all vehicles · every Sonata year · method

Hyundai Sonata 2010

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

0.20 per 1,000

better than this nameplate’s own median · from 32 complaints filed in the first three years, of 344 ever. 95% lower bound 0.13.

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.

Structure 164 complaints

door	155	93%
handle	110	66%
door handle	102	61%
handles	93	56%
door handles	77	46%
exterior door	24	15%

When it breaks

17% of reported failures happened before 30,000 miles (median 65,069 miles, from 282 complaints that recorded one).

Failures arrive late and spread out, which looks like wear. Service history matters more than model year here.

What NHTSA did

3 investigations covering this model year, 1 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:

10312473 · 10320829 · 10322991 · 10343310 · 10347985 · 10349191

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.