all vehicles · every Sonata year · method

Hyundai Sonata 2015

Safety complaints filed by owners in the first three years, per 1,000 sold.

0.94 per 1,000

1.1 times this nameplate’s own median · from 203 complaints filed in the first three years, of 1207 ever. 95% lower bound 0.81.

Against its own model years

The model year carries far more information than the badge, so this is the comparison that matters.

Model year	Per 1,000	Complaints
2008	0.84	99
2009	0.67	79
2010	0.20	32
2011	2.95	624
2012	0.90	205
2013	1.09	237
2014	0.39	82
2015	0.94	203
2016	0.54	111
2017	0.80	132
2018	0.85	101
2019	0.31	30
2020	0.73	60
2021	0.82	66
2022	0.97	66
2023	1.70	79

What owners describe

Phrases over-represented in these complaints compared with the same component on every other vehicle. Counts are complaints containing the phrase.

Engine 648 complaints

oil	213	33%
knocking	67	10%
oil consumption	51	8%
consumption	51	8%
acceleration	47	7%
burning	46	7%

Electrical System 191 complaints

pulled	21	11%
system warning	19	10%
oil	18	10%
safely	16	9%
code	15	8%
flames	12	7%

Unknown Or Other 172 complaints

oil	27	16%
towed	21	12%
pulled	18	11%
safely	13	8%
smoke	12	7%
returned	11	7%

When it breaks

31% of reported failures happened before 30,000 miles (median 55,300 miles, from 641 complaints that recorded one).

No clear early or late pattern.

What NHTSA did

6 investigations covering this model year, 3 of which list a recall campaign.

Throttle control system vulnerabilities

What owners and forums say

Not built yet. This panel is meant to carry community sentiment beside the filed-complaint data, so the two can be compared. Showing something weaker here would defeat its purpose.

Check this yourself

Example records behind this page:

10670560 · 10676407 · 10676853 · 10679236 · 10679238 · 10680469

Limits of this figure. It counts safety complaints filed with the federal government, which is a floor on failures and not a census: problems that only cost money are under-reported. Complaint rates also reflect how likely a brand’s owners are to file, which cannot be separated from how often the car fails. Sales are calendar-year and the denominator for this nameplate is automated checks only, not verified against an external source.