What 191 owners told NHTSA about the 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid Hev

The door was completely shut - I was driving on the highway - no alarm on the instrument panel, fully stage 2 latched ( even if it is just stage 1 latched - the instrument panel gives an alarm - there was no alarms about door not fully closed) everything was normal. 15 minutes into the drive - I was exiting the highway, making a right hand turn - the door suddenly popped open, alarm went off on the instrument panel - thankfully did not swing open, I was able to hold onto the door. I shut the door again - drove for 200 Miles - no issue again. This was the first ever time I saw this issue at 90K miles

NHTSA ODI 11729290

The trunk hatch is no longer functioning. The car beeps, but does not unlatch. Once the gate is manually open from a latch inside the trunk, it will not close by pushing the gate close button. It just stopped working. I went into the grocery store, and when I returned with groceries, it stopped working. Hyundai says it's out of warranty and will cost $1800 to repair.

NHTSA ODI 11721567

Paint is significantly peeling on the hood of my car.

NHTSA ODI 11720832

Paint peeling and chipping will cause rust.

NHTSA ODI 11685237

Paint coming off of hood, no contact of any kind. Took to dealer and was told past its warranty sorry. Cost me over $1K to fix the problem.

NHTSA ODI 11675821

White paint peeling off 2019 Santa Fe since 2023 ... Hyundai says they are aware of the defective paint issue but denied any recorse or responsibility. Paint comes off while driving and reduces visibility.

NHTSA ODI 11659581

I am the owner of a 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe in Pearl White (paint code SWP). The paint on my vehicle has begun peeling extensively on the hood, and other exterior panels. This appears to be the same paint defect that Hyundai previously acknowledged for the 2017–2018 Santa Fe Sport under a Customer Satisfaction Program (TXXW), but the 2019 model is not covered. The paint is bubbling and lifting without any impact or damage, suggesting a manufacturing defect. This significantly affects the vehicle’s appearance and may compromise corrosion protection. Numerous other owners of 2019 Hyundai models have reported similar problems. I am requesting that NHTSA investigate this issue as a potential widespread defect and urge Hyundai to include affected model years in any extended warranty or recall efforts.

NHTSA ODI 11658654

White body paint chipping.

NHTSA ODI 11645223

The paint is failing, it is coming off in sheets, there is no damage to the car where the paint is coming off.

NHTSA ODI 11624200

2019 Hyundai the white paint is peeling. It was not caused by road damage. I asked the dealership and was told I was past the warranty due to my mileage.

NHTSA ODI 11561036

I was at a traffic light (stopped) and all of a sudden my sunroof exploded with no rhyme or reason behind it and glass shattered everywhere on top of me. Nothing was thrown at it and no other vehicles were around me to have any debris thrown up onto it. I got out and inspected the sunroof and found that there was no object imbedded on, in, or near the sunroof that would lead me to believe anything hit it. I contacted the Hyundai dealership about this and they will not cover it under warranty. I believe this is a quality control issue with faulty engineering of the sunroof and upon looking at other Hyundai forums, I found that others have reported the same thing occurring to their vehicles of the same make and model and the pictures of their damage look identical to my damage.

NHTSA ODI 11507519

Liftgate is unable to be opened from outside, on button press it just beeps three times

NHTSA ODI 11487007

While driving at 70 mph the rear panel of the panoramic sunroof in my 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe exploded. We were not near other traffic or other sources of debris that could have impacted the glass. There was a very loud 'boom' sound, like a gunshot, and then the crackling sound of broken glass. Thankfully the sunshade was drawn and glass shards did not fall into the passenger compartment. Within a short amount of time large pieces of glass began to fall out creating a very heavy load on the fabric sunshade. We were able to collect enough of the large pieces by hand and remove them before the shade tore or otherwise failed creating an even larger hazard. Our 1 year old child was in his car seat directly below the failure -- had the shade been open, or had large pieces of glass fell before we could pull over and remove them he could have been seriously injured. Online research points that this is not an isolated incident and there is a pattern of this happening on recent model Hyundai/Kia products with panoramic sunroofs -- there is a class action lawsuit in Canada targeting Hyundai's lack of ownership of the problem. Hyundai dealerships and corporate were contacted to inspect and repair under warranty but were unwilling to do so in a reasonable timeframe (2+ month wait time). Vehicle was ultimately repaired by a body shop through our insurance company. There were no indications that this was a problem prior to the event.

NHTSA ODI 11480753

WHILE DRIVING, THE PANORAMIC SUNROOF SPONTANEOUSLY EXPLODED, LEAVING SHATTERED GLASS WITHIN THE INTERIOR OF THE CAR. THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE OF FOREIGN OBJECTS WHICH MAY HAVE STRUCK THE CAR CAUSING THE ROOF TO CRACK AS IT DID.

NHTSA ODI 11253008