It's an on-demand intelligent system which can/will vary continuously between 100:0 front:rear torque split down to 50:50.

In addition it has a 4x4 Lock facility which fixes the torque split at 50:50 but above 40kph it gradually reverts to variable split as above.

 

WOW! Great replies! 10 pts to both of you.

Well, to the best of my knowledge, the AWD Santa Fe (like your and mine) is not a 100% full-time AWD system like Subaru's. I've owned a Subaru and even though it is a true full-time all wheel drive, even it sends most (90%) of the power to the front wheels under normal driving conditions. Our Santa Fes will send 100% of the power to the front wheels. Both systems send power to the rear wheels when slippage is detected, the only difference is that Subarus will always have 10% head start. Subarus system will also direct power to the rear wheels on initial acceleration from a stop whereas the Santa Fe will only send power rearwards if slippage is detected.

There is no Question that Subaru's AWD system is a more advance, full-time system compared to the Santa Fe's "slip and grip" system. But I've realized that for most driving situations, the Santa Fe's system reacts quickly and smoothly. The Subaru AWD system is arguably (IMHO) the best one on the market (competing with Audi's Quattro, Acura's SH-AWD, and Volvo's Haldex system), but that is also why you pay a lot more for it!

The locking feature on the Santa Fe is only for low speed use in very slippery/off-road situations. Never use it on dry, bare pavement.

Hope that helps a bit, I can ramble on about AWD for hours! :3gears:

Both of your answers actually make me feel a lot better. I don't know whether I was reading the manual incorrectly, or what - my brain was probably completely OFF b/c I read the manual Monday night (snow storm in southern Ontario) before leave a clients after doing their f/s audit all day so my linguistic and logic skills were most likely NIL at that point.

Thanks for the information.

 

Well, to the best of my knowledge, the AWD Santa Fe (like yours and mine) is not a 100% full-time AWD system like Subaru's. I've owned a Subaru and even though it is a true full-time all wheel drive, even it sends most (90%) of the power to the front wheels under normal driving conditions. Our Santa Fes will send 100% of the power to the front wheels. Both systems send power to the rear wheels when slippage is detected, the only difference is that Subarus will always have 10% head start. Subarus system will also direct power to the rear wheels on initial acceleration from a stop whereas the Santa Fe will only send power rearwards if slippage is detected. Subarus can also send up to 90% of the power to any one wheel, ours can only send up to 50% to the rear.

There is no Question that Subaru's AWD system is a more advanced, full-time system compared to the Santa Fe's "slip and grip" system. But I've realized that for most driving situations, the Santa Fe's system reacts quickly and smoothly. The Subaru AWD system is arguably (IMHO) the best one on the market (competing with Audi's Quattro, Acura's SH-AWD, and Volvo's Haldex system), but that is also why you pay a lot more for it!

The locking feature on the Santa Fe is only for low speed use in very slippery/off-road situations. Never use it on dry, bare pavement.

Hope that helps a bit, I can ramble on about AWD for hours! :3gears:

 

I had a 2006 chev avalanche with real 4x4 I live in Ohio... There is nothing it couldn't climb, or get out of. But when I bought my 2013 Santa Fe 2.0 fwd I considered all of the options, I decided I was going with fwd and shave the extra weight and gas mileage. It has done well in snow also.

 

Subaru use 3 different variants of their system - they're the same conceptually as the Santa Fe but differ significantly in their control/response processes. Like the Santa Fe, the front axle is driven full-time by the geared transmission with all variations being made to the rear axle which can never take more than 50% of the available torque. The Subaru base point of 90:10 front:rear torque split enables it to respond quicker than the Santa Fe system.

All Audi's 4wd cars are marketed as Quattro but there's a fundamentel difference between the original longitudinal-engine Quattro models, still used on some models, and the transverse-engined Synchro system originating from VW - but all Audi's are called Quattro and all VW's are called Synchro regardless of which system is fitted.

 

Subaru use 3 different variants of their system - they're the same conceptually as the Santa Fe but differ significantly in their control/response processes. Like the Santa Fe, the front axle is driven full-time by the geared transmission with all variations being made to the rear axle which can never take more than 50% of the available torque. The Subaru base point of 90:10 front:rear torque split enables it to respond quicker than the Santa Fe system.

MT Subarus are actually 50/50 under normal conditions and go as far as 80/20 or 20/80 if needed. Now, if you opt for the AT you will be stuck with a normal of 90/10, but why would anyone want to do that?

