2014 Hyundai Sonata
This year drew an ordinary 743 complaints for a Hyundai Sonata — the model's median is 366. What they were about is the unusual part: 7.9% of them mention headlights, against 2.7% across the other years of this generation.
Last year of its generation. This Hyundai Sonata ran from 2011 to 2014, so it had the whole run for its faults to be found and fixed. Last years are usually the most sorted of a generation.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 743 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 366 |
| Involving a crash | 29 |
| Involving a fire | 39 |
| Recalls | 7 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 25.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- headlights — 7.9% of this year's complaints, against 2.7% across the other years of this generation (2.9×). Owners wrote it as: headlights, signal, turn signal, flicker.
- gasoline — 7.9% of this year's complaints, against 2.9% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: gasoline, fuel system, system gasoline, gasoline however.
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
notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V312000 (Fuel System, Gasoline) however, the part to do the repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made…
NOTIFICATION OF NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 18V934000 (ENGINE, FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE). THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE [VIN] EXCEEDED A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME FOR THE RECALL REPAIR. STOCKTON HYUNDAI (2979 AUTO CENTER CIRCLE, STOCKTON, CA 95212, (855) 830-3429) WAS C…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V934000 ENGINE Fixed free of charge.
- 17V617000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 17V226000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 17V152000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 14V434000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 20V121000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 22V312000 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 2014 Hyundai Sonata? What happened to yours?
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