2026 Hyundai Ioniq 5 Recalls, Ratings & Complaints

Incident: September 30, 2026 · Filed: October 20, 2026

The headrest (in it's farthest back position) pushes my head so far forward that I have to hunch my body or have no support from just above my lower back up to the mid back of my head. I think this is very unsafe should I get in an accident. In many online forums people are taking them off entirely or removing them and turning them around. This is unbelievable. I didn't realize how bad it was until I recently drove a friends BMW Mini Countryman where my back and neck were properly supported. The headrest should be recalled and redesigned immediately.

Filed: October 19, 2026

The contact owns a 2026 Hyundai Ioniq 5. The contact stated that while driving at 65 MPH, the vehicle lost motive power, and a battery warning light and a "Vehicle Will Come to a Stop" warning message illuminated. The vehicle failed to restart and was towed to the contact's residence. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, where it was diagnosed with DTC P0A1F8C. The contact was informed that the Vehicle Control Management System (VCMS) experienced an internal failure and required replacement. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure by telephone, and a case was filed. The failure mileage was approximately 850.

Incident: October 2, 2026 · Filed: October 16, 2026

I turned the car on and a red battery shaped light appeared on the dash while I was in Park. I quickly looked up what the light meant as this was not the first time I've had a warning light show up. According to Ontario Hyundai website, it's a serious electrical issue that requires immediate attention. I attempted to move my car into a safe place and tried to shift the car into drive and it would only go into neutral. Then I noticed that the AC was blowing hot air even though it was at 65 degrees. I attempted to turn the car off and it would not; the dash flickered a bunch of lights but would not turn off. I continued to try to get the car into drive or reverse for 20 minutes and it would not change. After about 20 minutes, I was able to shut the car off. When I restarted it, I was able to shift into drive and get to a main road. I ultimately had to call a tow truck because it was not safe to drive. **sources Ontario Hyundai and Norman Hyundai; owners manual**

Incident: June 6, 2026 · Filed: October 8, 2026

On June 6, 2026 (mileage 2500) I went to my garage to get the car to go to an appointment. I could not start the car. A battery icon flashed, in red, on the screen behind the steering wheel. The 12V battery had drained overnight. This pattern occurred twice more -- on July 9, 2026 (mileage 3100) and again on August 29, 2026 (mileage 3600). On June 6, I called for Hyundai road assistance. The tow truck driver jump-started the car and drove it onto the tow truck. He took it to Elgin Hyundai. The mechanics were able to start the car and drive it around the block. They repeated this on the next day and declared the car fit to drive. On July 9 and August 29 the car would not start as on June 6. I left the car in the garage and drove off to my appointments in a friend's car.

Incident: September 6, 2026 · Filed: September 27, 2026

Several times now (over 5), we have experienced issues where our car has briefly accelerated on its own and then either (a) braked hard on its own, too, or (b) the accelerator pedal stop working until we pull over, come to a complete stop, and either park or restart the car. We have experienced this multiple times on both surface streets and on highways. When this has happened on the highway, we've had to literally merge across multiple highway lanes so we can pull over or exit — all without being able to accelerate. This has happened to both of us as drivers, both alone and together, and both with the adaptive cruise control feature enabled and without it enabled. We have taken it to our local Hyundai dealer (Stevens Creek Hyundai) for inspection twice. Both times, they drove the car 100 miles and could not reproduce the issue, so told us there's nothing more they can do. We have insisted that this does not reproduce on demand; it is intermittent and has happened to us only once a month or so on average. They still said that unless they can reproduce it, they cannot fix it. They also asked us to record a video the next time it happens, but this is infeasible, since we'd have to be recording a video *constantly* while driving, since this issue is intermittent and happens randomly. We have multiple videos we've recorded immediately *after* an incident happens, after we've pulled over. No "check engine" light is on or anything else out of the ordinary. This has obviously been extremely scary and disturbing every time, especially as we also have a child. It feels extremely dangerous to keep driving this car.

Incident: August 22, 2026 · Filed: August 27, 2026

I am reporting a suspected safety defect involving inconsistent deceleration behavior in my 2026 Hyundai IONIQ 5. I regularly use Hyundai’s i-PEDAL one-pedal-driving mode. In this mode, releasing the accelerator produces strong regenerative deceleration and can bring the vehicle to a stop. However, the vehicle does not retain this selected driving behavior after it is turned off and restarted. It reverts to a mode requiring substantially more use of the brake pedal. The behavior also changes in connection with shifting into reverse. In a Costco parking lot in [XXX], I stopped near the customer pickup area while using i-PEDAL. I briefly turned off the vehicle while a passenger loaded groceries. When I restarted and began moving, I expected the strong accelerator-release deceleration the vehicle had provided immediately before shutdown. Instead, the vehicle continued moving because i-PEDAL had been reset. A crosswalk ahead contained pedestrians, and I had to apply the brake pedal to avoid striking them. No collision or injury occurred, but this was a serious near-miss. The concern is not simply that the vehicle offers different regenerative-braking settings. The safety concern is that a driver-selected setting that materially affects accelerator-release deceleration changes automatically after a brief shutdown or simply backing up. A driver who has adapted to i-PEDAL may reasonably expect the vehicle to decelerate as it did moments earlier. The regeneration level should be set and remain as the driver prefers, not reset on each start or backup of the vehicle. I request that NHTSA evaluate whether this inconsistent default behavior creates an unreasonable risk of unintended vehicle movement or pedestrian collisions and whether the vehicle should retain the selected mode or provide a prominent warning requiring driver acknowledgment whenever the deceleration behavior changes. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Incident: July 27, 2026 · Filed: August 25, 2026

The vehicle will not turn off. I returned it to the Dealer, Oakland Hyundai, and their service department has had the vehicle since 7/27/26. When I brought the vehicle in to service it had 2,519 miles. Service rep has advised that technicians are trying to find the faulty part and have been unsuccessful to date. A technician from another location is scheduled to see the vehicle during the week of 8/31/26. I have filed a case with Hyundai America and will send a demand for restitution on 8/28/26. I view this situation as a clear safety issue - the car will not turn off.

Incident: August 24, 2026 · Filed: August 24, 2026

While driving on the freeway with adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assistance on heading east into the morning sun my car suddenly attempted to veer strongly to the left as I exited the shadow of an overpass. I was able to stop the lane assist because I had a firm two handed grip on the steering wheel. Even with the firm grip and attentive driving I nearly left my lane as the wheels suddenly and strongly jerked to the left.

Incident: August 16, 2026 · Filed: August 17, 2026

- unintended acceleration problem (VCU malfunction?); happened 8/16/26 - safety at risk - yes; drove a little ways with brakes on; brakes started to smell like they were burning; then vehicle screen said to stop (with loud warning noises), which i did - tow truck took it to dealer; haven't heard yet from service staff - hopefully will be seen today at San Bruno Hyundai - no warning or problems earlier in the day yesterday; see above

Incident: May 15, 2026 · Filed: July 23, 2026

See attached document for complaint.