2013 Hyundai Tucson
This year drew an ordinary 266 complaints for a Hyundai Tucson — the model's median is 175. What they were about is the unusual part: 8.3% of them mention santa, against 1.8% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 2 of the Hyundai Tucson, which began in 2010 and ran to 2015. 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 | 266 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 175 |
| Involving a crash | 16 |
| Involving a fire | 18 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 23 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- santa — 8.3% of this year's complaints, against 1.8% across the other years of this generation (4.7×). Owners wrote it as: santa, sonata, engine same, apply.
- driving highway — 7.1% of this year's complaints, against 1.6% across the other years of this generation (4.4×). Owners wrote it as: driving highway, highway engine.
- bearing — 8.3% of this year's complaints, against 2.7% across the other years of this generation (3.1×). Owners wrote it as: bearing, miles engine, miles per.
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.
What owners wrote
. ON JUNE 17, 2018 MY ENGINE BLEW ON MY 2013 TUCSON, LESS THAN 75000 MILES. WE WERE TRAVELING ON THE INTERSTATE AT SPEEDS OF 75 MILES PER HOUR WHEN THE ENGINE BEGAN TO KNOCK THEN LOOSE SPEED. TRAFFIC ALL AROUND US WAS TRAVELING AT 75-80 MILES PER HOUR, VERY SC…
2.4 Theta-II engine failed at 95k miles. The engine is the same engine recalled on the santa fe and sonata and dealer does not want to replace.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V063000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 14V245000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 23V651000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Hyundai Tucson 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 2013 Hyundai Tucson? What happened to yours?
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