2016 Hyundai Sonata Electrical Problems
72 owner-reported electrical complaints from NHTSA data
Data sourced from NHTSA public database. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified mechanic.
Electrical Recalls (1)
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: INSTRUMENT CLUSTER/PANEL
Hyundai Motor America (Hyundai) is recalling certain model year 2015-2016 Sonata vehicles manufactured May 28, 2014, to August 21, 2015. The affected vehicles are equipped with an Antilock Braking System (ABS) warning light intended to warn the driver if there is an ABS malfunction. In the event of an ABS malfunction, the Brake System warning light will illuminate, but the ABS warning light will not illuminate. Since the vehicles have ABS malfunction lights that do not illuminate, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 135, "Light Vehicle Brake Systems."
Fix: Hyundai will notify owners, and dealers will update the ABS control unit software, free of charge. The recall is expected began on November 30, 2015. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1-855-671-3059. Hyundai's number for this recall is 134.
Owner Complaints (72)
The driver’s seat / passenger seat assembly, including seat rails, mounting brackets, and Smart Junction Box (SJB) connections if electrical adjustment was involved, completely failed during a crash.
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On February 6, around 3:46am, parked my vehicle on the driveway I noticed a smell like smoke, I looked at my dashboard but nothing was on, no warnings, so I entered my house a few minutes later Possibly 4 I heard a noise look outside from my window an noticed my car was on fire, immediately called 911 car garage door also cut on fire and the vehicle next to it.
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My husband (Scott) was driving the car on Florida highway 408 eastbound approaching the exit 21 on 10/12/2023 around 8 am. Scott heard something pop suddenly and saw fire shooting out from both sides of the car in the rearview mirrors. Upon noticing the fire, he tried to slow down to pull over the car, but brakes failed (went to the floor). A police officer on the road happened to see the fire so he drove next to my husband's car and Scott yelled at officer that he had no brakes. The officer went ahead of Scott to help Scott's car slow down. When approaching uphill slopes by the exit, Scott was finally able to use the emergency brakes to come to a complete stop. The fire engine came right away and put out the fire which took over 20 minutes. My husband is handicapped and him walking away from such car catastrophic fire unharmed was near miracle. Two weeks before the fire, I happened to take the car in for checkup at Greenway Hyundai Orlando and the 2.5 hour inspection found nothing wrong with my car. I wanted my car checked because my car stalled briefly pulling out of a parking space a few days earlier.
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The contact owns a 2016 Hyundai Sonata. The contact stated while driving at 55 MPH, other drivers started beeping the horn and shouting that the vehicle was on fire. The contact immediately veered to the side of the road. The contact then noticed flames under the front end of the vehicle, near the engine location. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the fire was extinguished independently. There was no injury sustained. The contact stated that the vehicle was towed to her son-in-law's repair shop, where it remained. There was no police report filed. An unknown dealer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that a repair fee would be charged for the engine replacement. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The contact related the failure to an unknown recall. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and advised the contact to take the vehicle to the dealer to be diagnosed. The failure mileage was approximately 108,000.
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The contact owned a 2016 Hyundai Sonata. The contact stated that the vehicle was previously stolen, and she related the failure to Hyundai Campaign Number: 993. The contact stated while driving 25 MPH, the vehicle accelerated unintendedly to approximately 45 MPH.
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The problem appeared on December 2020 in the middle of a Hwy 50 East in Washington DC. It was scary and dangerous. First it showed some malfunction sign on the screen and right way slowed down to 40 then 20 then zero.
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The airbag light is on, indicating that the airbox is not operating and will not go off in case of an accident. All steering wheel controls also don't work so it's impossible to adjust settings using the steering wheel or to enter cruise control at all.
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Engine caught on fire while driving
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I recently totalled my car due to "following to closely" which I didn't have GAP insurance. Truth is I signaled to go right lane when The car in front thought inwas going left due to faulty recall problem and we both went right, I lost control and hit a rail and damaged car unfortunately
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When I was at work the engine gave up with no warning and could have gotten very dangerous for me. when I called the dealership they said because my car was totaled, but when I called NHTSA they told me that they didn’t have the remedies. I just thought that was strange.
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The contact owns a 2016 Hyundai Sonata. The contact stated that his passenger side headlight housing had melted and become defective. While driving at 55 MPH, the contact stated that the windshield wipers failed to operate without warning during a rainstorm.
