2023 Hyundai Santa Fe Plug-in Hybrid problems

“Horn will not work. This occured on [XXX]. Appointment made with dealer.”

“While operating the vehicle, the cruise control turns off without any warning. The warning messages that come up only after the cruise control is turned off by the vehicle state "Smart cruise conditions not met" and "forward safety system disabled. Radar blocked". This disables the vehicle from utilizing cruise control in any manner. This happened on the highway with the cruise set at 72 mph, with a semi truck right behind my vehicle in moderate traffic! The semi slammed brakes on and after initial shock, I was able to accelerate the vehicle somewhat to avoid a collision. The dealership claims that "ALL" new vehicles do this when operated in wintery weather, snow, or mud kicked up from the road, or when sensors get iced over. They claim that there is NO reprogramming that can be done to fix this HUGE safety issue. I have NEVER heard of this or experienced this in any other vehicle other than this Hyundai Santa Fe! As a disabled veteran, this honestly scared the hell out of me and makes me very leery to operate the vehicle in the wintertime time and I am the primary driver for the family! At the time of the incident, it was not snowing, the temperature was…”

“While on the highway my car lost power, gradually slowing down to a stall. I was able to safely park on the side of the road. I got the car to a nearby dealership that kept it for 10 days. The dealership said that the problem was code P2118 (Throttle Actuator Control Motor Current Range/Performance) that the air "flap" was frozen stuck shut and the engine was disabled on the freeway in order to prevent damage. The resolution was "waited for it to thaw and cleared the code". The dealer has a service bulletin and a software update but it did not resolve the safety issue. I've noticed hesitation when accelerating the car from a dead stop as well, which started last year.”

“Two issues with powertrain/transmission: 1- The powertrain/transmission fails intermittently- vehicle RPM goes sky high but vehicle receives no power, seems to fail/lose power. Has happened in very dangerous road conditions where unexpectedly was struggling to get the motor to engage/get power to the vehicle. Check engine and check hybrid system lights accompanies the problem. 2- The car should be driveable in electric only mode without use of gasoline. The powertrain/transmission seems to struggle to shift between electric and gas motors. HYUNDAI cannot seem to correctly diagnose or fix the issue. Does not seem they have proper diagnostic process included on the car- despite finding error messages stored in computer, they initially said they could not recreate the problem and therefore could not fix. 3 different trips to Hyundai dealership repair center, in total they have had my car for 10 weeks. They have replaced the transaxle and sent the car home, but that did not cure the issue. They now have my car again. It just does not seem they know how to identify or fix the issue. From online forums, I have learned MANY owners are experiencing the same problem and…”

“on the freeway and along side another car and "emergency breaking activation" warning. Happened 2 times in a month. Car swerved but I was able to control it. I was doing about 65 mph in each case.”

“On several occasions, the Automatic Emergency Braking System engages even though there is no evidence of a dangerous situation or imminent crash. It usually occurs during highway driving or at speeds over 40mph. In each case the brakes engage, the steering tightens, the AEBS notification appears on the dashboard and an alarm sounds. After a few seconds, the brakes and steering return to normal. This occurs even when there is no evident traffic issues. I googled the situation and found that other drivers of this car have had similar problems. Here are links to that result: https://www.santafeforums.com/threads/emergency-braking-system-activates-intermittently.17221/ https://www.carproblemzoo.com/hyundai/santafe/automatic-emergency-braking-problems.php I suggest that the NTSB open an investigation into whether this is an ongoing problem.”