2020 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid: engine overheating

Filed Dec 27, 2023 · Engine · OR

Case Synopsis: My ownership includes three Hyundai Hybrid vehicles: two 2020 Sonata Hybrids and one 2022 Tucson Hybrid. Each of these cars has consistently manifested engineering defects, predominantly overheating, within a year of purchase. These persistent malfunctions have led to the vehicles being inoperable and beyond repair. As a result, we have endured financial setbacks from negative equity, costs of repairs, reduced value of the cars, and considerable inconvenience and safety hazards due to these ongoing overheating issues.

Filed Dec 27, 2023 · Engine · OR

Case Synopsis: My ownership includes three Hyundai Hybrid vehicles: two 2020 Sonata Hybrids and one 2022 Tucson Hybrid. Each of these cars has consistently manifested engineering defects, predominantly overheating, within a year of purchase. These persistent malfunctions have led to the vehicles being inoperable and beyond repair. As a result, we have endured financial setbacks from negative equity, costs of repairs, reduced value of the cars, and considerable inconvenience and safety hazards due to these ongoing overheating issues.

Filed Oct 10, 2023 · Engine · NV

I went to work at 5 in the morning, I turned the heater for the first time after last winter. I noticed that the heater was struggling to warm the cabin. After 10 minutes driven I got an overheating alert on the dashboard. I pulled over on the freeway shoulder and it started to notice a lot of steam coming from the exhaust and a really strong coolant smell. I waited for the engine to cool down and went back home, I drove for 6 minutes and notice a huge amount of smoke coming from the exhaust I pulled over agin on the freeway and waited 20 minutes i finally arrived home and notice the coolant reservoir was empty since the car was burning all the coolant through the exhaust. I went online and saw many many people with Hybrid sonatas complaining about the same issue. This should be a massive recall many of the customers complaining had 20 to 50 thousand miles on their vehicle. This is definitely a safety issue. I’m glad my wife wasn’t driving that day cause the freeway only has two lanes and the shoulder is extremely narrow. Please do something about it, I already called the dealership to make an appointment since my car is still under the extended warranty. If you need more information feel free to contact me.

Filed Aug 8, 2023 · VA

I have a 2020 Hyundai Sonata limited, recently at 68,089 miles on the odometer my wife was driving and got an engine overheat light and noticed thick white smoke puffing out the exhaust pipe. I told her to pull over when she called me and have it towed to the dealer. Soon after I went to the dealer to look at it because they were saying it would be weeks before they could look at it, and I noticed the coolant reservoir was empty. So, I filled up the reservoir and took it home. Over the next few weeks of driving I noticed the same puffs of white smoke coming out the exhaust every so often and the coolant reservoir draining in a couple days, even though there never was any visible leakage under the car when it was parked. So after a couple weeks of having to top off the coolant every other day I took it back to the dealer and told them what was happening. They were not sure what to do, after a week of troubleshooting they ended up replacing the whole muffler assembly under warranty to fix the issue. So far that seems to have worked. I'm reporting this, because I want the federal safety agency to investigate these models Hyundai Sonata hybrids 2020-2023 and get Hyundai to engineer a recall solution to this issue, because there seems like hundreds of stories on the internet of people having the exact same issue with these car models. I'm not sure replacing the muffler is a long term solution, unless the replacement mufflers were redesigned. If they are replacing them with simply a new muffler, with the same design flaws as the original I think it will likely fail again just like the original. My car is now at 70,800 miles and the issue seems to be fixed, but I have read many stories on the internet of people having 2 or 3 muffler assemblies replaced on these vehicles and the issue continues to reoccur.

Filed Apr 14, 2023 · Engine · IL

I noticed a strange smell almost like burning maple syrup in the garage for months. I thought it was just a different smell from Hybrid cars as I didn't have this used car very long. While driving at times the acceleration would stutter, again I thought this was just expected having never driven a hybrid car. Then on a trip a couple hours out of town someone stopped me on the road to tell me I was burning antifreeze and he could see white smoke coming from the car. I pulled over and didn't notice anything and continued driving but the heater wasn't working, it was blowing cool air despite the heat being on. I pulled into an auto parts store and got antifreeze in case. And then the overheating alert came on. I waited and filled it up and made an appointment at the dealer. They diagnosed it as a a blown gasket and a bad catalytic convertor and replaced all of that. After bringing it home I continued to lose coolant even with a two mile ride, I went from Max fill to half way between max and min. Clearly the problem wasn't the gasket or the catalytic convertor. Others have shared similar experiences online and had to have many parts replaced. The coolant tank, the EGR cooler (?), etc. I don't know what the problem is but something is wrong with these cars.

Filed Mar 20, 2023 · Engine · IL

I have had the same issue 3 separate times related to the coolant system. The first time happened January 2021. I was driving on the highway and I noticed that when the car switched from electric to fuel a large plume of white smoke came out of the exhaust and then the engine overheating message started. I checked the coolant tank and it was completely empty. I managed to get some coolant in the car and get to my destination. I checked the coolant tank again and all the coolant that had been put in was gone. I immediately had the car towed to the dealer. They found the issue was a leak near the muffler and eventually replaced that and other gaskets. In May 2022, I noticed again that when I switched from battery to fuel on acceleration that there was a plume of smoke coming out of the exhaust and my coolant was very low. Brought to the dealer and they confirmed again there was a leak but this time with the EGR cooler and associated parts. In December 2022, I had just gotten an oil change from the dealer and they gave me a clean check up. The next evening I was on the highway again and I received the engine overheating message. I was able to get to the dealer the next morning after refilling the coolant twice. I provided them with the previous paperwork from the other two fixes. They confirmed again that the leak was happening with the muffler so they replaced more parts. In all I have for over 3 months fixing the same issue. I posted on Reddit to see if others have had the same issue and slowly more and more people with the same model year or the year after are reporting the same problems as seen https://www.reddit.com/r/Hyundai/comments/uhx7lf/coolant_leak_through_exhaust_on_2020_sonata_hybrid/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 Every time it's happened it's been covered under warranty but my concern is that it happens outside of the warranty and I will be on the hook for an expensive repair or forced to a new vehicle.