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Fuel Pump Control Module replaced before 50,000 mi. - 58,539 mi. got my 2016 Hyundai Sonata Sport for ECM Update.
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Yes I was driving on the expressway I saw smoke coming from my vents. I made it to the nearest neighborhood by my home stopped for it to cool down for 10 minutes I start my car back up & it was perfectly fine by time I made it to a stop sign it caught on fire while I was in the car. The fire department told me it was due to an electric/engine problem & nothing was my fault.
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Reciban cordiales saludos, el 11/01/2020 dicho vehiculo es usado como lyft venia de pasajero y tuvimos un accidente. Las bolsa de aire jamas se abrieron, echo que agrabo mi condicin. Ya que impacte mi cabeza fuertemente contra el marco de puerta del vehiculo ocasionando mi lesion cerebral.
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During long distance driving once the vehicle is stopped for gas the hev warning light comes on. The car will not re-start for 15 -30 minutes. Once restarted the check engine light comes on.
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My right high beam stopped working, I have to add oil to my car every 3 days. Burns more gas going back and forth to work. Going around a fast highway curb, the engine shut down the speed of my car and would not stop dropping down to 45 MPH in a 70mph packed highway.
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When driving sometimes the bsd system turn off without any advance warning, this could cause accidents, the blind spot collision warning hyundai need to be reviewed well and address the issue. Many people complain about this.
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Hard shifts when in sport mode and when it doesn't do a hard shift the vehicle will shut off on the highway causing the headlights and power steering to not fiction cause a possible crash have to stop and put in park to restart engine
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If I open the driver side door while the vehicle is on, a warning light "check bsd system" is displayed on the info display. The warning stays on until the vehicle is turned off and turned back on. It shuts down the driver assistance feature on the vehicle.
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Pushed acceleration at traffic light to cross and turn into neighborhood, car started beeping frantically, 'check hev system' flashed on dash as well as 'turn off engine' while car decelerated to 1-3 MPH. Battery meter bar on left side of dash completely depleted showing no battery power supply at all. Turned vehicle off for a few minutes then restarted.
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I’ve had this vehicle for exactly 6 months. First incident where I thought the company I bought it from lied to me because they said they topped off my oil. In reality it guzzles oil excessively, I paid $600 to get it cleaned out & add oil.
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Had previous issue with HEV warning light and took to dealer. But While driving down the road last night, the HEV light on the dash comes on and beeps, the car sputters then the brakes slam on and the car immediately shut off in the travel lane. Turn car back on put into drive and same thing happens.
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I have owner this car for 2 years took it into dealership cause I was contacted that the vehicle needed a campaign update car got the update about two weeks later while on highway car went into limp mode speed dropped from 60 to 30 miles an hour check engine light came on and started flashing took it back to dealer they did another update took car about month later while on highway check engine light came on again they did another update on car picked it up drove it another month light came on again took it back to dealer the did another update and changed wiring harness picked car up again driving on the street about 30 miles an hour check engine light on again took it to dealer they said they did a lower bearing test which sent results to hyundai america corporate office and did another update on car lower bearing test came back good came to pick car up on my way home from dealership on highway again it goes into limp mode speed drop from 60 to 30 check engine light flashing again take it back to dealership the advisor tells me tech read the codes turned off light but had it running and check engine light keeps coming on I was told tech was waiting on engineers to contact him to see what next step he should take mind you they now have had my car for almost 3 weeks by this time I reached out to customer relations to escalate case tech said a duplicate code came up on car p1326 I was told that part was replaced which would be the second wiring harness after at least 5 updates to car tech test drove car he said no lights and no metal was found /lf wiring install/noise insp also says something about wiring harness-knock sensor picked car up on 4/27 dropped off on 4/07 since picking car up seems to drive worser than it did before dropping it off the RPM gage seems to struggle to move when accerating it not happy or satisfied with work done scared to have my family incar
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Tl* the contact owns a 2016 hyundai sonata. While driving approximately 40 MPH, the contact heard a ticking noise coming from under the hood of the vehicle. Also, the oil light and check engine warning indicators illuminated.
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Car was in motion at about 75mph on the highway when it jerked really hard then lost all power, making it a very unsafe situation for not only my family but also other drivers. The lights on the dashboard went all crazy and it hasn't started since that happened, car was towed to a dealership where they are stating it's a recall on the ecm.
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Tl* the contact owns a 2016 hyundai sonata. On several occasions, while driving at an unknown speed, there was an abnormal knocking sound in the engine. The vehicle stalled without warning and was able to restart.
