2012 Santa Fe - Radio shuts off randomly

You're not alone, just researching the issue now. Very annoying issue. Started about a year ago getting worse. I'll keep you in mind if I find out what the cause is.

I am having the exact same problem. Has anyone figured out what is causing this?

Hi, I'm having the same problem with my radio. How did you repair it?

I didn't. :( No one could tell me what the problem was, so I replaced it.

another radio problem with my santa fe,radio started cutting out,no one seems to have a clue how to fix,dealer looked but said needed more time on a service i had, out of warranty too but will contact consumer affairs as you still have claims on goods that are expected to last a reasonable time, 6 years and 66600 kls , not that much bloody use, !!

Unfortunately I don't have the answer for my 2012 AWD Santa Fe either! The radio went out about a year and half ago and has been off and on since. Dealer said not covered under my extended waranty. Told I should replace it because it can't be fixed.

Having the same problem with the radio. Shuts off/on randomly -- could be standing still or moving. Don't know the answer but it sure is annoying. Manufacturer should address this.

Exact same issue for me. Not a fuse issue as it randomly comes back on (I did pull them and check to see if they could be loose) Hyundai customer service was unwilling to help at all. Guess I will buy a new radio for the last hyundai I own.

shit radio, no one knows how to fix ,must be made in china for sure, had to buy new radio, Hyundai should be made to pay for this crap they are using as I never heard of anyone ever having to replace their radio !!! in any car I,ve owned never a problem

Same problem on with SantaFe radio - intermittent working. I suspect cold solder of the capacitors and degrading with time.

Same here radio keeps coming on and off now it doesn't even turn on anymore

I had this issue. bought a new android radio designed to look OEM and it fits really nicely. i turned the key before i put all the panels back on just to make sure it worked before i screwed it all down. it worked great. put all the panels back and now the new unit wont power on. i guess this isnt an issue with the radio but an issue with the wiring within the car itself. checked all the fuses, and made sure everything was plugged properly. what a dissapointment, just spent 500cad on a new head unit which still, only intermittently works.

Have the same problem. Any1 find out why yet?

I have the same problem. It seems to be a common thing? How do we go on about doing something about this? Its so infuriating

I have the same issue w my 2011 Santa Fe POS. Radio on/off intermittently. Been happening now for 2 yrs. For mine, it is definitely temperature driven. No issues on hot summer days. Give me a morning 65 or below and good bye radio. It usually starts to flicker on just about the time I reach my destination. On the positive side, it gives me a lot of quiet time to reflect on everything else I despise about this car.

I bought an 2011 santa fe sport radio comes on & off got any answers on how to fix the radio

Same issue with my 2011 santa Fe radio. Any answers yet.

Spoke to a audio ctr, Hyundai mech and local mech. All say the same. The radio is a POS and the only remedy is to replace it. I will keep as is because it cracks me up when we are driving in silence and the radio randomly comes back on and my kids go “hey! Radio!” Thank you Hyundai for providing me this family bonding moment.

Ours is a 2015 Limited Ultimate and this started happening when it was less than 4 years old but Hyundai says it is out of warranty. I suppose you can include or exclude anything you want by language in a warranty but the real question is - when you make cars and choose to connect all of the climate control, reverse sensing, Bluetooth calling and media functions through the radio should't you warranty that for a reasonable amount of time? Now we have a top of the line Santa Fe that is less than four years old and we cant control temperature or radio and can't use the backup camera or sensors. We can;t sell or trade it without sinking at least $1,500 into the repair so after complaining to the dealership owner (who was motivated to sell us a new Palisade), Hyundai apparently will 'cover' it under warranty, but now they says the part is on back order and we're coming up on two months waiting. Marketing your great warranty is only credible when you have one. I don't consider dropping coverage on something as basic as climate control, that a simple switch has been able to do reliably for 50 years, standing behind your product.

My 2011 Santa Fe will probably be the last Hyundai I drive due to the same problem in connection with its radio speaker - randomly off power by itself and back on after a while ... The problem continues and develop more frequent as days go by... Very very disappointed with the quality of Hyundai.. hopefully Hyundai will consider recalling and fixing all these problematic radio speakers...

I am experiencing the same issue with my 2011 Santa Fe's radio - and it just started today. Imagine my disappointment to read all the posts that show Hyundai has not figured it out or worked to resolve the issue with customers. Has anyone successfully replaced the radio?

I finally decided to change my radio instead of taking out my 26 ouces hammer. Everything works perfect and I can smile again while driving

I have noticed that my (2011 Santa Fe POS) radio behaves much worse in the cold weather. So, as winter approaches, it’s a Charge4 Bluetooth speaker on the dash fed by XM radio from my iPhone. Hyundai 5ucks a$$.

