all vehicles · every Sonata year · method

Hyundai Sonata 2012

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

0.90 per 1,000

1.1 times this nameplate’s own median · from 205 complaints filed in the first three years, of 1711 ever. 95% lower bound 0.78.

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 634 complaints

campaign	119	19%
knocking	94	15%
campaign engine	87	14%
seized	72	11%
engine seized	51	8%
rod	47	7%

Steering 311 complaints

clicking	71	23%
loud	54	17%
makes	50	16%
clicking noise	37	12%
coupler	32	10%
bumps	32	10%

Electrical System 258 complaints

brake	76	30%
brake lights	33	13%
brake light	28	11%
tail	24	9%
bulbs	20	8%
bulb	18	7%

When it breaks

18% of reported failures happened before 30,000 miles (median 80,000 miles, from 1128 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

9 investigations covering this model year, 6 of which list a recall campaign. Owners had filed 272 complaints about this component over roughly 65 months before an investigation opened.

Non-crash Vehicle Fires

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:

10413889 · 10417047 · 10420721 · 10423127 · 10423136 · 10423964

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.