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Tl* the contact owns a 2016 hyundai sonata. While driving approximately 25 MPH, the vehicle shut off without warning. The vehicle was towed to the dealer (legacy hyundai in mcdonough, ga, 770-914-2800), but the failure was not duplicated.
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We were driving along at 70 MPH and suddenly the engine stalled and electrical gauges all turned off for 15 seconds, meaning all gauges went to the left like when you turn your car off. Dealer said that they found nothing wrong. They said to let them know if it happens again?????????????
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The shark fin antennae on top of the vehicle was ripped off in a car wash; the antennae serves to transmit radio/GPS/data to & from the vehicle which will cease to function if it the cover is removed and components damaged.
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The contact owns a 2016 Hyundai Sonata. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V749000 ( EXTERIOR LIGHTING, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted.
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While driving, the vehicle's engine light will randomly turn on and when it does, the car will lose power; meaning, when this occurs, and I press the accelerator pedal, it does not put out the normal, expected amount of acceleration. This problem will persist until I pull over, turn off the vehicle, and turn it back on. However, this does not always fix the issue.
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Vehicle suddenly shuts down while driving. This has happened several times and has cost lengthy repairs and towing fees but still keeps doing the same thing. After it shuts down once the car is reset it will work again for a little while and do the same thing over again.
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While driving (speed doesn’t matter, highway or city streets) the check hybrid system turn off engine message/code comes on. When u turn off the car and wait for a period of time the it’s not there anymore but the check engine light stays on and the car drive normal until the code comes back up.
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For a year the radio would not work or play at times or you heard audio but absolutely no visual screen as far as the channel your on etc. Also, the same screen for backup camera the dealer told me on phone, on the face of radio there is a tiny pin hole use a pen depress it and it will reboot the system I did and it worked.
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The contact owns a 2016 Hyundai Sonata. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V749000 (Exterior Lighting, Electrical System) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was made aware of the issue and confirmed parts were not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.
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Car stalled check engine light came on took to auto zone said a engine problem
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01/26/22 Brought 2016 Hyundai Sonata to Fremont Hyundai (Fremont CA) for "Smart Junction Box" recall. 08/12/22 Brought vehicle to Fremont Hyundai for intermittent turn signal recall. 04/10/23 Brought vehicle to Stevens Creek Hyundai for "A 993 HYIMMOA0 -Sonata (LF) S/W UPD & DECAL (23-01-014H-3) RECALL DEFAULT 31599 WH." Told the service dept the vehicle was still having turn signal issues.
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Car was leaking oil I reported to Hyundai and service repair shop had to take it back 3 times due to them neglecting to listen to me oil got into other parts and I had to get 7 things fix also after having back for 1 day the brakes and electric is not working properly engine also fails to accelerate correctly
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My car idles very rough at times, and sometimes when idling, it dies out. At times it is difficult to even start as if it's not getting the electrical signal to the engine. Hyundai replaced the fuel pump, but that did not fix the problem, but cost $1,200.
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The vehicle is able to be started without a key by using a USB cable. This makes the vehicle extremely vulnerable to theft. Because of this issue vehicles incur other damages due to theft such as broken windows and possibly bodily injury due to theft.
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The vehicle is highly susceptible to theft. There are multiple articles and videos on how my vehicle and many others made Hyundai and Kia can be stolen in minutes with just a USB drive. This needs to be investigated and fixed immediately.
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The contact owns a 2016 Hyundai Sonata. The contact stated that she initially received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V749000 (Exterior Lighting, Electrical System) however, after the recall repair was performed, the contact stated that the vehicle would shut off while driving at various speeds.
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The contact owns a 2016 Hyundai Sonata. The contact stated that while attempting to start the vehicle, the vehicle failed to start. There were no warning lights illuminated.
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The contact owns a 2016 Hyundai Sonata. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V749000 (Exterior Lighting, Electrical System). The contact stated months later, the driver’s and passenger’s headlight fault warning lights were illuminated.
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The contact owns a 2016 Hyundai Sonata. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed with the exterior lights in auto mode, the exterior lights inadvertently turned off when the right turn signal switch was engaged. There were no warning lights illuminated.
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The contact owns a 2016 Hyundai Sonata. The contact stated while stopped at a red light waiting for the light to turn green, the turn signal was activated to make a right turn however, the turn signal was switched in the opposite direction. The contact stated the failure recurred intermittingly.
