2005 Hyundai Sonata
This year drew an ordinary 165 complaints for a Hyundai Sonata — the model's median is 425. What they were about is the unusual part: 10.9% of them mention rust, against 0.3% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 165 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 425 |
| Involving a crash | 26 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 1 |
| EPA combined | 21 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- rust — 10.9% of this year's complaints, against 0.3% across the model's other years (36.8×). Owners wrote it as: rust, holes, rotted out, own 2005.
- bag — 26.7% of this year's complaints, against 9.8% across the model's other years (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: bag, air bag, bag light, wiring.
- airbag — 22.4% of this year's complaints, against 7.5% across the model's other years (3×). Owners wrote it as: airbag, airbag light, deployed, light come.
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.
What owners wrote
AIRBAG LIGHT STAYS ON. I HAVE TAKEN IT BACK TO DEALER SEVERAL TIMES AND HAS NOT BEEN FIX CAR IS OUT OF WARRANTY.
Air Bag light stays on and cannot pass stare inspection without repair. NHSTA site has 54 reports of this issue and dealer cannot figure out how to repair. What can be done?
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 09V280000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Hyundai Sonata 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.
Own a 2005 Hyundai Sonata? What happened to yours?
Loading comments…