from cars behind me on interstate. Pulled over and restarted vehicle and drove normally back …

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Merging onto interstate and experienced loss of power. Slowly accelerated to 50 mph with gas pedal to the floor could not exceed 50mph. No warning lights just sudden loss of power. I had to drive onto side of the road to avoid being hit from cars behind me on interstate. Pulled over and restarted vehicle and drove normally back home.

NHTSA ODI #11469628

Official recalls

4

23V181000 · Trailer Hitches

Mar 17, 2023

Hyundai Motor America (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2019-2023 Santa Fe, 2021-2023 Santa Fe HEV, 2022-2023 Santa Fe Plug-in HEV and Santa Cruz vehicles potentially equipped with a tow hitch harness installed as original equipment, or purchased as an accessory through a Hyundai dealership. Water accumulation on the tow hitch harness module printed circuit board (PCB) may cause an electrical short, which can result in a fire.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: A fire while parked or driving can increase the risk of injury.

Remedy: Owners are advised to park their vehicles outside and away from structures until the remedy is completed. Dealers will install a new fuse and wire extension kit as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed starting May 16, 2023. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1-855-371-9460. Hyundai's number for this recall is 244. This recall is an expansion of previous recall number 22V-633.

23V038000 · Structure:body:roof And Pillars; Structure:critical Fasteners

Jan 31, 2023

Hyundai Motor America (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2022 Tucson and 2022-2023 Santa Cruz vehicles. The roof moldings may detach.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: A detached roof molding could become a road hazard, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy: Dealers will inspect and replace, or secure the roof moldings, as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed March 30, 2023. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1-855-371-9460. Hyundai's number for this recall is 241.

Additional source detail variants (2)

Structure:critical Fasteners

Hyundai Motor America (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2022 Tucson and 2022-2023 Santa Cruz vehicles. The roof moldings may detach.

Consequence: A detached roof molding could become a road hazard, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy: Dealers will inspect and replace, or secure the roof moldings, as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed March 30, 2023. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1-855-371-9460. Hyundai's number for this recall is 241.

Structure:body:roof And Pillars

Hyundai Motor America (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2022 Tucson and 2022-2023 Santa Cruz vehicles. The roof moldings may detach.

Consequence: A detached roof molding could become a road hazard, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy: Dealers will inspect and replace, or secure the roof moldings, as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed March 30, 2023. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1-855-371-9460. Hyundai's number for this recall is 241.

22V746000 · Power Train:automatic Transmission

Oct 6, 2022

Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2021-2022 Santa Fe, Sonata, Veloster N, 2022 Santa Cruz, Elantra N, and Kona N vehicles. The vehicle's "fail-safe" limited-mobility drive mode may be impaired, when prompted by a transmission oil pump malfunction, which can result in a complete loss of drive power.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: Loss of drive power increases the risk of a crash.

Remedy: Dealers will inspect and replace the transmission, as necessary. Dealers will also update the transmission control unit software. All repairs will be performed free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed January 10, 2023. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1-855-371-9460. Hyundai's number for this recall is 236.

22V197000 · Engine And Engine Cooling:engine:gasoline:turbo/supercharger; Engine And Engine Cooling:engine:oil/lubrication:pipes, Hoses, And Fittings

Mar 28, 2022

Hyundai Motor America (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2022 Santa Fe and Santa Cruz vehicles. The oil supply pipe to the turbocharger may crack, which could result in an oil leak in the engine compartment.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: An oil leak in the presence of an ignition source such as hot engine or exhaust components, can increase the risk of a fire.

Remedy: Dealers will replace the turbocharger oil supply pipe, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed May 26, 2022. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1-855-371-9460. Hyundai's number for this recall 222.

Additional source detail variants (2)

Engine And Engine Cooling:engine:oil/lubrication:pipes, Hoses, And Fittings

Hyundai Motor America (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2022 Santa Fe and Santa Cruz vehicles. The oil supply pipe to the turbocharger may crack, which could result in an oil leak in the engine compartment.

Consequence: An oil leak in the presence of an ignition source such as hot engine or exhaust components, can increase the risk of a fire.

Remedy: Dealers will replace the turbocharger oil supply pipe, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed May 26, 2022. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1-855-371-9460. Hyundai's number for this recall 222.

Engine And Engine Cooling:engine:gasoline:turbo/supercharger

Hyundai Motor America (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2022 Santa Fe and Santa Cruz vehicles. The oil supply pipe to the turbocharger may crack, which could result in an oil leak in the engine compartment.

Consequence: An oil leak in the presence of an ignition source such as hot engine or exhaust components, can increase the risk of a fire.

Remedy: Dealers will replace the turbocharger oil supply pipe, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed May 26, 2022. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1-855-371-9460. Hyundai's number for this recall 222.

Model-level recall history does not show whether a particular VIN is affected or has received a repair. Check a VIN with NHTSA ↗

NHTSA investigations

0

No exact-year investigations in this snapshot.