2019 Hyundai Santa Fe
This year drew an ordinary 192 complaints for a Hyundai Santa Fe — the model's median is 235. What they were about is the unusual part: 10.4% of them mention paint, against 1.1% across the other years of this generation.
First year of a new generation. The Hyundai Santa Fe was redesigned for 2019. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 192 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 235 |
| Involving a crash | 16 |
| Involving a fire | 11 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 22.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- paint — 10.4% of this year's complaints, against 1.1% across the other years of this generation (9.2×). Owners wrote it as: paint, peeling, hood, white.
- turbo — 6.3% of this year's complaints, against 0.7% across the other years of this generation (9.3×).
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
White paint peeling off 2019 Santa Fe since 2023 ... Hyundai says they are aware of the defective paint issue but denied any recorse or responsibility. Paint comes off while driving and reduces visibility.
Wipers are in the office position, but suddenly go up and down 2 inches, while off, and won't turn on. It snowed the day before, but wasn't while I was driving. Also, my hood is peeling. I have white paint.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V715000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 23V181000 TRAILER HITCHES Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Hyundai Santa Fe 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 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe? What happened to yours?
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