There are plenty of reasons to drive a Hyundai. For some, it’s all about the gas mileage. The new Sonatas will get you nearly 40 miles to the gallon on the highway, and that’s in a mid-size sedan. In some of the smaller models you’d swear you were driving a hybrid. For other drivers, it’s just a really fun little car to drive. A Hyundai will tend to be far lighter than comparable models from other auto companies, with a small frame that takes curves nicely and is able to park just about anywhere.
And of course, there’s the simple fact that Hyundai tends to make some of the safest cars on the road. Every year you can expect the new Hyundai models to sweep the industry safety awards and Top 10 automotive lists across all sorts of blogs, organizations, websites and magazines. This is the brand you always see on the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety Top 10, and sometimes in the top spot. The 2011 Sonata in particular was a favorite of the IIHS.
So it’s always a little surprising when Hyundai makes an announcement about a recall. Depending on who you ask, this is the safest carmaker in the world. But what can you say except “these things happen.” The 2013 Sonata has actually been subject to a total of seven separate recalls, with the most recent coming in as late as February 2020.
The 2013 “Facelift”
The 2013 Sonata was part of the “facelift” era for the model. This began in 2012 in Korea, and 2013 in North America. The car was, in more ways than not, still the same Sonata, but with a host of new features and a slightly modernized body design.
The new model came with LED taillights, LED daytime running lamp fog lights, dual-zone climate controls, a new LCD display, Driver Selectable Steering Mode, electronic parking brake, front parking sensors, and a redesigned, sleeker-looking grille.
The 2011 Sonatas earned high marks across the board, especially when it came to safety, but the overall design shared much more in common with 90s-model sedans than with the more stylish competitors, so the facelift was, in the eyes of many Hyundai fans, long overdue.
2012 Recall
The first recall to affect the 2013 Sonata hit sellers and owners as early as 2012, before the car was even officially available in North America.
Both the 2012 and 2013 models produced between January 24, 2012, and June 21, 2012, were recalled by Hyundai thanks to a problem with curtain-side airbags. Due to an error in manufacturing, these airbags were liable to inflate without being deployed. The defect affected an estimated 22,512 potential units.
The chief concern here was, of course, passenger injury. Airbags are not exactly pillows that gently poof out for a safe landing. They’re designed to slow a 60-plus mph impact with minimal injury. In short: airbags hurt, but they don’t hurt as badly as hitting the dashboard.
Another big concern was driver distraction. Even if nobody is sitting in the passenger seat, having an airbag pop open a couple feet to your right is like having a firework go off inside the car. That’s dangerous enough on its own, but in heavy traffic, on narrow roads, or in bad weather, the consequences could be dire, to say the least.
The 2012 recall began in August of that year, replacing the defective airbags for free. Owners were encouraged to contact Hyundai at 1-800-633-5151, or call the National Highway Traffic Safety Vehicle Safety Administrations Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 and give the Hyundai recall campaign number 106.
2014 Recall
Next was 2011-2014 Sonatas manufactured from 2009 to 2014 which saw a defect in the transmission shift cable. In an estimated 883,000 potential units, the transmission shift cable had a habit of detaching from the shift lever pin. The biggest concern here: suppose you put the car in park, but the cable slips, and you’re still in neutral. Now your car starts rolling down the hill. Or suppose you put the car in reverse, but it stays in first as you hit the gas pedal, and end up driving through your garage door.
Hyundai issued recall number 123 and began offering free inspection and repair at ownerships.
2017 Recalls
The 2013 Hyundai Sonata saw no less than three recalls in 2017, two in March alone.
The first was on March 8, owing to a seatbelt defect affecting 2011-2014 Sonatas, and 2011-2015 Sonata Hybrids. The front seatbelts in an estimated 977,778 models were liable to fail when the linkage detached from the anchor pretensioner. Unlike the airbag recall, this at least would not affect you during normal driving, but the concern was that the seatbelts might have turned out to be essentially useless in the event of an accident, which is really the only time you truly need the seatbelts to work.
Hyundai began recalls in April with the campaign number of 160 for free seatbelt replacements.
The next recall took place just a couple weeks later on March 31. The 2013-2014 Sonata and Santa Fe Sports models were recalled owing to machining errors made during engine manufacturing. Affecting an estimated 572,000 potential units, the concern was that the engines would wear the bearings down too quickly, which could result in engine seizing and a crash. If not a crash, at the very least, drivers could experience an expensive trip to the repair shop.
