Owners filed 4,848 complaints about the 2015–2025 Hyundai Tucson with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the 16th-most of any vehicle in our Car Problem Index. The 2016 model year drew the most (1,617), and the single most-reported problem area is engine, named in 38% of complaints.
Key findings
- Worst model year: 2016, with 1,617 complaints, led by transmission / powertrain (516).
- Spike years: 2016 (5.8× the typical year), 2017 (3.9× the typical year).
- Earliest-failing area: automatic emergency braking / collision warning complaints came at a median of 5k mi on the odometer.
- Fire and crash reports: 89 complaints mention a fire and 150 mention a crash; owners reported 144 injuries and 1 deaths.
Hyundai Tucson complaints by model year
| Model year | Complaints | Top problem areas | Median mileage | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 226 | Engine (118), Service Brakes, Hydraulic (52), Transmission / powertrain (20) | 70k mi | 7 | 8 |
| 2016 | 1,617 | Transmission / powertrain (516), Engine (423), Body structure (227) | 30k mi | 14 | 24 |
| 2017 | 1,084 | Engine (594), Transmission / powertrain (289), Speed control / acceleration (87) | 26k mi | 13 | 26 |
| 2018 | 396 | Engine (243), Transmission / powertrain (101), Electrical system (27) | 32k mi | 13 | 9 |
| 2019 | 379 | Engine (196), Service Brakes, Hydraulic (62), Brakes (53) | 21k mi | 15 | 11 |
| 2020 | 177 | Engine (72), Brakes (26), Electrical system (19) | 6k mi | 5 | 2 |
| 2021 | 78 | Engine (38), Electrical system (11), Brakes (9) | 29k mi | 2 | 3 |
| 2022 | 381 | Fuel system (131), Engine (115), Transmission / powertrain (63) | 26k mi | 25 | 4 |
| 2023 | 133 | Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (28), Electrical system (26), Engine (23) | 19k mi | 12 | 1 |
| 2024 | 96 | Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (23), Electrical system (18), Brakes (16) | 20k mi | 12 | 0 |
| 2025 | 281 | Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (148), Electrical system (63), Brakes (38) | 5k mi | 32 | 1 |
Newer model years have had less time on the road, so their counts are lower partly because owners have had fewer years to report problems.
Most-reported Hyundai Tucson problems, and what they cost to fix
| Problem area | Complaints | Share | Median mileage | Repair estimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engine | 1,848 | 38% | 58k mi | Engine repair cost |
| Transmission / powertrain | 1,080 | 22% | 8k mi | Transmission repair cost |
| Electrical system | 581 | 12% | 32k mi | Alternator / electrical repair cost |
| Fuel system | 359 | 7% | 11k mi | Fuel pump repair cost |
| Body structure | 312 | 6% | 58k mi | — |
| Speed control / acceleration | 297 | 6% | 10k mi | — |
| Brakes | 287 | 6% | 24k mi | Brake repair cost |
| Automatic emergency braking / collision warning | 279 | 6% | 5k mi | — |
One complaint can name several problem areas, so shares add up to more than 100%.
What this data can and can't tell you
These are unverified reports that owners submitted to NHTSA, counted by model year. They are not defect findings, and they aren't adjusted for sales: a best-selling vehicle collects more complaints simply because more of them are on the road. Use the counts to compare model years of the same vehicle and to see which systems owners complain about most, not to compare how reliable two different models are. See the full methodology.
Other Hyundai models in the index
- Hyundai Sonata (3,717)
- Hyundai Santa Fe (2,823)
- Hyundai Elantra (2,503)
- Hyundai Palisade (2,302)
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, consumer complaint files (nhtsa.gov), model years 2015–2025, retrieved 2026-09-23. Free to cite with a link to this page.