2006 Hyundai Sonata
Complaints about this year name airbag light far more often than the other years of this generation — 11% of them, about 4× the usual rate of 2.6%.
First year of a new generation. The Hyundai Sonata was redesigned for 2006. 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 | 1,047 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 366 |
| Involving a crash | 43 |
| Involving a fire | 9 |
| Recalls | 11 |
| EPA combined | 24 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- belt — 16.2% of this year's complaints, against 5.8% across the other years of this generation (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: belt, seat belt, buckle, belt buckle.
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.
Also unusual this year
- seat belt — 11% of complaints, 3× usual
- bag warning — 8% of complaints, 3× usual
What owners wrote
THE AIR BAG WARNING LIGHT WAS ILLUMINATED. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO A DEALER WHERE IT WAS DIAGNOSED THAT THE SEAT BELT BUCKLE NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE [VIN] WAS NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE AND CURRENT MILEAG…
THE AIR BAG WARNING LIGHT WAS CONSTANTLY ILLUMINATED. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN AUTHORIZED DEALER AND THE CONTACT WAS INFORMED THAT THE SEAT BELT MODULE ON THE FRONT PASSENGER SIDE NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE [VIN] WAS MADE AWARE…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 09V122000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 18V026000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 08V161000 AIR BAGS
- 09E012000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING
- 08E021000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING
- 13V354000 SUSPENSION
- 09V280000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 05V316000 ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL
Showing 8 of 11. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
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 2006 Hyundai Sonata? What happened to yours?
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