Your new 2025 Hyundai Tucson or Santa Cruz may have a safety defect that needs to be addressed.
While Hyundai just refreshed its popular compact sedan and pickup derivative for the 2025 model year, both models are subject to a new recall as of this week. The automaker noted through documents published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that as many as 42,465 vehicles could be at risk of shifting out of Park, even without pressing the brake pedal, and rolling away. Of that total number, this recall impacts 35,560 examples of the 2025 Hyundai Tucson, while the remaining 6,905 units are Santa Cruz models.
The problem, Hyundai says, comes down to the way a wiring harness was routed in the center console. That wiring can come into contact with the mechanical release for the shift lever lock, allowing the shifter to move out of the Park position without having to apply the brakes, as you do in normal operation. Depending on the circumstances, the vehicle can then roll away and increase the risk of a crash and injury to any occupants or bystanders.
In its chronology report outlining the problem, the automaker says it began investigating the problem on October 24, after the “unintended movement” of a corporate fleet vehicle. After that incident, Hyundai ultimately informed its internal North American Safety Office (NASO) of a change in routing to the console wiring harness on November 8. It also told NASO that the change impacts 2025 Santa Cruz trucks, as well as the Tuscon SUV. It did not specify in any documents submitted to the NHTSA why it made the routing change in the first place — only that it “suspected potential interference with the auto shift lock lever in the subject vehicles” after the fact.
After convening an internal committee responsible for actually deciding on recall actions, Hyundai decided to launch the formal recall on November 13.
At time of writing, Hyundai says it is not aware of any crashes, fires, injuries or fatalities related to rollaway vehicles as a result of improperly routed wiring interfering with the mechanical shift release.
What will Hyundai do to address the problem?
To be clear, this problem only impacts gasoline-only versions of the 2025 Hyundai Tucson, as well as the Hyundai Santa Cruz. The Tuscon Hybrid and Plug-in Hybrid models have an electronic column-mounted gear selector, and should not have the same mechanical shift release. Affected vehicles were built between June 20, 2024 and November 13, 2024 in the case of the Tucson, or between July 22, 2024 and November 7, 2024 in the case of the Santa Cruz. (Basically, most if not all 2025 MY examples built through November are included in the recall campaign.)
Hyundai will address the issue by rerouting the console extension wiring harness away from that mechanical release lever, so the wiring won’t come into contact. Dealer technicians will perform the repair free of charge, although Hyundai will reimburse owners who paid out of pocket for the service. That said, since we are talking about 2025 models, affected vehicles should all still be under warranty.
Vehicles included in the recall are not under stop-sale. The company says owners can continue to drive the vehicles until repairs are complete, but encourages affected drivers to apply the parking brake each time they park as a precaution.
Hyundai says it will notify dealers electronically of the recall and the fix by January 19, 2025, and it will notify owners by certified mail by the same date. It incorporated the wiring harness routing fix into production as a running change on October 25, 2024.