 

Here's a great source for answering most AWD related questions:
All Wheel Drive Explained | awd cars, 4x4 vehicles, 4wd trucks, 4motion, quattro, xDrive, SH-AWD, Haldex, Torsen, wiki - How it works

I just did a bit more research and confirmed what I had heard before, that our Santa Fe uses the Dynamax AWD system by Magna Powertrain. They're an Austrian company own by Magna International, a Canadian company. Found the following blurb about the system from a review of the Santa Fe:

Another striking technology on the 2013 Santa Fe is a fully active DYNAMAX AWD system by Magna Powertrain. It operates initially as a 95% FWD when there is no rear traction needed. For example, on loose gravel it would interact instantly since the system is constantly monitoring wheel rotations. Or you can put it in lock using a switch on the left panel of the steering wheel for full-time AWD. That’s exactly what I did since I enjoy the security of knowing all four wheels are initiating grip. Moreover, Active Cornering Control provides traction from side to side through torque vectoring manipulation. Specifically, brake control manages left to right traction while the center coupling monitors front to rear traction. When the limit of lateral grip is met, torque vectoring kicks in and ensures that torque is applied to the rear axle first, and then applies braking to the outward rear wheel reducing understeer and forcing the Santa Fe to tuck in. Sounds like something on a German car right?

I feel pretty confident that we have a very good AWD system in our Santas. Now I'm gonna go read more about it!

 

OK, I just found this review of the Dynamax AWD system in the 2011 Kia Sportage. If this is the identical system that we have then I'm pretty happy about the way is sounds!

2011 Kia Sportage's Proactive All-Wheel Drive System

 

So the BorgWarner iTM3e AWD system used on the 2006-2012 Santa Fe has been dumped and replaced with the Magna Dynamax AWD system ? What was so wrong with the BorgWarner system, it's also used on Porsches.

That's a big disappointment - many were hoping that BorgWarner's aquisition of Haldex in 2010 would result in Hyundai-Kia's adoption of the world-renowned Haldex AWD system as used by all the world's leading transverse-engined AWD cars.

I guess the Magna system is cheaper.

 

From the sounds of it, the Dynamax system is an improvement over the old system, since it no longer has to wait for slippage to engage.

 

With some snow fall with had today, I got to experience the vectoring and AWD features of the Fe. Really worked well and could not tell of any hesitation before the AWD kicked in. Much better than the CRV I used to own. I also could sense the vectoring aspect, as I was taking a turn and traction switching to the outside wheel and inside wheels. Works great!

 

Assuming the SF system is the same as on the KIA, does anyone know what the parameters for the "proactive" part of the system are?

Does it transfer power to the rears during any acceleration from slow speed? Does it stop transferring 'proactively' at some speed? How much 'tromping' of the gas does it take for power transfer to occur?

For example, what if you drive on a snow covered road at 40 mph and start accelerating out of a turn? Does it transfer proactively???

 

I got a little intrigued by the Dynamax system and just found this explanation by a Magna engineer. Not the greatest explanation but still an interesting video.

Thomas Linortner, manager, dynamax Magna Powertrain system, talked to www.drivingthenation.com about the dynamax turbo powertrain system used by Hyundai. | Driving the Nation

 

I'm looking into getting the 2016 Tucson after about 60 hours of research and test driving ( which now uses the same Magna Dynamax system as the Sante Fe, Sportage and Sorento). It's not a "slip and grip" system, but rather a pro-active AWD system like the new Mazda i-Active AWD. These systems are constantly monitoring data from the vehicle ( speed, acceleration, angle of wheels, etc. ) to determine if power needs to be transferred and thus makes the changes usually before needed and sometimes even noticed. In this way, the driver will experience less slip. The Dynamax uses a very advanced electro-hydraulic system that reacts on average in about 150 ms.

The Hyundai's and Kia's like the Subaru's use active torque vectoring, by applying the ABS to the rear inside wheel during a turn, to give even greater stability. Where the Dynamax system is different than the Subaru and Mazda, is that it STARTS 50/50, up to 40 km/h. This means, with these vehicles, you always have maximum traction from a standstill. I'm not sure if the Subaru does this. I believe it starts out at 90/10 as stated above. Although, having driven them, they still give great confidence when starting out.

I will agree that for most "off-road" and severe weather challenges, the Subaru will perform the best, but I think the difference is much less than it used to be with these new pro-active systems. Mazda, even shows one test anyways, where the proactive system works better than the Subaru.

Anyways, I don't think too many people buying these vehicles are looking to really push the limits of the AWD system. Almost any AWD is better than 2WD for safety and traction and I live in an area that is flat, and gets only moderate snowfalls in winter and usually not many of them. I'm not into off-roading either, so the AWD in the new Tucson will be more than enough for my wife and I. It will be my first time owning a vehicle with AWD. I will still outfit it with winter tires though

Hope this helps.

 

Good to hear you're not one of those people who thinks AWD can replace winter tires

Just a correction about the AWD system starting at 50/50 under 40 km/h, it only does that if you press the differential lock button. Otherwise it starts with most/all power to the front.