Hyundai Sonata — reported problems

What owners report: issue areas

Owner complaints are classified by the system they concern: 44,176 classifications in all. One complaint can concern several systems, so these add up to more than the number of complaints.

• Engine10,060 (22.8%)Official recall records for this system: 28, covering model years 1999–2019.
• Steering4,736 (10.7%)Official recall records for this system: 6, covering model years 2011–2015.
• Air bags (restraint system)4,130 (9.3%)Official recall records for this system: 14, covering model years 1999–2017.
• Electrical system3,962 (9.0%)Official recall records for this system: 13, covering model years 1999–2026.
• Brakes2,494 (5.6%)Official recall records for this system: 12, covering model years 2002–2016.
• Body & structure2,164 (4.9%)Official recall records for this system: 8, covering model years 1997–2021.

Other / uncategorized: 2,646 classifications (6.0%) were not assigned to a specific system by the source. They are counted but not treated as an issue area.

These are counts of records held by CarFaultIQ, not a failure rate. More records can simply mean more vehicles were sold or more owners reported. No vehicles-in-service figure exists in this data, so no reliability or risk score can be derived from it.

What the records are about, by source

Each source is kept separate: owner complaints, recalls, manufacturer communications and investigations are different kinds of record and are never added together. All model years.

• Owner complaints (31,856 records, model years 1995–2026) are most frequently classified under: engine, steering and air bags (restraint system).
• Safety recalls (196 records, model years 1995–2026) are most frequently classified under: air bags (restraint system), lights and fuel system.
• Transport Canada recalls (215 records, model years 1996–2026) are most frequently classified under: engine, body & structure and brakes.
• Manufacturer communications (4,129 records, model years 1995–2026) are most frequently classified under: electrical system, engine and equipment & accessories.
• Investigations (103 records, model years 1999–2021) are most frequently classified under: engine, lights and electrical system.

"Most frequently classified under" reports how the records are filed by the source. It is not a finding about causes, and a record can be filed under more than one system. Read the individual records

Mileage reported when the issue occurred

• 19,990reports included a mileage
• 75,310average of those mileages

This is the mileage owners recorded at the time they reported, not an expected failure mileage and not a prediction for any individual vehicle. The lowest and highest figures on record are not shown: they are unverified odometer entries that include zeros and implausibly high readings, so they would not describe a real range. A median is not shown either, because the stored figures are group totals and a median cannot be recovered from them.

Evidence by model year

Records held per model year. Select a year to narrow this page to it.

1. 1995 102 records for 1995 102
2. 1996 66 records for 1996 66
3. 1997 101 records for 1997 101
4. 1998 87 records for 1998 87
5. 1999 256 records for 1999 256
6. 2000 372 records for 2000 372
7. 2001 297 records for 2001 297
8. 2002 422 records for 2002 422
9. 2003 288 records for 2003 288
10. 2004 257 records for 2004 257
11. 2005 213 records for 2005 213
12. 2006 1,157 records for 2006 1,157
13. 2007 770 records for 2007 770
14. 2008 490 records for 2008 490
15. 2009 528 records for 2009 528
16. 2010 402 records for 2010 402
17. 2011 3,642 records for 2011 3,642
18. 2012 1,759 records for 2012 1,759
19. 2013 2,115 records for 2013 2,115
20. 2014 947 records for 2014 947
21. 2015 1,420 records for 2015 1,420
22. 2016 971 records for 2016 971
23. 2017 1,005 records for 2017 1,005
24. 2018 583 records for 2018 583
25. 2019 330 records for 2019 330
26. 2020 284 records for 2020 284
27. 2021 227 records for 2021 227
28. 2022 174 records for 2022 174
29. 2023 138 records for 2023 138
30. 2024 78 records for 2024 78
31. 2025 43 records for 2025 43
32. 2026 19 records for 2026 19

Counts are not adjusted for how many vehicles were sold in each year, so a taller year is not necessarily a worse year.

Reports mentioning outcomes

• 1,460mention a crash
• 1,028mention a fire
• 1,396mention an injury
• 30mention a fatality

These are counts of records whose report mentioned the outcome. They are not a severity rating and not a safety assessment of this vehicle.

Official records held

• Safety recalls NHTSA 196
• Manufacturer communications NHTSA 4,129
• Investigations NHTSA 103
• Transport Canada recalls Transport Canada 215
• Owner complaints NHTSA 31,856

Explore the underlying evidence records

Diagnostic codes found in evidence for this vehicle

These codes appear by explicit identifier in official records matched to this exact model and year.

• P0743 in 23 records · 1999–2011
• P0740 in 22 records · 1999–2010
• P0750 in 22 records · 1999–2010
• P0755 in 22 records · 1999–2010
• P0760 in 22 records · 1999–2010
• P0765 in 22 records · 1999–2010
• P0770 in 22 records · 1999–2010
• P0741 in 18 records · 1999–2011
• P0742 in 17 records · 1999–2010
• P2135 in 16 records · 2006–2009
• P0705 in 13 records · 1999–2017
• P0748 in 13 records · 1999–2011

A code appearing in a record means the code was named in that document. It is not a diagnosis of this vehicle, not a fault this vehicle has, and not an indication of urgency. Diagnosis requires reading live data from the vehicle.