It’s a cold morning, and you’re tired. You venture out into the winter to start the Hyundai, and as you’re making the first turn on the way to work, you glance down at your speed, back up at the road, then back down…confused.
You need a minute to process what you’re seeing. It makes no sense. Maybe you need more coffee. You blink hard, thinking your eyes are playing tricks on you. But no, it’s definitely there. Your gauges are upside down.
Hyundai has recalled about 714 vehicles to fix a defect unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. In cold weather, their driver’s displays can flip upside down.
The recall affects just 714 vehicles – all of them 2022 Santa Fe Hybrids and Santa Fe Plug-in Hybrids. Like most 2022 model-year cars, the two Santa Fe Hybrid models use a digital screen in place of old-fashioned analog gauges to display info like speed and range to the driver. In cold weather, some drivers have reported, that screen displays everything upside down.
It’s weird. It’s not quite car-that-shuts-down-when-you-spill-a-drink-in-the-back-seat weird. But it’s weird.
In documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Hyundai says the screens “may have been produced with incorrect resistors.” In extremely cold temperatures, that can cause the driver’s display screen to show an inverted image.
Hyundai dealers will replace the instrument panel’s liquid crystal display cluster to correct the problem. As with all recalls, the repair is free.
Millions of us drive cars in need of free repairs because we may have missed a recall notice. Check whether your car has any outstanding recalls at our recall center.
