Model years › Hyundai Kona

2019 Hyundai Kona

Complaints about this year name mechanic far more often than the model's other years — 19% of them, about 47× the usual rate of 0.4%.

NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.

What the complaints were about

• mechanic — 18.9% of this year's complaints, against 6.2% across the model's other years (3.1×).
• engine however — 10.8% of this year's complaints, against 2.7% across the model's other years (4×). Owners wrote it as: engine however, distribution, disconnect, parts distribution.
• related — 8.6% of this year's complaints, against 1.5% across the model's other years (5.9×).

Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.

Also unusual this year

• oil — 35% of complaints, 5× usual
• test — 10% of complaints, 26× usual
• vehicle stalled — 10% of complaints, 26× usual

What owners wrote

My car is having problems due to excessive oil consumption. I took it to the dealership to get it fixed and tested for the recall. They said the recall had nothing to do with it. Took it to another mechanic for a diagnostic, the other mechanic stated that the…

while making left turns on several occasions, the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was shifted into park (P) and restarted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. However, during routine maintenance, an independent mechanic noticed that the oil reservoir was e…

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.

Recalls for this year

• 21V301000 ENGINE Fixed free of charge.

Own a 2019 Hyundai Kona? What happened to yours?

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How this was worked out

Every year of the Hyundai Kona was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.

This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.

Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.

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