2011 Hyundai Sonata engine problems
967 owner complaints filed with NHTSA name the engine on the 2011 Hyundai Sonata — 29% of all complaints for this model year.
What owners report
“I was driving down the road going the speed limit and all of a sudden it felt like I hit a brick wall my car staked out and I was stuck in the middle of the road for about 20 minutes and finally I got it to start and drove home it did it again 2 months later”
filed Sep 3, 2026
“I had taken my Sonata to Mike Miller Hyndia in Peoria,I'll and they agreed to do the recall although they had my vehicle for two weeks. They did not service it and when I picked it up they said I had to drive it till the service engine light come on. I was driving it five days later and heard a…”
filed Aug 29, 2026
“The vehicle suffered an internal connecting rod bearing failure, a known manufacturing defect affecting the Theta II GDI engine. The failure was explicitly diagnosed via the manufacturer - specific OBD-II fault code p1326 Knock Sensor Detector System. This defect causes sudden engine stalling poses an immediate risk…”
filed Aug 18, 2026
Verbatim excerpts from complaints filed with NHTSA. Reports are not independently verified.
Related recalls
- High pressure fuel pipe that connects to the fuel pump outlet may have been damaged…Campaign 18V934000 · Dec 28, 2018
- In the affected vehicles, metallic debris may not have been fully removed during…Campaign 15V568000 · Sep 10, 2015
Engine problems in other Sonata years
| Year | Reports | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 Sonata | 3 | 7% |
| 2023 Sonata | 27 | 31% |
| 2022 Sonata | 25 | 27% |
| 2021 Sonata | 34 | 26% |
| 2020 Sonata | 31 | 17% |
| 2019 Sonata | 86 | 53% |
| 2018 Sonata | 210 | 56% |
| 2017 Sonata | 383 | 50% |
| 2016 Sonata | 450 | 62% |
| 2015 Sonata | 623 | 54% |
| 2014 Sonata | 301 | 40% |
| 2013 Sonata | 735 | 39% |
Other reported problem areas on the 2011 Hyundai Sonata
Counts are unique NHTSA complaints naming this component group. Complaints are unverified owner reports; mileage is computed only from complaints that included a usable odometer reading.