Hyundai issued the recall campaign number 162 and began making free replacements at dealerships May 19.
Finally, October 4, 2017, saw another seat belt problem. Or rather, the same seat belt problem. Once again, researchers found that the seat belt linkages for both the driver and front passenger seat were liable to detach from the seat belt anchor pretensioner in the event of an accident. This recall affected an estimated 443,545 potential units.
Hyundai issued recall number 169 and replaced seatbelts for free starting in October.
2018 Recall
Affecting an estimated 100,000 potential units, including 2011-2014 Sonatas and 2013-2014 Santa Fe Sports, those previously repaired under the recall numbers of 15V-568 and 17V-226, turned out to have an issue with the high-pressure fuel pipe connecting to the fuel pump outlet. This only affected those that had been repaired, as these pipes were potentially damaged not at the factory, but due to improper torquing during the engine replacement, which would have fuel leaking from the pipe. This one doesn’t need much explaining: That’s a major fire hazard.
Issuing the recall number 180, Hyundai began offering free repairs starting in February 2019.
2020 Recall
The latest recall, as of the time of this writing, was issued on Feb. 28, 2020. For many 2013 Sonata owners, it might be getting a little old at this point to have to bring the car back to the dealership for one recall after another. However, it should stand as a testament to the durability of a Hyundai that so many drivers who bought a Sonata in 2013 are still driving it to this day.
This recall affected an estimated 206,896 2013-2014 Sonatas. The issue in this case was a low-pressure fuel hose worried to crack over time as a result of the heat generated in the engine compartment. As with the 2018 recall, the big concern here is that this is a major fire hazard. The last thing you want in any car is fuel leaking where it shouldn’t be.
The recall officially began on April 24 with the recall number of 189, with owners taking their cars into the dealership for inspection and repair at Hyundai’s expense.
Still Pretty Safe
While this may look like a long list at a glance, the fact is that seven recalls over seven years is not that unreasonable when you consider how many cars Hyundai sells in a 12-month period. Hyundai often lands on least-recalled lists, and the least recalled car in the world in 2018 was the Hyundai Accent, with a rate of one recall per million cars sold, where the average is closer to one recall per hundred thousand. Hyundai doesn’t always outpace the competition 10:1, but it always outpaces the competition to a noticeable degree when it comes to safety.
Hyundai generally has a strong record of issuing recalls quickly so that you can continue to drive safely. It might be a minor inconvenience to take your car into the dealership to get it inspected and repaired, but if you drive a Hyundai for its safety ratings, there’s no sense in letting a recall go ignored.
Are Recalls Still in Effect?
If you buy a 2013 Hyundai Sonata and find that it has not undergone any of the repairs Hyundai has offered through recalls, you can take it to a Hyundai dealership and get it taken care of at Hyundai’s expense, right away. As long as you have legal ownership of the car, and as long as your Hyundai is subject to that particular recall, the offer is still valid for the entire lifetime of a car or until it’s sold for scrap metal. The only exception is when it comes to tires. Tires undergo so much regular wear and tear that it doesn’t make much sense to offer a lifetime recall. All you would have to do is drive your tires until they’re bald, and then take advantage of the recall for a new set. So that’s going to be an exception. Generally you get 180 days from the day of notification to have your tires replaced, and after that you’re on your own.
But as you’ll notice, none of the above-listed recalls are related to the tires, so any recall that Hyundai has issued for a 2013 Sonata, as of the time of this writing, it’s still valid. You can get in touch with Hyundai directly, or you can call the NHTSA, and representatives will direct you on the next steps to have your 2013 Hyundai Sonata brought up to regulation.
Maintaining a strong record on safety, as Hyundai has, means holding factories to high standards, but it also means acknowledging that not every car is going to be perfect right off the assembly line. When you’re producing hundreds of thousands of any given make and model, there will be defects now and then.
The important thing is to correct those manufacturing errors quickly, and at no expense to the driver. It is in the driver’s best interest, and the company’s best interest, to correct the issue as soon as possible. So Hyundai has always performed well on its recall policy. Whatever it may cost to replace the seatbelts in thousands of Hyundais is cheaper than a class-action lawsuit and losing a position as an industry leader for safety.
