Hyundai Recalls 135,000 Units Of Santa Fe, Collision Test Is The Trigger

Hyundai Santa Fe. (Photo: Hyundai Europe)

Hyundai recalled 135,386 units of the Hyundai Santa Fe crossover from the 2024 and 2025 models, due to problems with the booth price starter cover which was not fully installed.

Quoting from the Carscoops page, Thursday, October 9, this means that in certain collision scenarios involving various levels of deformation the open terminal engine compartment can come into contact with cooling fan assemblies.

This can result in an electrical short circuit, which increases the risk of a fire. This is very dangerous because the vehicle has had an accident and has the potential to experience fuel leakage.

This problem was discovered last year in the United States by the National Highway Traffic Safety Agency (NHTSA) after a hit test of the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) front barrier with the 2024 Santa Fe model. During the inspection, smoke was detected coming out of the engine compartment.

Hyundai spent months investigating and trying to replicate the matter, and eventually found "a number" of vehicles with non-pair starter terminal covers.

This then led to factory inspections, but found no problems, and testing showed that properly installed terminal coverage should have remained installed over time. Only 1 percent of the recalled vehicles are experiencing the problem.

Responding to this, Hyundai will send a notification letter scheduled to come out in December and the fix should be relatively fast, as dealer notices include the process taking less than half an hour.