2016 Hyundai Tucson
Complaints about this year name door far more often than the other years of this generation — 30% of them, about 23× the usual rate of 1.3%.
First year of a new generation. The Hyundai Tucson was redesigned for 2016. 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 | 1,615 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 175 |
| Involving a crash | 14 |
| Involving a fire | 24 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 26.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- door — 32.4% of this year's complaints, against 3.9% across the other years of this generation (8.2×). Owners wrote it as: door, inside outside, door open, passenger door.
- open — 32.8% of this year's complaints, against 6.9% across the other years of this generation (4.8×). Owners wrote it as: open, inside, outside, doors open.
- transmission — 19.3% of this year's complaints, against 2.7% across the other years of this generation (7.1×).
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.
Also unusual this year
- open — 27% of complaints, 13× usual
- inside — 21% of complaints, 13× usual
- doors — 14% of complaints, 34× usual
What owners wrote
BOTH REAR DOORS DO NOT OPEN FROM THE INSIDE OR OUTSIDE WHEN UNLOCKED. CHILD SAFETY LOCK IS NOT ON.
Both back doors fail to open from the inside or outside and the front doors are starting to fail as well.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16V628000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 16V842000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 16V147000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 16V348000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
- 20V543000 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 2016 Hyundai Tucson? What happened to yours?
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