Faults:

Loss of acceleration when accelerating. Has happened 6 times in the past year. Cost of repairs $4,000!!! Very dangerous, as five of the six times I was accelerating to merge onto a major highway.

General Comments:

While I enjoyed my car for the first 4 years, this past year has been horrendous. Have replaced the computer, but continue to replace sensors, one by one, without any improvement to the outcome.

Faults:

Repeated clutch failure.

General Comments:

Judging by the comments on this site, and my experience, the standard transmission Hyundai Santa Fe seems to be a bad bet for clutch performance.

I've had three new clutches with just 48,000 miles on the vehicle. Hyundai refused to honor its vaunted 50,000 mile powertrain warranty on the second and third ones, and a respected local lawyer ruled in my favor at a Better Business Bureau arbitration hearing, awarding me about $900 that I paid a local shop for the repair. (Hyundai wanted $1400 for the work).

As is the case with others on this site, Hyundai cites "driving habits". Yet I have been driving clutch vehicles for 25 years, and the clutches have lasted an average of 60,000 miles.

Hyundai will also contest an outside shop's repairs, and claim that Internet comments - no matter how many - are not indicative of a problem.

Most recently, Hyundai sent both a lawyer and service manager to fight my small claims court case that it had failed to honor its warranty. They prevailed - unfairly and inexplicably in my opinion. Furthermore, I was chagrined to witness Hyundai spending that amount of money to quash a complaint, when it likely could have settled more cheaply by honoring its warranty.

Faults:

I've owned 2 Santa Fe's (2001 & 2004). Both had engine failures and had to have their small blocks replaced at around 60,000 miles. Both failed on the freeway. Both had all their regularly scheduled maintenance performed by the book. These 2 freeway failures placed me in very serious safety conditions.

The 2004 failed at night in the middle of the Arizona Desert - I was driving at 70 mph when the engine lost power and made a terrible noise. I end up getting towed over 150 miles to a Hyundai dealer. Small block failed (60,068 miles – 68 miles past the warranty). Hyundai initially refused to pay for any of the repair work; but, after a tremendous amount of effort on my part; they finally agreed to covered (only) 35% of the repair. My advise to consumers: Never buy Hyundai's again!!!

General Comments:

Hyundai did not stand behind their cars.

There seems to be a serious problem with Hyundai engines - possible oil circulation as reported by the Orange County Register.

These failures placed me and my family in very serious safety positions.

I spent nearly 100 hours trying to get Hyundai to help cover the cost of repair and after all this they (only) covered 30%

Never buy Hyundai products!!