Model years Hyundai Santa Fe Sport
2013 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport
This year drew an ordinary 195 complaints for a Hyundai Santa Fe Sport — the model's median is 160. What they were about is the unusual part: 10.3% of them mention restart, against 4.1% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 195 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 160 |
| Involving a crash | 1 |
| Involving a fire | 14 |
| Recalls | 6 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 22.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- restart — 10.3% of this year's complaints, against 4.1% across the model's other years (2.5×). Owners wrote it as: restart, vehicle able.
- engine engine — 7.7% of this year's complaints, against 3% across the model's other years (2.5×). Owners wrote it as: engine engine, cooling, engine cooling, increased.
- motion — 6.2% of this year's complaints, against 2% across the model's other years (3×). Owners wrote it as: motion, car shut.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
WHILE DRIVING 20 MPH, THE ENGINE STALLED WITHOUT WARNING. THE VEHICLE WAS ABLE TO RESTART. ALSO, THE VEHICLE EXPERIENCED A JERKING MOTION AND THE CHECK ENGINE INDICATOR ILLUMINATED PERIODICALLY. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE LOCAL DEALER (MAJOR HYUNDAI 1534 N.…
MY HUSBAND WAS DRIVING AND CAR SHUT OFF ON HIM, WHILE IN MOTION, AND WASNT ABLE TO BE RESTARTED. IT HAD TO BE TOWED TO AN AUTO SHOP WHERE THEY TOLD US THE ENGINE NEEDS TO BE REPLACED. NO WARNING LIGHT EVER CAME ON TO INDICATE ENGINE PROBLEMS.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V934000 ENGINE Fixed free of charge.
- 17V358000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
- 17V226000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 21V303000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 20V520000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 23V651000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Hyundai Santa Fe Sport was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport? What happened to yours?
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