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This is the 2nd time the 'check bsd system' alarmed. First time was almost a year ago, and the dealer change some sensors (charge me for it). Now on 02/06/2021 when I started my car in the morning and the message error appears again.
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I got the oil changed on my 2016 sonata. The mechanic that changed my oil told me the engine was low on oil when he changed the oil. A week later I checked the oil to make sure the oil level was good still.
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Tl* the contact owns a 2016 hyundai sonata. The contact stated that when the vehicle was started, the ABS and traction control warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that when shifting into gear, the vehicle lunged forward.
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Hi my 2016 rear break light doesn't light up neither just the rear window lights up..mymy warning light on dash dash board doesn't light up is there's a recall for this and front parking socket is no good I change bulbs to no help and you have to change the whole front light assembly which is way too expensive for a parking light can help with this mager problem
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On september 1,2019 my car wouldnt start. I purchased a battery and a it turned over. On september 8th I drove to get a oil change and tune up which seemed abnormal when I got home.
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My alarm horn dont work, my overhead light does not shut off properly , doors dont lock back shows opned when closed. Water in back door latch froze and cracked my casing. This all happemed at the same time.
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Engine started rough idling and knocking. Took to a mechanic who found metal particulate in the oil and the engine spun a bearing.
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Tengo este sonata ya 3 años a solo un mes de haberlo comprado empezó con los problemas de check hybrid system todo el tiempo el mecánico no sabe que pasa con eso además siempre cuando se enciende esa luz no se puede manejar el carro y le dice que tengo que apagarlo
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My car burns through approximately 1qt of oil every 500 miles or less. There is a known oil consumption issue and I have left multiple messages with Key Hyundai of Milford CT and do not receive a call back. Additionally today I was driving 25mph and my car was reading 4000rpm and then completely locked and shut down I was stuck in the middle of the road.
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The hood open sensor is displaying that the hood is open when it's been closed and is latched.
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2016 hyundai sonata. Consumer writes in regard to lack of security transponder.
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Car was stolen on 12/27/22 because 2016 Hyundai Sonata does not have an engine immobilizer - highly likely inspired by recent Hyundai/Kia TikTok challenge.
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My vehicle is a hybrid and the Check Hybrid System light has lit up while I'm driving and you have to pull over and turn off your car when that happens. The car will slow down and come to a complete stop regardless. It's scary when you are driving on the freeway.
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Somehow, either by design or manufacturing defect, a part in the headlamp assembly melts and causes a gap in the illumination of the lights while driving. Technicians have said that this is a progressive issue, rather than some sudden onset, and multiple people have said they've never experienced this before but are having this issue with the Hyundai Sonata.
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Ive bought this car used at 30k miles currently at 79k in 2020. Ever since this car has been given me nothing but issues. On 6-24-22 for the third time in two years the car would lose all power going 60-70 MPH no gas, no battery engine wouldnt work all while driving on busy I-95.
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The Car is flash on Dash boards Check HEV and turn off the engine cause my car to idle. Turn off my car for 20 mins signal gone Then 2 weeks later randomly does it again. Car also flash Check Breaks on dash boards and turn off the engine and it shut my whole car off
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Radio doesn’t shut off when the car is turned off. Radio will freeze and won’t work ( won’t turn on or volume and other dials doesn’t work ).
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When headlights switch is in the auto position and you use the right turn signal the headlights go off then come back on. I've had this car for 4 years and noticed this a lot. Left signal is starting to do the same.
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Paint coming off the top of the car and I have to change my front light and brake light every month it goes out
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Blinker doesn't work. Engine has a hole in it.
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The car when driven highway miles will not crank when you stop the engine. The check hybrid system light message comes up. The car will not start for 15 to 45 minutes.
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Rear tail lights keeps burning out. This seems to be consistent with other consumers and hyundai has not done a recall. See forums and videos online from other complaints.
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Takata recall when driving my vehicle and attempting to lane change or attempting to make a left turn and I pull my indicator down to indicate that I'm going left instead of showing left it indicates right turn and
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I was driving the car and the car started spitting and did not want to go. Then white smoke came out of the tail pipe. I cut the car of and waited in traffic with my baby in the car , then turned the car back on.
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Passenger power window will not lock out. Only the back window lock. My dog hit the window button and the window opened and the dog almost jumped out on the highway.
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TPMS indicators continue to say there is an issue and the tire and tire pressure but the car shows the correct tire pressure and there is no damage to the tires.
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