2010 Hyundai Tucson
This year drew an ordinary 57 complaints for a Hyundai Tucson — the model's median is 185. What they were about is the unusual part: 12.3% of them mention happens, against 2.4% across the other years of this generation.
First year of a new generation. The Hyundai Tucson was redesigned for 2010. 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 | 57 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 185 |
| Involving a crash | 3 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| EPA combined | 24.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- happens — 12.3% of this year's complaints, against 2.4% across the other years of this generation (5.2×). Owners wrote it as: happens, feels, feels like.
- lock — 10.5% of this year's complaints, against 2.6% across the other years of this generation (4×). Owners wrote it as: lock, doors, persisting, tensioners.
- few seconds — 7% of this year's complaints, against 0.9% across the other years of this generation (7.9×). Owners wrote it as: few seconds, calls.
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
Door actuators are not working so the locks only work on two of the five doors. Safety and security of the passengers is at risk.
THE RIGHT PASSENGER DOOR WILL NOT LOCK. THE ELECTRONIC LOCKING SYSTEM ON THE DOORS STARTED CLICKING, WHEN I STOPPED AND PUT THE CAR IN PARK. I WAS ABLE TO GET THE OTHER DOORS TO LOCK, BUT THE RIGHT DOOR STOPPED WORKING. ALSO THE OVERHEAD NIGHT LIGHT IS NO WORK…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 13V113000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 11V259000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 10V061000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 23V651000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Hyundai Tucson 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 2010 Hyundai Tucson? What happened to yours?
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