Hyundai Santa Fe review - Reliability & safety (2018-2023)

Hyundai has built itself a strong reputation for reliability and customer support, and that's one reason that the brand has increased in popularity over recent years. With a generous list of safety equipment that’s standard or optional across the range, the Santa Fe should prove a safe family SUV, too.

Hyundai Santa Fe reliability

Until the latest Hyundai Santa Fe features in our annual Driver Power owner satisfaction survey, we've no definitive impression of how it will stack up as a long-term ownership proposition. However, Hyundai itself finished 16th overall out of 29 brands in our 2021 survey – a slight fall in rankings over the 13th place finish the previous year.

Hyundai owners weren't especially impressed by the design or style of their cars, inside or out, and few were overwhelmingly positive about ride, handling or performance, either. Fuel economy and running costs received more praise, as did practicality.

When it comes to reliability, around 21% of respondents to our survey suffered a fault with their cars in the first year of ownership. Despite this, the five-year/unlimited mileage warranty on the Santa Fe should provide reassurance to prospective owners.

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Safety

As the Hyundai Kona SUV, Hyundai Ioniq hybrid and Hyundai Tuscon SUV all received five-star ratings from independent crash safety experts Euro NCAP, we anticipate another five-star safety rating for the Sante Fe when it's tested.

The Santa Fe’s impressive standard crash mitigation technology should help; autonomous emergency braking is standard across the range, and the brand's SmartSense safety technology also includes rear cross-traffic avoidance assist.

Ultimate models boast a Blind Spot Detection system, which is also capable of applying the brakes on one side of the car if a blind-spot related accident is detected, in order to steer the car evasively in the event of a collision being detected. Both trim levels also get Rear Occupancy Alert, a system that alerts the driver to any occupants – including children or pets – who might have been left in the vehicle when the central locking is activated.