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What 124 owners told NHTSA about the 2011 Hyundai Tucson Plug-in Hybrid

These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.

All (124)Crash / fire / injury (8)Engine (40)Brakes (33)Transmission & drivetrain (20)Electrical system (12)Electronic Stability Control (esc) (9)Engine & cooling (5)Suspension (5)Body & structure (4)Speed control (4)Tires (4)

1 of 124 complaints match · Engine · crash/fire/injury only · clear filters

May 23, 2019Body & structureBrakesEngineCrash2 injuries

HIGHWAY, BRIDGE, FOLLOWING SIGNIFICANTLY FAR BACK. CAR STOPS AHEAD AND I BRAKE IN PLENTY OF TIME (MY SON WAS IN THE FRONT SEAT AND CAN ATTEST TO THAT). CAR BRAKES BUT VERY SLOWLY, NOT IN TIME SO WE HIT THE STATIONARY CAR AND THEN WE WERE HIT MUCH HARDER FROM BEHIND. AIRBAGS DEPLOYED. THE CAR IMMEDIATELY FILLED WITH SMOKE WHICH I ATTRIBUTED TO THE AIR BAGS BECAUSE I DID NOT KNOW ANY BETTER. VERY SCARED, I SCREAMED FOR THE KIDS TO GET OUT OF THE CAR. SMOKE WAS GONE BY THE TIME POLICE ARRIVED. WE WERE OK, MY SON AND I HAD SORE RIBS AND WHILE TALKING WITH POLICE MY LEFT HAND WAS BURNING FROM SOMETHING. NOTHING WAS VISIBLE SO I SAW KNOW POINT IN TELLING ANYONE. IT LEFT A RASH AND WITHIN TIME IT PEELED AND NOW IS BACK TO NORMAL. A FEW DAYS LATER, HAD SOME HEADACHES. WENT TO THE ATHLETIC TRAINER AT OUR SCHOOL (I AM A TEACHER) AND WAS PUT ON CONCUSSION PROTOCOL. CAR WAS TOTALED. THE FRONT LOOKED LIKE AN ACCORDION AS WE WERE PUSHED SIGNIFICANTLY INTO THE VEHICLE IN FRONT BY THE CAR WHO HIT US FROM BEHIND. I WAS SO RELIEVED THAT EVERYONE WAS OK THAT I REALLY DID NOT THINK ABOUT IT UNTIL RECALL NOTICE CAME FOR THE CAR WHICH OF COURSE WAS ALREADY GONE. ENGINE PROBLEMS WITH "OIL LEAKS AND POSSIBLE SPONTANEOUS FIRES, INCREASING RISK FOR ACCIDENT" IS THE WORDING ON THE RECALL.

NHTSA ODI 11209489

Working with the data? Download all 124 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 10, 2026

How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the full 2011 Hyundai Tucson Plug-in Hybrid verdict →