2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz

This is an ongoing safety issue with a 2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz Limited. The forward collision-avoidance system activates frequently and without cause during normal driving. The system will engage when another vehicle is simply turning, merging, or slowing down at a traffic light—normal, predictable situations where no emergency braking should occur. These unexpected activations create unsafe conditions, including one incident where the truck was rear-ended due to sudden, unnecessary braking. The issue has occurred more than 50 times over approximately eight months of ownership. The manufacturer has been contacted and stated that this behavior is “by design.” They advised having the vehicle inspected by a dealership, but the local dealership requires leaving the vehicle for diagnostics for up to two days and does not provide loaner vehicles. Because I rely on the vehicle daily for work, this has made inspection difficult. Online reports from other owners appear to describe the same issue with the same model and year. No warning lights, error messages, or other indicators appear before the system activates. I have adjusted the collision-sensitivity settings from high to standard, but the issue persists. There is no option to disable the system entirely. The component is available for inspection upon request.

-Brake pedal feels unsmooth in temperatures below 75-80 (mainly below 70) degrees as well as extremely noisy squeaking / creaking sounds accompanied. Inspection is always available. -I currently don't believe there is any safety risk to the issue I'm experiencing, but rather that it's unknown if there is one. I'm just being told there is no safety concern while also being told the issue I'm experiencing has never been heard or seen before on any previous model of Santa Cruz (that my local dealer has experienced). -The issue has been reproduced and confirmed by a dealer on my vehicle as well as on a brand new model sitting in the dealers lot that wasn't nearly as bad as my car, but similar noises at reduced volume could be replicated. -As far as I've been told from the 5 total visits I've had by 2 different Hyundai dealers, I was told 1 time that the pedal components were inspected and everything looked as it should (this was visit 1 of 5). -No warning messages or codes. Car was bought brand new (8 miles on odometer) off the lot and began having issues 2 weeks into ownership. Issue has been with the vehicle ever since (at the time of this message 14+ weeks and 1,500+ miles driven). -Overall, I was told rubber inside the booster is likely rubbing together or booster vacuum could be hissing air (or both together). Advisor at dealer could not definitively say whether or not noise would eventually "break in" as I was told to keep trying to do ("Go put on 5,000+ miles and come back if noise persists"). Advisor also stated because issue has never been seen on pervious years models, that it could maybe one day be recalled. Otherwise, I was told there is no fix that would be covered by warranty as well as he feared if they completely replaced all brake pedal / booster components, that the issue would just start over again.