Owners filed 3,717 complaints about the 2015–2025 Hyundai Sonata with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the 27th-most of any vehicle in our Car Problem Index. The 2015 model year drew the most (1,144), and the single most-reported problem area is engine, named in 50% of complaints.
Key findings
- Worst model year: 2015, with 1,144 complaints, led by engine (623).
- Spike years: 2015 (7.1× the typical year), 2016 (4.5× the typical year), 2017 (4.7× the typical year), 2018 (2.3× the typical year).
- Earliest-failing area: brakes complaints came at a median of 21k mi on the odometer.
- Fire and crash reports: 108 complaints mention a fire and 133 mention a crash; owners reported 112 injuries and 5 deaths.
Hyundai Sonata complaints by model year
| Model year | Complaints | Top problem areas | Median mileage | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,144 | Engine (623), Electrical system (167), Transmission / powertrain (134) | 56k mi | 34 | 48 |
| 2016 | 725 | Engine (450), Electrical system (89), Transmission / powertrain (59) | 63k mi | 19 | 28 |
| 2017 | 763 | Engine (383), Steering (173), Electrical system (65) | 55k mi | 28 | 11 |
| 2018 | 372 | Engine (210), Electrical system (60), Transmission / powertrain (40) | 22k mi | 18 | 13 |
| 2019 | 161 | Engine (86), Exterior lights (18), Fuel system (12) | 25k mi | 8 | 6 |
| 2020 | 178 | Fuel system (45), Electrical system (40), Engine (31) | 3k mi | 5 | 1 |
| 2021 | 133 | Engine (34), Transmission / powertrain (24), Fuel system (21) | 41k mi | 7 | 0 |
| 2022 | 93 | Engine (25), Transmission / powertrain (24), Fuel system (22) | 31k mi | 8 | 1 |
| 2023 | 86 | Fuel system (37), Engine (27), Transmission / powertrain (16) | 19k mi | 5 | 0 |
| 2024 | 46 | Electrical system (18), Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (8), Speed control / acceleration (6) | 2k mi | 1 | 0 |
| 2025 | 16 | Brakes (5), Speed control / acceleration (3), Transmission / powertrain (3) | 38k mi | 0 | 0 |
Newer model years have had less time on the road, so their counts are lower partly because owners have had fewer years to report problems.
Most-reported Hyundai Sonata problems, and what they cost to fix
| Problem area | Complaints | Share | Median mileage | Repair estimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engine | 1,874 | 50% | 65k mi | Engine repair cost |
| Electrical system | 497 | 13% | 48k mi | Alternator / electrical repair cost |
| Transmission / powertrain | 393 | 11% | 42k mi | Transmission repair cost |
| Fuel system | 312 | 8% | 50k mi | Fuel pump repair cost |
| Steering | 308 | 8% | 53k mi | Power steering repair cost |
| Body structure | 175 | 5% | 32k mi | — |
| Brakes | 172 | 5% | 21k mi | Brake repair cost |
| Speed control / acceleration | 164 | 4% | 35k mi | — |
One complaint can name several problem areas, so shares add up to more than 100%.
What this data can and can't tell you
These are unverified reports that owners submitted to NHTSA, counted by model year. They are not defect findings, and they aren't adjusted for sales: a best-selling vehicle collects more complaints simply because more of them are on the road. Use the counts to compare model years of the same vehicle and to see which systems owners complain about most, not to compare how reliable two different models are. See the full methodology.
Other Hyundai models in the index
- Hyundai Tucson (4,848)
- Hyundai Santa Fe (2,823)
- Hyundai Elantra (2,503)
- Hyundai Palisade (2,302)
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, consumer complaint files (nhtsa.gov), model years 2015–2025, retrieved 2026-09-23. Free to cite with a link to this page.