• Hyundai is recalling nearly a quarter of a million vehicles due to a problem with their backup cameras.
  • A total of 226,118 Santa Fe SUVs and Elantra sedans built for the 2021-22 model year are affected.
  • Resellers will replace faulty cameras with updated components with better soldering on the circuit board.

Camera technology is allowing carmakers like Jaguar and Polestar to ditch conventional glass rear windows, but today we’re reminded why that might not be such a good idea. Hyundai was forced to recall more than 200,000 cars and SUVs in the United States due to problems with their backup cameras.

A total of 226,118 Hyundai Santa Fe SUVs and Elantra sedans built for model years 2021-22 may not display the backup image on the touchscreen due to insufficient solder volume on the circuit boards of the camera.

Related: Would You Buy a Car Without a Rear Window?

The high temperatures generated by the camera during operation could make the cracks worse, causing signal loss, which is not only mildly annoying for drivers whose necks have become so stiff because they haven’t had to looking back over the last decade by going backwards – that’s also illegal. . Federal motor vehicle standards have insisted that all new cars sold since May 2018 be equipped with working backup cameras.

Hyundai and its suppliers have been aware of this problem for a long time, and an updated version of the camera with higher quality soldering on the PCB has been used in new car production since April 2022. But now vehicles built before that change are questioned. return to resellers to exchange their own cameras for the upgraded version.


Tesla issued a recall for a similar reason earlier this year, and Ford, Honda, Porsche, Bentley, Jeep, Ram, Audi, VW, Kia and Infiniti have all had problems with the rear camera technology, so this sore from Hyundai is not the case. This is not an isolated incident. Which naturally led some people to wonder if Polestar and Volvo decided to remove their rear windows in favor of non-transparent panels. Manthey’s new performance kit for the Porsche 992 GT3 RS also ditches the window, in this case for a carbon panel featuring a giant shark fin, although we doubt drivers of these track weapons will be quite as concerned about be able to see behind them.