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2010 Hyundai Santa Fe Recalls & Complaints

3

open safety recalls on record

Critical

332 owner complaints filed · Severity Index 0.41 · updated 2026-08-07

The recalls

Critical11E040000

Equipment

WITHOUT THE CIRCUIT PROTECTION, THE MODULE CAN OVERHEAT POSSIBLY RESULTING IN A FIRE.

Remedy & full details

CURT MANUFACTURING WILL NOTIFY OWNERS AND REPLACE THE TOW PACKAGE WIRING HARNESS. THE REMEDY WILL BE PERFORMED FREE OF CHARGE. THE SAFETY RECALL BEGAN ON OCTOBER 17, 2011. OWNERS MAY CONTACT CURT MANUFACTURING AT 1-715 831-8713.

CURT MANUFACTURING IS RECALLING CERTAIN TOW PACKAGE WIRING HARNESSES, PART NUMBER 55538, THAT CONNECT TOW VEHICLE LIGHTING CIRCUITS TO TRAILER LIGHTING CIRCUITS SOLD FOR USE ON CERTAIN MODEL YEAR 2009 THROUGH 2011 HYUNDAI SANTA FE VEHICLES. THE UNITS ARE NOT WATER-TIGHT AND MOISTURE CAN SEEP INTO THE CONVERTER MODULE AND DEFEAT THE MODULE'S INTERNAL CIRCUIT PROTECTION.

Critical11V261000

Power Train:Driveline:Driveshaft

DAMAGE TO THE TRANSMISSION MAY CAUSE LOSS OF MOTIVE POWER, raises the risk of A CRASH.

Remedy & full details

DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE RIGHT SIDE OUTPUT GEAR AND INTERMEDIATE SHAFT FREE OF CHARGE. THE SAFETY RECALL IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN DURING JUNE 2011. OWNERS MAY CONTACT HYUNDAI'S CUSTOMER ASSISTANCE CENTER AT 1-800-633-5151.

HYUNDAI IS RECALLING CERTAIN MODEL YEAR 2010 SANTA FE 2WD VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSIONS AND 2.4L ENGINES MANUFACTURED FROM OCTOBER 15, 2009 THROUGH MARCH 5, 2010. THE INTERMEDIATE SHAFT MAY SUFFER FROM NOISE AND EXCESSIVE WEAR DUE TO A MISALIGNMENT OF THE INTERMEDIATE SHAFT WITH THE RIGHT SIDE OUTPUT GEAR. CONTINUING TO DRIVE THE VEHICLE IN THIS CONDITION LEADS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF A WHIRRING/WHINING NOISE AND CAN EVENTUALLY CAUSE DAMAGE TO THE AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION.

Serious13V113000

Exterior Lighting:Brake Lights:Switch

Failure to illuminate the stop lamps during braking or inability to disengage the cruise control could raises the risk of a crash.

Remedy & full details

Hyundai will notify owners, and dealers will replace the stop lamp switch, free of charge. The safety recall began on April 22, 2013. Owners may contact Hyundai at 1-800-633-5151. Hyundai's recall campaign number is 110.

Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai) is recalling certain model year 2006-2009 Accent, model year 2007-2011 Azera, Sonata and Sante Fe,2006-2011 Tucson, 2009-2011 Elantra Touring, 2007-2010 Elantra, 2008-2011 Veracruz, 2009-2011 Genesis, 2010-2011 Genesis Coupe, 2007-2008 Entourage, and 2006-2008 Tiburon vehicles. Originally, in April 2013, Hyundai recalled 1,059,824 model year 2007-2009 Accent and Tucson, model year 2007-2010 Elantra, model year 2007-2011 Santa Fe, model year 2008-2009 Veracruz, model year 2010-2011 Genesis Coupe, and model year 2011 Sonata vehicles. In September 2013, Hyundai informed the agency that it was adding more vehicles to this campaign, representing an additional 652,512 units. The total number of vehicles being recalled is now 1,712,336. In the affected vehicles, the stop lamp switch may malfunction. A malfunctioning stop lamp switch may cause the brake lights to not illuminate when the brake pedal is depressed or may cause an inability to deactivate the cruise control by depressing the brake pedal. Additionally, a malfunctioning stop lamp switch may also result in intermittent operation of the push-button start feature, affect the operation of the brake transmission shift interlock feature, preventing the shifter from being moved out of the PARK position and cause the Electronic Stability Control (ESC) malfunction light to illuminate.

Complaint volume

332 this model-year 11 median, same year

Volume alone is not a fault rate — popular vehicles attract more reports. Read it next to the severity mix below.

What owners reported happened

14Crashes
12Fires
13Injuries
2Deaths

Across 332 complaints. Severity Index 0.41.

Severity Index weights each complaint's reported outcome (death ×10, injury ×4, fire ×3, crash ×2) and divides by total complaints. It measures how severe reports are, not how often faults occur.

What owners report most

Power Train65 · 20%Power Train · Automatic T…44 · 13%Engine37 · 11%Electrical System26 · 8%Unknown Or Other22 · 7%Vehicle Speed Control21 · 6%Suspension14 · 4%Fuel/Propulsion System10 · 3%
  1. Power Train — 65 reports
  2. Power Train:Automatic Transmission — 44 reports
  3. Engine — 37 reports
  4. Electrical System — 26 reports
  5. Unknown Or Other — 22 reports
  6. Vehicle Speed Control — 21 reports
  7. Suspension — 14 reports
  8. Fuel/Propulsion System — 10 reports
  9. Engine And Engine Cooling — 9 reports
  10. Air Bags — 9 reports

What to do

  1. Find your 17-character VIN on the driver's door jamb or the base of the windscreen.
  2. Check it against NHTSA's official lookup at nhtsa.gov/recalls — the authoritative record for your exact car.
  3. Book the repair with any franchised dealer. Safety recall work is free, with no time limit and regardless of who owns the car now.

Other model years

2001 (4) · 2002 (4) · 2003 (4) · 2004 (3) · 2005 (3) · 2006 (1) · 2007 (9) · 2008 (6) · 2009 (3) · 2010 · 2011 (3) · 2012 (1) · 2013 (3) · 2014 (3) · 2015 (2) · 2016 (3) · 2017 (6) · 2018 (2) · 2019 (2) · 2020 (2) · 2021 (7) · 2022 (5) · 2023 (1) · 2024 (7) · 2025 (5) · 2026 (4)

Numbers in brackets are open recall campaigns for that year.

Questions

Does an open recall mean the car is unsafe to drive?

Not usually. NHTSA issues a "do not drive" or "park outside" advisory when a defect is dangerous enough to keep you out of the car — those are flagged Critical above. Everything else should be repaired promptly but is not an immediate stop-driving order.

Do I pay for recall repairs?

No. Federal law requires the manufacturer to fix a safety recall free of charge, including parts and labour, whether or not you are the original owner.

Why are there complaints but no recalls?

Complaints are unverified reports filed by owners. They can prompt an investigation, but many never become recalls — either the fault isn't safety-related or it isn't widespread.

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