A software bug could trigger unexpected braking for new Tuscon and Santa Cruz owners.
Hyundai decided to launch a wide-scale recall campaign to address a safety issue with the 2025-2026 Santa Cruz and Tucson’s forward collision avoidance (FCA) systems. According to a report the automaker submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the campaign covers as many as 421,078 vehicles in the United States. To be clear, however, this only affects the 2025 and 2026 model years of both vehicles, and specifically units built between April 2024 and April 2026.
Hyundai says the FCA software in all variants of the Hyundai Tucson and Santa Cruz may be too sensitive to forward object proximity. In other words, the system may detect a potential obstacle and brake suddenly and unexpectedly, and earlier than the driver would normally expect. The company started investigating the issue last year, after allegations of unintended braking rolled in with the latest, refreshed version of the Tuscon and Santa Cruz.
The main concern here is rear-end crashes, as the sudden and unexpected braking could lead to a collision, particularly if another motorist is following too closely behind the affected vehicle. Between October 2024 and April 2026, Hyundai notes 376 reports related to issues with sudden braking from the FCA system. Of those reports, four vehicles were actually rear-ended by closely following vehicles, with four injuries.
Here are the specific vehicles impacted and how Hyundai plans to fix the problem
The scope of this recall largely impacts the popular Tuscon SUV, though the exact quantity and production dates differ depending on which variant of the Tuscon (or the closely related Santa Cruz) you own:
- Gas-only Tucson: 292,805 vehicles built between April 8, 2024 and April 14, 2026
- Tuscon Hybrid: 110,844 vehicles built between August 26, 2024 and October 23, 2025
- Tuscon Plug-in Hybrid: 4,347 vehicles built between August 7, 2025 and March 23, 2026
- Santa Cruz: 13,082 vehicles built between July 22, 2024 and April 1, 2026
Hyundai plans to inform impacted owners by mail on July 17, at the same time it notifies dealers. Owners will be instructed to bring their vehicles into their local dealer to receive the fix. When there, dealer technicians will flash a new version of the FCA software with a different calibration. Specifically, the company says this new software “has been tuned to better align with operator expectation for activation timing and distance to leading vehicle.”
The remedy made its way into production on March 12 at Hyundai’s Ulsan, South Korea plant. It also rolled out at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama on April 2.
