HYUNDAI FEEDBACK
I recently purchased a 2025 Tucson. This is the seventh Hyundai vehicle I have owned and I have recommended them to many friends; however, I have many complaints about the new design - some are major factors that push me away from a future Hyundai purchase. While I consider Hyundai to be good value for the money and the quality of manufacturing is reflected in the warranty, I hope you will seriously consider these to be necessary changes in the future engineering of your vehicles.
1) STEERING WHEEL CONTROLS
a) ISSUE: The cruise and audio controls on the steering wheel have been switched to the opposite sides. This is confusing and contradicts automotive standards that have been used for decades, which exist to minimize confusion and distractions.
b) RECOMMENDATION: Restore cruise controls to the right side of the steering wheel and audio controls to the left side of the steering wheel.
2) CRUISE CONTROLS
a) ISSUE: The design of the cruise control buttons is counter-intuitive, complex, and contradicts standards that have been used for decades. Turning on or enabling the cruise control also sets the speed that must then be immediately cancelled with the CANCEL button. The CANCEL button has both cancel and resume functions. This is not only confusing but dangerous. There should be a dedicated button to cancel the cruise control. Also, what used to be the RESUME button now only increases the set speed in 1 mph increments; it does not resume the last speed setting. This is confusing and contradicts automotive standards that have been used for decades, which exist to minimize confusion and distractions.
b) RECOMMENDATION: Restore the cruise controls buttons as follows:
i) Button #1 = ON/OFF
ii) Button #2 = SET / INCREMENT
iii) Button #3 = RESUME / DECREMENT
iv) Button #4 = CANCEL.
3) WIPER CONTROLS
a) ISSUE: The design of the wiper control has been inverted (up enables wipers and down is intermittent), which contradicts standards that have been used for decades.
b) RECOMMENDATION: Restore the wiper control as follows:
i) UP = Momentary.
ii) DOWN #1 = Intermittent.
iii) DOWN #2 = Continuous slow.
iv) DOWN #3 = Continuous fast.
4) SPEED CONTROL PACING DISTANCE
a) ISSUE: The cruise control no longer allows disabling front vehicle pacing.
b) RECOMMENDATION: Allow the speed control pacing distance to be permanently disabled, which was an option in previous years. It is not the responsibility of Hyundai to ensure the safety of vehicle owners.
5) COLLISION AVOIDANCE
a) ISSUE: The collision avoidance system is always engaged. In one case the system braked even though there was never a risk of collision. That actually almost caused a collision.
b) RECOMMENDATION: Allow the collision avoidance radar to be disabled. It is not the responsibility of Hyundai to ensure the safety of vehicle owners.
6) CRUISE CONTROL RESPONSIVENESS
a) ISSUE: The cruise control tries to maintain the set speed too quickly. In hilly regions, it responds by speeding up when going downhill and slowing down when going uphill because the feedback is too responsive.
b) RECOMMENDATION: Reprogram the cruise control to function the way it did in older models or allow the response time of the speed control to be adjusted.
7) DOWNHILL BRAKING
a) ISSUE: Allow downhill speed control (via the brakes or transmission) to be disabled. This wastes fuel and does not work properly in hilly regions. Currently, downhill braking cannot be toggled while driving. This matters when transitioning from driving in hilly regions to flat roads.
b) RECOMMENDATION: Allow an option to disable downhill speed controls. Also allow this to be toggled even while driving.
8) GEAR SHIFT
a) ISSUE: Eliminate all push-button and paddle gear selectors. When a gear selection button is pushed, it does not engage quickly enough because there have been numerous times when it never engaged. While this is probably the fault of the driver, there is no physical feedback such that the driver knows the intended gear selection is engaged.
b) RECOMMENDATION: Continue using the excellent Shiftronic system.
9) IDLE STOP
a) ISSUE: Allow the idle stop to be permanently disabled.
b) RECOMMENDATION: Allow the idle stop to be permanently disabled.
10) TEMPERATURE CONTROLS
a) ISSUE: The temperature of the air coming out of the vents is determined by a remote cabin sensor. Since the air flows on or next to the passengers, the air temperature is not the same as the setpoint. This means the air temperature will always be too hot, too cold, or constantly changing (variations in sunlight, clouds, and night have major effects on cabin temperature). Even if the air temperature is adjusted for the comfort of the passenger, it will require constant adjustment to maintain it. This is absolutely useless. Everyone sets the air temperature for their comfort, not some elusive and meaningless desired cabin temperature.
b) RECOMMENDATION: Locate temperature sensors inside the ventilation system so that the air temperature can be adjusted for the comfort of the passenger. This could be a replacement for the cabin sensor or an option to use instead of the cabin sensor.
11) AUDIO SPEAKERS
a) ISSUE: The audio system is shockingly bad and is a significant decline from previous models. The speakers in the dashboard have been eliminated and the door speakers are obviously an inferior design.
b) RECOMMENDATION: Restore the dashboard speakers and use quality speakers throughout.
12) TRIP INFO
a) ISSUE: The trip information resets every time the vehicle is turned off. This is completely useless because a trip consists of several starts and stops.
b) RECOMMENDATION: Program the trip info to continue even after stopping as it did in older models (i.e., a 2021 Sonata).
13) SPEEDOMETER & RPM GAUGES
a) ISSUE: The “analog” gauges around the digital numeric displays for the speedometer and RPM are useless, pointless, and simply increase the interior light during nighttime driving.
b) RECOMMENDATION: Either add units to the gauges or eliminate the ‘analog’ rings entirely.
14) CLOCK
a) ISSUE: Depending upon the display mode (media, map, etc.), the time is displayed in different locations. This is a distraction because it requires additional time for the driver to find it.
b) RECOMMENDATION: Affix the clock time to one place on the display.
15) COFFEE BREAK
a) ISSUE: The system displays an audio and visual warning to take a coffee break. These messages are not just irritating; they are a dangerous distraction!
b) RECOMMENDATION: Eliminate the ‘take a coffee break’ warnings. In fact, eliminate ALL unnecessary audio and visual reports or at least allow them to be permanently disabled.
16) IMPROVED DIAGNOSTICS REPORTING
a) ISSUE: Once, the gas cap was not tightened properly but the display only showed a very ominous warning that required a trip to the dealer to solve the problem. A similar problem occurred with a rented Nissan Sentra when the previous driver did not tighten the cap but the message actually stated that the cap was not tightened.
b) RECOMMENDATION: Improve the diagnostic reporting so that unnecessary trips to the dealer are avoided.
17) PHONE HOLDER
a) ISSUE: There is no place to store a phone where it is not at risk of falling.
b) RECOMMENDATION: Add a phone holder in the console or dash.