Day after purchase, beeps and notification to pull over and check charging system. Had car towed one week later car was returned to us. Dealer installed a new battery. Running fine except brakes make a noise when depressed quickly. March 28th, 11 months later coming home from florida, driving on interstate 95 late at night in stop & go traffic, beeps and notification to pull over and check charging system. Pulled car over shut off. Restarted car and continued driving. Check engine light stayed on for 24 hrs. Returned to dealer that week could find nothing wrong with charging system. And could not duplicate braking sound at dealership, but still making noise sporatically. May 15th, late on a saturday night, stopped to make left hand turn, I started to accelerate, half way into the turn, car would not accelerate, bells and notification to check charging system. With traffic coming towards me, I had to shut down engine and restart again. If oncoming traffic was slightly faster I would have been hit. Check engine light stayed on overnight but went off the next day. Returning to dealer this week. Don't expect any positive results as last time they said they cannot find anything wrong. I loved my car, however driving it now makes me very nervous!
2013 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid fuel system complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 14 of 14, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The sonata hybrid has a major flaw and it's the gas mileage. I was told I would get at least 45 mpg with sensible driving and that was a lie. On cold damp morning and after a cold fog there would be condensation all over the front and back windshields to the point where water droplets would run onto the dashboards and back seats. Also the car has a safety issue with the low beam head lights at night especially in the country. At 50 MPH you out run your head lights and can't see far enough ahead of you to stop in time if something runs across in front of you.
The vehicle lurches forward during deceleration thus pulling pressure off of the brake pedal and causing you to put even more pressure on the brakes to compensate. Vehicle will slide on icy roads at this point. Vehicle also has little to no acceleration on electric motor after the vehicle is hot. Making a left turn from a stop with oncoming traffic is hazardous since the vehicle can take up to 7 seconds before it accelerates enough to complete the turn and clear the oncoming lane. Both problems seem related. The first would appear to be free wheeling with no engine type braking applied while switching from engine to electric. The second would be from no electric motor engagement during initial acceleration from a stop or slow to turn maneuver.
27 dec 2013: hybrid battery drained without any warning and car could not be accelerated more than 20 miles/hr while driving. Eventually the car stopped on the road. Dashboard showed "park safely and do not drive" with loud beeping warning sound. Turned off and restarted the car, the engine wouldn't charge the battery. After towing to the service, the car started as normal; the tech could not duplicate the problem so nothing was done. 16 jan 2014: the same problem happened while driving. After I parked the car on the side of the road, the hybrid battery started to recharge to a quarter strength on the dashboard; started to drive again and car jerked twice without being able to accelerate more than 30 miles/hr and eventually had to stop the car on the side of the road. The engine would not start again and same warning on my dash. After being towed to the dealer again, the tech could not duplicate the case; suspected the computer system problem and changed bms control module.4 feb 2014: similar situation. Hybrid battery would not charge more than 1-quarter and the car would not accelerate more than 35 m/hr obtained a case number from hyundai and identified a possible problem of the hybrid battery by the engineer. New hybrid battery was installed.14 feb 2014: started the car, the main screen showed discharge warning for a few seconds then the car runs normal. Turned off the car and tried to restart, the engine wouldn't start. After a couple hours, the car seems to running normal.the problem: hyundai seems to give us an answer 'we cannot duplicate the problem, therefore keep driving it until it happens again. This is a lemon and hyundai needs to accept it and negotiate with us to make things right. I do want to say that the local dealership should be commended on their service, its the management above them that needs to get things done.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2013 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history