2015 Hyundai Santa Fe Engine
Owner-reported problems and safety issues filed with NHTSA. Review common failures, severity levels, and complaint trends over time.
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We have had issues with our 2015 Hyundai Santa Fe Limited that culminated in effectively lose of the car. The engine has a knocking, and is leaking coolant now. This started with the car sometimes sort of stuttering when you press the gas, or sometimes sudden lose of power while driving. It now sounds like a rod may. E bad, I’m no expert. Hyundai has said I need a new engine. The car which I bought new in 2015, has 116k miles on it. It has been well kept. I have older Hyundais that still have great engines at much higher mileage. I am registering this complaint, because it seems strange to loose an engine of a well maintained car at 116K miles. I know there are investigations and recalls on the smaller Santa Fe engines. But I suspect there is an issue with the larger 3.3L engine too. I’m registering the complaint so attention can be garnered for the 3.3L engine too. I suspect I’m not the only one with 3.3L engine having an issue. Regards
I have attached a PDF with all documented information including service records, tow, etc. on December 3, 2022 I was driving home on the highway at approximately 45 mph and the engine started shaking uncontrollably. I barely made it into my driveway as it is directly off the highway. I have proceeded to talk to the dealership and Hyundai Motors without any correspondence of help.
2015 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport all recall repairs made. Catastrophic engine failure in March 2020. Hyundai took vehicle in to replace engine, called me a liar when I gave them towing receipt. Never got an apology, took 3 years to get the $35 towing fee back. Hyundai had another recall- don't park in garage- fire could occur and they changed out fuse. During this time my dash instrument panel still worked but after recall, I could not change from Jan 1, 2000 to current date. Hyundai told me to take it up with them during the next recall. I did and they took 4 days to tell me that it was a bad sim card in the large display and it would cost me $600. Hyundai has ignored 4-5 letters to their corporate HQ in California and have provided much disservice and do not care about customers, service nor support. They adjusted the transmission so that it jumps or shudders under load going up a hill. There is no sense wasting time dealing with local, mid Atlantic or National Hyundai representatives as they do not care about quality, service so I have instructed loved ones to buy Honda or Subaru instead of Hyundai or Kia. I want to write to South Korea HQ of Hyundai but that does not seem to work. Hyundai HQ- 10550 Talbert Avenue, Fountain Valley, CA 92728 0850, USA is worthless. Their head of customer service told me that she is the highest ranking person with whom I will deal with as she accused me of lying to her about my $35 cash tow, plus my insurance payment and a $10 tip. I could not get an apology nor anyone from Hyundai Corp to deal with this customer dis-service representative. I guess I am lucky that the car is still working with transmission shuddering but a new engine almost 60k miles ago. I will trade in shortly and supplement my kids payments to buy anything but Hyundai or Kia products in the future. Heck when I bought it the dealerships first oil change took 3 hours as they lost the car and never provide the free car wash. Total rip off and they don't care
Car has been dealer maintained. Driving on the highway, the engine lost a rod and engine is now dead. Car has 101k miles. Dealer said it was out of warranty and cost would be out of pocket to replace engine. Only issues before blown engine was slight engine oil consumption. Nothing significant.
Engine failure at 50,000 miles without lamp warnings or messages (outside mechanics brought to our attention instead). Family safety at risk when car engine popped and stopped running. Engine issues confirmed by dealership after denying there were issues multiple times.
Warning light for catalytic converter came on and said it was knock sensor mechanic said engine problem and Hyundai is aware.
Engine major failure during driving. Engine blew with all manutance on date.
Husband was driving on interstate in Indianapolis, Indiana on 8/18/2023. Went to pass another vehicle and suddenly lost power. Was able to get pulled over on the shoulder and had car towed to repair shop. Mechanic advised motor seized up, unable to get the engine to even turn over. No warning lights, oil was only a quart low and have always maintained my vehicle. Have taken in for all recalls and regular maintenance. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but he was driving in rush hour traffic, with construction in the area. This could have been a very bad situation. Hyundai needs to do what is right and fix the issue. I now have to buy a new car and really not in a financial situation to do so!
My 2015 Santa Fe V6 AWD engine had 2 pistons seize up while driving. NO warning lights. I bought the Car with approximately 75K Miles and by 85k miles engine lights came on and engine was losing power. Local mechanic spent $2K trying to fix it but could not. Sent to Hyundai dealer where I purchased it. I spent another 2K (they covered about 3K as Hyundai would NOT cover repairs so dealer did). After month without the car, I got it back. 15k miles later (just as car turned over 100k miles) the car engine began making strange noise but no warning lights. Called AAA and thought we could make it 3 miles to repair shop but engine died in traffic. A second engine request from different Hyundai dealer was denied as "out of warrenty". No oil was leaking (and just had it changed!), no sign of issues of any kind, it just blew. Lucky no one was injured and was able to get to side of the road. I feel they issue should have been fixed at 85K and there must be a real piston issue in this vehicle.
