CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2011 Sonata has a seriously defective engine that seizes without warning. It was awarded the dubious honor of being the first CarTalk / CarComplaints Turd of the Week in late September 2015.
A class action lawsuit was filed in May 2015 against Hyundai that claims the 2.4L Sonata engine is defective. More info here.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
2 / 11
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
61,536 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Cruise control works off and on one day it works fine and the next day it don't work! very annoying I just don't understand how something will work and then it won't work
I've been having this issue with my Sonata since I've had it. The key always gets stuck in the ignition and won't come out at all. No matter how many times you wiggle it. I've google this issue and several people have had it. There is no answer on how to fix it.
I purchase this vehicle the owner tollme the engine spend lot of oil I still purchace, I still buy this car but 3 days pass I check engine after awas driving 65 mil car was making lot of noise I stop and was with (0)oil I check internet on this car and is recall for this engine burning oil and need to be replaced I contact the dealer they told me to bring the car to perform oil consumption I bring the car and they did the oil change 95 dollars and 2weeks later was no oil again they told me the they will documented and see if they decide to replace
I bought this used O this summer had it looked at and had oil change and the engine needs replaced. Oil was completely gone but no leak. And cruise control stopped working. This was supposed to be a reliable car for my daughter to get back and forth to college.
- Chillicothe, OH, USA
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There is a knocking noise coming from underneath the gear shift. As I use the gear shift, while braking and releasing, a knocking noise is heard under the gear shift. It is caused by the brake pedal being pressed. It knocks while pressing the brake pedal and shifting from drive to reverse and back.
Connection between the shift cable and shift lever, it says there is a recall on it, but when I call the dealership they tell me there is not one with my VIN number. When I put my car in reverse or drive it will not display on my dash if it is in reverse drive or park and my car has trouble moving when it does that.
My dashboard has hairline cracks in the areas by the air bags. I feel that this could be a compromise issue with the air bags. We had the same issue with our other 2011 Sonata. We replaced it because we sold it. Please advise me if I have a safety issue thank you [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
The dashboard has several cracks and many others have reported the same problem on 2011 and other models. My concern is for the passenger side airbag since there are several cracks on the dashboard in that area.
Was driving down the road, noticed an odd smell, like burning/melting plastic. I looked around to see if someone was burning anything, but there wasn't. the smell seemed to go away, but a few miles down the road I started to smell it again and noticed black smoke coming from under the hood. I looked for a safe place to pull over but flames started coming out from the hood, so I pulled over and got out, ran away from the car. Within less that 2 to 3 minuets it was completely engulfed in flames. The fire department, police and state troopers showed up, put out the fire. My car was burnt to the ground!
I have had issues with this vehicle since Oct 2019. At that time I had a recall for the hard knock sensor after that it continues to give me issues. The check engine comes on continuously every week. I fix one issue then the lights comes back on for another. My car shakes while driving like engine wants to stop, doesn't want to accelerate over 40 miles in the middle of the highway streets it's not safe for a vehicle to stop accelerating without any warning theirs other bystanders that can crash into me.I contacted hynduai every month since Oct urging them to do a full diagnostic cause my vehicle already has 13 recalls on it previously and I strongly feel this vehicle is one of the defective ones. Hynduai keeps turning their back on me and tells me I need to fix this then this then that. I also have a fuel smell and a evap code that keeps coming on which this recall was supposed to be fixed and if it happend again its guarantee to be fixed again. Hynduai told me no. They keep turning their back on me. I fear that my vehicle will cause harm to me and others due to the lack of Hyundai not taking my vehicle safety seriously.
Steering vibrates and becomes erratic when changing lanes or over gravel/rough roads. Dealer tells me it is a function of the speed controlled device, appears to be controlled by computer. Speed up or dwn triggers violent shaking.
Early summer of 2019, I noticed a small crack along my dashboard, coming from the windshield toward the seat. It was about 2 inches long. By August of 2019, the crack had grown to approximately a foot. I have contacted Hyundai and gone to the dealership and the only thing they would do is give me an estimate on repair. The odd thing about this is when googling this issue, it is quite common.
Every time I stop and start to go again in first and second gear it feels like my car is slipping and not wanting to catch the gear seems to me like it's going to stall in the middle of the road one day
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Irvington, NJ, USA