2020 Hyundai Sonata
This year drew an ordinary 186 complaints for a Hyundai Sonata — the model's median is 425. What they were about is the unusual part: 17.2% of them mention seat, against 5.1% across the other years of this generation.
First year of a new generation. The Hyundai Sonata was redesigned for 2020. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 186 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 425 |
| Involving a crash | 5 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 31 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- seat — 17.2% of this year's complaints, against 5.1% across the other years of this generation (3.4×).
- damage — 14% of this year's complaints, against 5.1% across the other years of this generation (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: damage, cabin vehicle, telling, model year.
- independent — 11.3% of this year's complaints, against 3.5% across the other years of this generation (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: independent, illuminated contact, associated, mechanic dealer.
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
While the contact's wife was reversing, the back over prevention camera system displayed a black screen. The dealer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The contact referenced an unknown…
after shifting into reverse(R), the back over prevention camera screen temporarily displayed an image before the screen went black. The contact stated that the failure had become a recurring failure, but recently became a constant failure. The contact had not…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 20V213000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 20V122000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 22V196000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
- 25V796000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE 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 2020 Hyundai Sonata? What happened to yours?
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