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EnginePart report

2023 Hyundai Santa Cruz Engine Problems

Complaints
20about this part
Share
25%of 79 total for the year
Median mileage
8,902miles
Trend
Too newThis model year is less than 4 years old, so a trend is not meaningful yet.

NHTSA recorded 20 complaints about the engine of the 2023 Hyundai Santa Cruz, 25% of the 79 complaints for this model year. Where a mileage was given, the median is 8,902 miles.

Example complaints

Selected from NHTSA records; personal details are removed. They are consumer reports, not findings.

“The car has 1,360 miles and is only a month old since I bought it. Car sat for 8 hours at my work parking lot. When I went to start it it ran rough like an engine misfire for about 10 seconds then normal. When I drove off with engine cold... the transmission would not shift up and was at 4,000 rpms. The accelerator pedal was not responsive.. even flooring it yielded no acceleration and the car would not go over 25mph. No check engine lights or trouble lights. …”

NHTSA complaint #11506502, filed 2023-02

“This is my 2nd complaint re: the same issue. Loss of power during driving. Unable to accelerate. I need to pull over shut off the engine and turn it back on.”

NHTSA complaint #11633032, filed 2024-12

“My issue was that I would press the gas pedal, but once I got to 20 mph the engine would stop giving power and I couldn’t get up to speed. My top speed was 30 mph, even though I would give it gas to speed up. This was the worst after I would come to a stop at a traffic light. As I pressed the gas to gain speed, it would struggle to gain speed in the middle of the intersection, causing the cars behind me to be frustrated and aggressively tailgate. I was able to find a parking lot, parked and turned the car off for approximately 20 minutes. …”

NHTSA complaint #11528957, filed 2023-06

“My coolant reservoir was so low that there was less than 8oz of coolant left in the tank. I contacted my local Hyundai dealership and had them service my Santa Cruz. The service techs at the dealership told me that there was a known issue with some of the factory coolant reservoir caps and the seal not working correctly, thus causing coolant to flow out through the cap instead of the overflow hose. They explained that the cap's o-ring at the factory is sometimes faulty. They replaced my cap and I am still monitoring for further issues. There is no TSB listed for this known issue. …”

NHTSA complaint #11641829, filed 2025-02

“Car will not start properly and shuts itself off after which a strong odor of burning plastic is present in the vehicle. It will periodically do this almost once a day if not every other day. I have taken it in to the dealer 4 times last time they had my car for two weeks and could not replicate porblem because they only drive it 5 miles and it will not happen unless vehicle is being daily driven. I have found numerous other owners with the same complaint. Hyundai will not authorize shop to work on car and advises them to release it to me each time. …”

NHTSA complaint #11539757, filed 2023-08

Related service bulletins

Engine: other model years

YearComplaintsShare of year
202529%
2024617%
20232025%
20225127%

Other parts of the 2023 Hyundai Santa Cruz

Transmission and drivetrain
25 complaints
Electrical system
14 complaints
Other or unknown
13 complaints
Fuel system
7 complaints
Forward collision avoidance
6 complaints
Vehicle speed control
6 complaints
Brakes
5 complaints
Exterior lighting
4 complaints
Air bags
2 complaints
Body and structure
2 complaints
Suspension
2 complaints
Visibility (wipers, defrost, mirrors)
2 complaints

← All problems reported for the 2023 Hyundai Santa Cruz

About this data. Data from NHTSA (ODI) complaints, recalls, TSBs and investigations, updated Oct 31, 2026. Complaints are unverified consumer reports and may be duplicated or inaccurate.

To check a specific vehicle for open recalls, use its VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls. Methodology