The 2005 Hyundai Santa Fe is really just your typical SUV and I was actually really surprised to see that these smaller vehicles actually had a towing capacity of up to 3,500 pounds.
However, you will need to have the right equipment installed on your vehicle, and the correct options available in order to achieve the highest ratings in the chart because some models were only able to achieve a maximum weight rating of 1,000 pounds, which is substantially less.
Your owner's manual is probably the most valuable tool that you have at your disposal about your vehicle and I recommend that you read through it and that you abide by all of Hyundai's recommendations.
Overall Capacity: The 2005 Hyundai Santa Fe had an overall towing capacity that ranged from 1,000-3,500 lbs. and boiled down to three main variables. These three variables were the engine that was equipped in the vehicle, how many people were riding in the vehicle and whether your trailer had it's own braking system equipped.
The Chart:
The chart for the 2005 Hyundai Santa Fes tow chart was pretty complex considering that there were only three engine options available for the vehicle. If we look at the chart closely, we can see that there were many different trailer weight ratings listed, along with the maximum tongue load weight ratings for the specified trailer weight rating, which equates to about 10% of the trailer's weight.
On the left-hand side of the table, we can see three different scenarios, so to speak, and this is simply just referring to your trailer and/or the vehicle itself and what types of brakes you have equipped. "With brake" indicates that your trailer has its own braking systems installed, independent of your vehicle's braking system and "without brake" indicates that the trailer does not have its own braking system equipped.
We also can see that there is another "without break" section in the chart, with the addition of an ABS braking system, which is referring to the optional ABS brake system that would be installed on the vehicle itself.
The chart is interesting because it also lists the engine options that were available, but we have a type A and type B trailer rating and if we look towards the bottom of the chart, we can see that Type A indicates that the vehicle has two passengers and type B would be the weight ratings for five passengers. I assume that the ratings that are listed include the driver and typically manufacturers will assume a weight for each passenger of up to 150 pounds, but I was not able to find the information for these vehicles, I'm just assuming and basing that off of what I have found to be the "general rule".
(S) = Standard Feature (O) = Optional Feature (–) = Not Available
Comparing The Data:
By Trim Level: I always like to break down the data and one of my favorite ways to do that is by the trim levels that were offered and for the 2005 Santa Fe, there were two trim levels available, which are listed below.
The overall capacity range was the same for both trim levels, but if we look at the chart, we can see that the engine options that were available had very different metrics overall, so there might be some gray area in the middle of that capacity range that I have listed below.
- GLS: 1,200-3,500 lbs.
- LX: 1,200-3,500 lbs.
By Engine Options: Breaking down the data by engine option is another great way to compare the specs and if we look at the summarized data below, we can see that the 2.4 liter engine was definitely the least powerful out of the three options, whereas the 2.7 L and 3.5 L engines had very similar spec's overall, but the 3.5 L engine had just a bit more power, which equated to a 300-pound advantage over the 2.7 liter engine.
- 2.4L 1,000-1,700 lbs.
- 2.7L: 1,200-3,200 lbs.
- 3.5L: 1,200-3,500 lbs.
* The 2.4L engine was in the chart but not offered for the 2005 models, but I included the data anyway.
(1) Requires optional sunroof and CD changer
Other Important Information...
I wanted to post additional information that I found either in the owner's manual or the brochure that I thought was also equally important to talk about, as it plays an important role when it comes to towing with your vehicle.
Just to summarize, some of the things I found talk a little bit about trailer brakes and how you need to comply with Federal and local regulations when using trailer brakes on your trailer, but that's about all that was mentioned on that subject.
I was also able to find the gross combined weight ratings for these vehicles, which was broken up by the engine that you had equipped in the vehicle and whether it was a two-wheel drive or four-wheel drive model. I was also able to find a note that talks about the tongue load weight rating, which is recommended to stay at 10% of the trailer's total weight.
GCWR Specs
A Few Helpful Links:
There were only two main resources I used when researching the information for this article and these two resources were the owner's manual and the brochure, both of which I linked to below. I definitely recommend checking these resources out as there was lots of helpful information within them and I only touched on a few different points, but there is a lot more info that is worth checking out.