Had problems with my 2012 Hyundai santa Fe CM after using the GPS unit the screen just went to a white flashing light couple of technicians wanted to replace with new, then had brain storm and found a reset on the face tried, commenced working again but when I try GPS it plays up only problem that hopefully isn't I now have is a green tinge across the screen

I have a 2010 santa fe the radio worked fine the first day i had this car only for 3 days and now the radio dont work i was told that i can replace it bit is it a wiring issue

@Guru6MFKL it is more than likely an internal cold solder on the radio itself. I had a 2011 santa fe with this issue and lived with a semi-functional radio...it seemed to work on warmer days. I now have a 2012 santa fe and had the same issue so i replaced the radio and have had zero issues.

Santa fe 2010, same radio issue. Looks like I need to replace the radio unit :( That is really disappointed.

Go to Ebay. Find an OEM Hyundai radio at a cheap price and install it or have your guy install it .

SOLVED!! Hi folks, I had a similar issue and I found the problem after 6 months of looking. Intermittently my radio, clock and all power outlets would stop working. I pulled the dash apart and found nothing. Then I adjusted the steering column up and down by chance and it turned on and off with this motion! There is a cable bunch that connects to the underside of the ignition column that was loose at the connection. The steering column was bumping it. I taped it up and now it works no problems! And best of all it was a free fix. :P

I have the same problem with radio on my hyundia Santa fe 2011 , it turn on and off sometimes it 30 or 40 mins before it come back on.

i wiggled the fuses , and whatever connections i could find in steering column and behind radio reaching through the removed top tray. it got lots better for the 2 weeks previous to today. but did a very minor bit of distracting However today it was dead at start up and first thing i did was drag my finger over fuses and it kicked on right then. Pulled the 2 radio fuses, some stuff on the fuses seemed to come off when i rubbed it with a pencil eraser and looked cleaner. actually replaced with new fuses anyway since autoparts store was next to my destination this am anyway. Hope it lasts.

I ended up just replacing it. Not all that difficult really. Factory Power wires and the brown and grey plugs going to them may be wrong ( seemed switched on mine ) but the speaker wires should be in the right order. Constant, accessory and illumination wires seemed to go to the wrong spot in the aftermarket wiring pigtail on mine. Watch for that. You can also hide bulky things (like xm tuner, bundled cords, etc) behind the hvac controls under the radio to make more space to fit it in. New radio isn’t cutting out at all.

Mine did the same .. 2010 Santa fe .. I did all possible fixes. It happened more during lower temperature. I had to replace it. I bought a replacement from ebay for about $70 for the same model.

Hi folks! My Santa fe 2021 radio works with interruptions. about once in an hour. very short loss of the radio signal (all other multimedia functions, like USB, the screen work properly). In cloudy weather the intermits happen more often. It's not terrible but annoying and distractive. the dealer recommends me make videos of the stoppages to send it to the factory for making a decision on changind the device. Does onyone have the same problem

@sookmahdook You are on the right track I believe. Cold solder joints will break down and interrupt operation, then it takes a while for new dendrites to form in sufficient quantity to carry operating current. Thus the extended pauses. Eventually this mechanism will fail and the radio won't work at all. If I had the inclination I would look at the control input of the main voltage regulator circuit to the power amp, as it probably feeds the receive and preamp stages too. Memory is not affected so I'd leave that side out of the search. But who wants to troubleshoot this Chinese junk, when you can buy shinier junk.

Well all parts of my 2011 Santa Fe radio stereo works as norm except just noticed the AM / FM cuts out for long periods. And no one has found the actual problem nor repair. So if I buy a used Ebay radio will it have the same problems/issues before I even install it. And would it be just a simple disconnect/ connect.

Well I bought one off eBay for insurance... 40USD+ship, how wrong can you go? My 2010 has just started doing this, now the weather is getting warmer so I don't expect it to be much of an issue for a few months, When it does get annoying enough to swap out, I'm all set. It looks plug-n-play, just don't know if there is an anti-theft code problem lurking to trip me up. At any rate it's something to try before shelling out for a new aftermarket unit.

Guru9TSTPR: the problem is in the head unit. Just replace the head unit and you’ll be golden. I put a post in earlier up that explains the issues I had installing. Haven’t had any issues since. I bought a second hand pioneer AVHx8500BHS It’s about as old as the vehicle itself but it had the features I wanted.

I own a 2017 Santa Fe Sport and this same thing happens to my radio and if I'm on a blue tooth call it's intermittently drop the calls - radio turns off and on by itself - took it too the dealer they told me the radio has to be replaced - after arguing about $1000 for a new radio that doesn't even have GPS they "did me a favor" and got an approval to extend warranty and I paid almost $500 for a new radio...fast forward a few weeks - my car is back there right now - because guess what - new radio SAME PROBLEMS - they told me since they can't duplicate the problem there's nothing they can do - I said unacceptable so they are "still trying to figure it out" obviously getting a new radio does not resolve this issue......just wanted you all to be aware - IF i ever find out what the problem is I will update the info for all of you.....

2008 Santa Fe same problem radio makes wired popping and metallic pinging sounds then cuts out replaced head unit thought it was fixed problem started again replaced amplifier same problem replaced one speaker that wasn’t working same problem redid ground connections under the hood same problem don’t know what to do ?