The 2006 Hyundai Santa Fe was the larger SUV that was offered for 2006 and it had a pretty impressive towing capacity of up to 3500 pounds, if your vehicle was properly equipped and certain requirements were met.
On the flip side, some models were only able to achieve a rating of 1,000-1,200-pounds, in certain circumstances, so that's why you need to not only have the right engine equipped in your vehicle, but have additional accessories equipped on your trailer and make sure that your vehicle is not overloaded, in order to achieve the highest maximum trailer weight rating that was specified in the chart.
Remember to read through your owner's manual to get acquainted with your vehicle and its limitations and that you adhere to all of Hyundai's recommendations and requirements.
Overall Capacity: The overall towing capacity for the 2006 Hyundai Santa Fe range from 1,000-3,500 lbs. And really came down to the engine you had equipped in your vehicle, whether you had trailer brakes installed on your trailer and how many people riding in the vehicle.
The Tow Chart:
There was quite a bit of data in the chart listed below for the 2006 models and if we look at the chart, we can see a bunch of different data as well. On the left-hand column, we have two labels that are labeled "with brake" and without brake", which is simply referring to your trailer that you have and whether it has its own brakes equipped. There's also a section that has "without brakes + ABS" and the ABS is referring to your vehicle.
The other data in the chart includes the different engine options, two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive models, the maximum trailer weight ratings and maximum tongue weight ratings and specifications for what Hyundai labels "type A" and "type B" situations, which is basically how many passengers are in the vehicle.
If we look towards the bottom of the chart, we can see that type A specifies that the maximum trailer weight ratings are with two people in the vehicle, while type B has five people in the vehicle and is why the weight ratings are significantly lower compared to type A ratings.
Comparing The Data:
By Trim Level: There were three different trim levels listed for the 2006 Santa Fe and these were the GLS (with a 2.7L engine and a 3.5L engine option) and a Limited model. I wanted to see what the three different trim levels were capable of pulling and compare the data between the three different sub-models.
I used the engine options that were available for each trim level to get the data that you see below.
- GLS 2.7: 1,200-3,200 lbs.
- GLS 3.5: 1,200-3,500 lbs.
- Limited: 1,200-3,500 lbs.
By Engine Options: I also wanted to break down the capacity ratings by the three different engine options that were available, which provides a very detailed comparison of each engine's capabilities, when it comes to pulling power. The 2.4 L engine was not listed in the brochure or in any other resources I could find online, but it was listed in the tow chart and the gross combined weight rating chart, so I went ahead and listed it, just in case.
- 2.4L: 1,000-1,700 lbs.
- 2.7L: 1,200-3,200 lbs.
- 3.5L: 1,200-3,500 lbs.
Other Important Information...
I was also able to find other additional information on these vehicles that I thought was worth mentioning. The owner's manual talks about trailer brakes, but it really doesn't say anything other than that your trailer brakes must comply with Federal and local laws and that they should be properly installed.
I was also able to find a gross combined weight rating chart that lists the different engine options and the two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive configurations that were available for each engine option, and this metric can come in very handy when making more complex calculations.
The last screenshot talked a little bit about the tongue load weight rating for these vehicles and Hyundai specifies a 10% tongue load on your vehicle, which is 10% of the trailer's total weight on the hitch of your vehicle. The most accurate way to measure this would be to get a scale that is specially designed to weigh the tongue of your trailer.
GCWR Specs
A Few Helpful Links:
Most of the information for this article came directly from the owner's manual, which I have linked to below and it's definitely a great resource worth checking out as there were tons of additional information that is definitely worth reading up on.
The brochure came in handy when it came to the three different trim levels that were available and what engine options were available for those trim levels and is how I sas able to make the trim level comparisons that I laid out at the top of this article.