2018 Hyundai Sonata
This year drew an ordinary 366 complaints for a Hyundai Sonata — the model's median is 425. What they were about is the unusual part: 7.1% of them mention pan, against 2% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 3 of the Hyundai Sonata, which began in 2015 and ran to 2019. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 366 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 425 |
| Involving a crash | 18 |
| Involving a fire | 13 |
| Recalls | 1 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 28.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- pan — 7.1% of this year's complaints, against 2% across the other years of this generation (3.5×). Owners wrote it as: pan, oil pan, oil leak.
- starter — 6% of this year's complaints, against 1.5% across the other years of this generation (4.1×). Owners wrote it as: starter, car start.
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
Severe oil leak into the oil pan has required frequent maintenance to keep oil in the car.
My car started leaking oil from the oil drain bolt area. I took it to the dealer and they said the oil pan had a defect, they called it a “weld crack”. A quick internet search shows that this is a very widespread issue.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 21V619000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES 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 2018 Hyundai Sonata? What happened to yours?
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