Nissan Xterra vs Hyundai Santa FE

Both cars' complete complaint records, side by side.

Read the totals carefully. NHTSA publishes no sales figures, so the car that sold more collects more complaints regardless of quality. The rows worth weighing are the proportions — the share of complaints that involved harm, and which part dominates.

Measure	Nissan Xterra	Hyundai Santa FE
Complaints on file	4,194	10,385
Model years covered	2000–2015	2001–2026
Worst model year	2006	2013
Best model year	2009	2026
Crashes reported	173	540
Fires reported	60	313
Injuries reported	111	349
Deaths reported	8	10
Most complained-about part	Fuel & Propulsion	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	8.4%	11.7%

Nissan Xterra by year

258 197 214 97 110 1,175 1,034 770 174 26 58 27 17 7 15 15

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Fuel & Propulsion 1,106 26.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 1,045 24.9%

Engine & Cooling 823 19.6%

Electrical System 209 5.0%

Airbags 179 4.3%

Other & Unspecified 121 2.9%

Brakes 114 2.7%

Steering 110 2.6%

Hyundai Santa FE by year

293 219 390 386 300 143 983 718 507 333 268 475 807 680 332 288 1,266 143 272 288 240 302 316 201 187 48

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 2,613 25.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 956 9.2%

Transmission & Drivetrain 906 8.7%

Electrical System 849 8.2%

Brakes 728 7.0%

Other & Unspecified 714 6.9%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 583 5.6%

Airbags 512 4.9%