LIVE Global accident monitoring — updating every 15 minutes
Owner-Reported Problems · NHTSA

2016 Hyundai Sonata — Problems & Complaints

NHTSA has 725 owner complaints on file for this vehicle. Every report below was filed by a real owner with the US government's road-safety agency.

725
Complaints
filed with NHTSA
19
Involved a Crash
owner-reported
28
Involved Fire
owner-reported
19 / 1
Injuries / Deaths
across all reports
Years to Avoid

Hyundai Sonata — Complaints by Model Year

Years flagged AVOID have at least twice this model's average complaint count — the strongest public-data signal of a bad year.

345 complaints

3,378 complaints

1,558 complaints

1,915 complaints

751 complaints

1,153 complaints

725 complaints

766 complaints

374 complaints

162 complaints

180 complaints

134 complaints

94 complaints

87 complaints

Problem Areas

What Owners Complain About Most

Engine 450 reports
Unknown Or Other 90 reports
Electrical System 88 reports
Power Train 59 reports
Service Brakes 46 reports
Exterior Lighting 38 reports
Fuel/propulsion System 33 reports
Steering 33 reports
In Their Own Words

Recent Owner Reports

Engine ODI 11445763 12/31/2021

My car is involved in the class action lawsuit because of engine failure and fire with my 2016 Hyandia Sonota. I have concerns with the above issue because of knocking in the engine and using 1 quart of oil every 400 miles. Hyandia extended the Power train settlement for life time. Yet, they denied to do anything about my car because or 98,700 milage. Dealer said only way Hyan…

Steering ODI 11385954 12/31/2020

AT STOP SIGN TO TURN LEFT, STARTED AND STEERING WHEEL WOULD NOT TURN. FELT LIKE LOSS OF POWER STEERING. FORTUNATELY, NO OTHER CARS AROUND, I PUT GEAR IN REVERSE TO BACK UP BEFORE HITTING DITCH ON OTHER SIDE OF ROAD. I TURNED OFF CAR, RESTARTED AND WHEEL WORKED. STOPPED ON MAJOR HIGHWAY TO TURN AT LIGHT, HAPPENED AGAIN. MANAGE TO GET CAR TO POHANKA HYUNDAI SVC DEPT.. NEXT DA…

Engine ODI 11707941 12/30/2025

My 2016 Hyundai Sonata experienced a sudden engine failure while in operation with no prior warning lights or symptoms. The engine seized unexpectedly, creating a safety risk. This failure appears consistent with known engine defects affecting Hyundai Sonata vehicles of this model year. Hyundai Motor America denied my claim without addressing these known defect patterns.

Engine ODI 11499583 12/30/2022

My 2016 Hyundai Sonata is sitting at the Red Hoagland dealership in Winter Haven, FL after the engine started knocking. Rather than continue driving it and risk an accident with our 19-yr old child driving it, or risk worse damage to the engine, I had it towed to Red Hoagland service department. This occurred less than a week after we had it at the dealership for the third and…

Engine ODI 11445614 12/30/2021

took my car to Hyundai at Tustin to check recall car worked fine dec 14 to 15th took my car drove it 4 days started hearing a whistle noise never herd it before then a small taping noise that kicked in when ac was on then when i drove it less then 10 miles the car started to stall and the engine light started flashing then i took it to car max due to having car max toeing plan…

Same Vehicle

Recalls & Crash Tests

Complaints are one half of the picture — see the official recalls and NHTSA crash-test stars for the 2016 Hyundai Sonata, or check your exact car by VIN with the free VIN lookup.

Check Another Car

Problems Checker

Any year, make and model: open the Car Problems Checker. Data: NHTSA (US DOT, public domain), cached up to 7 days.

Questions

FAQ

Is the 2016 Hyundai Sonata reliable?
Owners have filed 725 safety complaints with NHTSA for the 2016 Hyundai Sonata, most often about engine. Compare the complaint counts across model years above — a year with far more complaints than the model's average is the strongest 'avoid' signal in public data.
Which Hyundai Sonata years should I avoid?
The rule of thumb used by analysts: a model year whose complaint count is well above the model's own average (we flag 2× or more) usually had a real manufacturing or design problem — not just noisy reporting. Use the year-by-year strip on this page.
Where do these complaints come from?
Directly from NHTSA, the US government road-safety agency. Any owner can file a Vehicle Owner Questionnaire; NHTSA publishes them as public domain data. We cache each lookup for up to 7 days.
Do complaints mean a recall is coming?
Sometimes. NHTSA opens defect investigations when complaint patterns emerge, and investigations can end in recalls. Check the recalls page for this vehicle to see what has already been recalled.