Impressive Tech, Weak Efficiency, Poor Build Quality Where It Counts
he Tucson Hybrid offers genuinely strong technology and a well-designed feature set. However, several key areas — particularly software refinement, build quality in basic components, and support for current owners — significantly detract from the overall ownership experience.
Many of these issues appear solvable through software updates or relatively small design adjustments. Unfortunately, the lack of follow-through for existing customers creates the impression that improvements are reserved for future models rather than applied to vehicles already on the road.
- The car has solid tech, and many of its shortcomings could be fixed with simple software updates. Unfortunately, Hyundai has made it clear that once they sell you the car, they no longer care. Current owners are ignored, and meaningful updates never come.
- Mediocre fuel economy for a hybrid — and again, software is the problem.
Every other hybrid in this segment does it better. This car could too, if Hyundai allowed smarter software behavior, such as:
* Letting the car stay in EV mode longer when starting from a stopped state when in ECO, even if the car is slower.
* Allowing regen settings to persist after the car is turned off
These are basic improvements, but Hyundai won’t implement them because, once again, they don’t care about existing customers.
- Shockingly poor build quality — my biggest regret.
If I had known how fragile and poorly engineered this car was, I would never have bought it. Even KIA is dramatically better in this regard.
Example: my rear turn signal stopped working two weeks after purchase. When I went to replace it myself, I found wiring that is absurdly thin (around 1.6mm), extremely fragile, and routed low and very open under the chassis/bumper, directly exposed to water, dirt, and debris. The cable is so short and delicate that anyone replacing a bulb can easily damage it. This is unacceptable design.
There are countless issues like this. If you wash the car and water hits certain rear areas slightly harder, it can knock the rear corner radar out of calibration — which then requires a dealer visit (and payment) to fix.
Everything feels fragile, poorly thought out, and built with overly thin wiring and connections. It’s honestly unbelievable.
Bluelink and Digital Key although great and what led me to get the car, are actually liabilities, not features.
Do not leave this car in a garage for a week if you plan to rely on Bluelink or Digital Key. The 12V battery will be dead when you come back. This has happened to me four times in less than two months.
The battery is simply too small to support Hyundai’s own software features. When it dies, you’re forced to manually break into your own car, risking scratches and paint damage, just to reset it. Doing this repeatedly is unacceptable — and this is a known, common issue. Will they fix it? NEVER.
Direct comparison: KIA did it right. Hyundai did not.
Before this, I owned a 2026 Sportage Hybrid, and it was vastly superior in build quality and battery reliability. Sadly, a flash flood destroyed it shortly after purchase. With insurance reimbursement, I ended up in a discounted 2025 Tucson Hybrid due to the upcoming 2026 refresh.
Same engine. Same manufacturer.
Wildly different quality.
The KIA was better built in every meaningful way and a LOT quieter. Choosing the Tucson was a huge mistake.
Final verdict: I’m done with Hyundai.
Unless Hyundai fundamentally changes how it treats current owners — starting with real firmware and software updates to improve vehicles already on the road — I will not consider this brand again. Even if future models improve, abandoning existing customers is a dealbreaker.
There are too many owners complaining about the same issues for this to be ignored. Hyundai has chosen not to listen. As a result, I’m not even willing to look at what they make next. This is very unfortunate when a fix is easy and not expensive.
Verified Owner