Rod knock, engine failure. Vehicle still runs. Engine was accepted for replacement via Kearny Mesa Hyundai dealership.
Engine threw a rod. Brought it to Kearny Mesa Hyundai here in San Diego, they submitted a claim to see if corporate would grant an engine replacement and it was denied due to it being a V6
This vehicle has the 3.3L V6 engine in it. It has a blown engine due to oil consumption. We did regular maintenance to this car, including oil regular oil changes. There was no warning lights for low oil. Engine failed while my wife was driving on the highway. We had it towed to my mechanic and he found it was 4 quarts low on oil even though it had recently had routine service. Hyundai says this is not covered under warranty - I understand that MANY other Hyundai owners of the 3.3L V6 are having the same problem. Engine has 113K miles on it.
When passing a vehicle on the highway, engine light came on and power was reduced. After, diagnose was informed of needing new engine. Took to get 2nd opinion and same thing was needed.
Owner states his 2015 Hyundai Santa Fe developed an engine noise, and the check engine light came on. The vehicle was stopped and restarted after 30 minutes, but the engine noise continued. The dealer replaced the engine; however, the owner is seeking rental reimbursement. Also, the vehicle was crashed in the dealer's possession and determined a total loss.
Driving on the highway on February 8th 2023 and my car just died, no warnings nothing! Luckily I was able to get over and not cause a crash or worse. Engine failure.
While driving on the interstate at approximately 70 miles per hour, the engine powered down and would not restart. A mechanic advised me the engine seized and would need to be replaced, due to lack of oil in the engine. The oil had been changed at regular intervals, and there was no indication of an oil leak or low pressure. I have reviewed Investigation DP 22-003 and believe I have experienced a similar defect.
I was driving my 2015 Hyundai Santa Fe on the parkway and while changing lanes, I wanted to accelerate to maintain a safe speed. As I attempted to accelerate I noticed that the car was slowing down. There were no strange sounds or dashboard lights I was aware of but the tachometer read zero. We pull onto the shoulder and were eventually towed to my mechanic. He determined with some confidence that the engine had seized. It will be towed to a Hyundai service facility where it will be evaluated and diagnosed and possible fixed for free under the current warranty
Car oil consumption. Caused engine to seize. No warning no lights.
The check engine light began flashing without warning. I experienced sluggish performance and loss of power. Luckily I made it to my home. I took my car to my local mechanic and was informed my car was "burning oil" or over consuming oil. I never had an oil light indicator come on or any warnings that my car was having an oil issue. The only way to fix this is engine replacement. I called the dealership where I purchased my car and was informed that the warranty had expired. My car is sitting in my driveway inoperable. From my understanding this is not supposed to happen and is the result of poor, defective manufacturing of the engine components on the part of Hyundai. A warranty shouldn't be a consideration in the repair. Upon researching this issue I found that while there is a recall, my vehicle isn't on that list, but is on the affected list for this problem. Hyundai has been manufacturing and selling these vehicles to consumers for years with full knowledge of the problem. Out of 174 complaints on this site, 94 are related to the engine.
With out warning this car died and started smoking on a very busy road. I was almost hit several times trying to coast to the median.
Engine rod bearing are failing making noise and causing loss of power i have a v6 engine. I also had a hyundai sonata with a 4 cylinder engine that was doing the same thing and engine was covered under recall my santa fe only has 105,xxx miles.
Motor had rod bearing failure loud start ups and won’t cover warranty at 92k miles
Check engine light came on. It was a Sunday so we took it to the local auto parts shop and they said it was a pressure valve but they couldn’t say exactly which one. We made an appointment to have it checked but when we tried to drive it just a short distance (about a mile) it started stalling so we took it back home (about a mile back). By then it smelled like it was burning so we decided to have it towed rather than risk driving it to the repair shop. However by the time the tow truck came the next day, the car would not even start. The car has less than 70,000 miles and has been regularly maintained, but we are being told it needs a new engine and we have to pay for it. We bought from the dealership and it was only leased prior to that. We thought when we got it it was still covered under the originally warranty but we are now told that was not the case and it is not covered by the warranty. With the number of engine problems on these specific cars it seems very unlikely that this is something that we should be held responsible for but we are not sure how to hold Hyundai accountable.
The engine failed. The failure started at 56,000 miles with knocking and got worse over time. My entire family and others safety was put at risk due to the engine failure and possible lack of performance at any time and chance of fire. The dealership and an independent mechanic confirmed engine would fail and has inspected the vehicle. There was no warnings or lights that illuminated on the vehicle
Loud knocking noise in engine Had to have a tow
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Quick Summary
The 2015 Hyundai Santa Fe has 118 Engine complaints on file. 1 crashes have been reported. Review the timeline above for detailed owner experiences.