2008 Hyundai Santa Fe
Complaints about this year name gauge far more often than the other years of this generation — 39% of them, about 50× the usual rate of 0.8%.
Generation 1 of the Hyundai Santa Fe, which began in 2007 and ran to 2012. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 541 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 216 |
| Involving a crash | 17 |
| Involving a fire | 7 |
| Recalls | 6 |
| EPA combined | 19.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- gauge — 39.2% of this year's complaints, against 0.8% across the other years of this generation (50.4×).
- fuel — 44.9% of this year's complaints, against 1.9% across the other years of this generation (23.1×).
- tank — 30.3% of this year's complaints, against 1.9% across the other years of this generation (15.6×). Owners wrote it as: tank, gas tank, fuel tank, fuel light.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
Also unusual this year
- fuel — 45% of complaints, 23× usual
- fuel gauge — 26% of complaints, 66× usual
- empty — 26% of complaints, 33× usual
What owners wrote
FUEL GAUGE SHOWS EMPTY TANK, WHEN TANK IS FULL. CHECK ENGINE LIGHT ON, BUT IS INTERMITTENT. RISK IS THAT VEHICLE RUNS OUT OF FUEL WITH NO NOTICE.
THE FUEL GAUGE STOPPED WORKING AT 84500 MILES. THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT COMES ON AND EVEN THOUGH THE TANK IS FULL, THE GAUGE READS EMPTY AND THE FUEL LOW LIGHT COMES ON.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 12V354000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 13V113000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 11V472000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 08E016000 TRAILER HITCHES Fixed free of charge.
- 08E055000 TRAILER HITCHES Fixed free of charge.
- 08V272000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Hyundai Santa Fe was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe? What happened to yours?
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