This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Both rear door handles broke off. Both handles broke in the same place weeks apart from each other. The car was in park. I was opening the door like normal with no excessive force on both handles. How can I get my children out of the car in an emergency when the handles break off" especially when the child lock is engaged. The door won't open from the inside or out. Will Hyundai wait until children die to act on this complaint"
Both handles on the rear doors came off within a two week period without any extraordinary effort or abuse. In both cases the vehicle was stationary and in park. Attached are photos of both door handle locations, one side without the handle (driver's side) & the second with the handle held in place with duct tape (passenger side). Neither door is accessible from the outside, rendering it unfit to Transport any passengers in the back seat. Regardless of the number of passengers, this is clearly a safety issue (in an emergency, it wouldn't be possible to remove either the driver or front seat passenger through the rear doors.) the third photo shows the current odometer reading of 49,205, which is less than 25,000 miles more than when I purchased the vehicle from a Hyundai dealer.
All four outside door handles have broken off or are not functioning leaving the only way into the car is to leave window down to open from inside or crawl through the trunk of the car to open doors from the inside. All handles broke when the door was in the process of being open. The vehicle was stationary and were broken during the past 6 months. The car has 80,000 miles.
This has happened to at least 3 Hyundai Sonata 2010 autos of people I know. When attempting to open the door to enter the car the door handle just comes off in the persons hand. In my wifes case luckely she was on our driveway and fell backward onto grass and was not injured. If this happened to someone parked on a busy street they could fall back into traffic. In looking at the detached handle it looks like the poor quality plastic interior just cracked. As I said this has happened to three people just in my circle of friends so I am sure it is more widespread.
- Delray Beach, FL, USA
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The contact owns a 2010 Hyundai Sonata. The contact stated that the dashboard fractured due to defective material causing the front passenger side air bag to be exposed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 76,537.
Reached to open back passenger door and it fell in pieces in my hand. This will be the second time this happened to me the first time costing me $125.0. I retired a.could months aback and cannot afford this but I feel it's.
2010 Hyundai Sonata. The rear passenger driver side door handle just snapped off. I went to open the door in a normal fashion and the handle stayed in the open position so I had to push it back in to the closed position. When I pulled on the handle again the handle fell off in my hand. The rear door never did open, now I need to reach through the driver side door to open the rear door from the inside.
Two door handles have broken off my 2010 Sonata while just attempting to open them. According to Hyundai this is not covered by the warranty as they claim it is normal wear and tear. I could see if it was just one door handle but for two to come off days of each other I find it more of a defect than wear and tear. Reading some Hyundai owner forums I have found this appears to be a normal occurrence with their product and feel it is a safety issue as I travel with kids on a daily basis and god forbid they would be locked in the vehicle because I could not open the door due to the handle being in my hand instead of the door.
Driver side door exterior door handle came off when attempting to open door. Handle parts are plastic! cannot open door from the outside now. Bought new, now under 38K miles, and less than 5 years in use. Contacted Hyundai national, have not heard back yet. Dealers indicate that this may not be covered under warranty.
The driver side exterior door handle broke off this morning when I tried to open the door. I am the original owner of this vehicle, and this is the third time that this breakage has occurred, albeit on three different doors. Although the interior door latch still works, this is a safety hazard as it would be impossible for rescue services to open the driver's door from the outside in the event of an accident. Based on postings I have come across on the internet, it appears that this is a common problem with Hyundai Sonatas and should in my mind qualify as a recall.
The following paragraph was sent to Hyundai to request they fix this defect. They responded with a wordy but polite "we're sorry, but your vehicle is out of warranty". we have a 2010 Sonata. About 18 months ago, the passenger side front door handle fell off while opening the door. We took it to the local dealer for repair. The cost was about $70. Three weeks ago (approx. 1/15/2015), the driver side rear handle fell off. Ten days ago (approx 1/27/2015) the passenger rear door handle fell off. The dealer wants $150 each to repair them. I can understand one handle breaking, but not (on a car less than 5 years old) three of the four handles have broken. I consider this a defect. I have researched your site and have not been able to find any matching complaints. There have been numerous, but normal problems with this vehicle - all of which we have repaired at our own expense without complaint. However, this particular issue is so egregious that we feel the manufacturer should be held responsible for the repairs.
As many people have stated online, the door handles falling off are a common occurrence. I have had to replace two handles on my car already, first my rear drivers side and now the front passenger side. The commonality of this problem clearly indicates a major engineering issue on the behalf of the manufacturer and customers should not be made to pay for repairs for a manufacturing issue. Each handle has cost me just under $65 to replace.
I have experienced three (3) broken outside door handle breaking the same way from stress fracture where the plastic door handle contacts the metal latch. It appears the plastic door handle is too brittle for intended use. The broken door handles were replaced as follows: -rear right side door handle was replaced Jan 16, 2012 -rear left side door handle was replaced Dec 21, 2013 -driver's door handle replaced Dec 1, 2014 I contacted Hyundai customer care and they do not appear to be concerned that this is a safety issue and are treating this as normal wear and tear. A broken door handle fails Hawaii state safety inspection as the door cannot be opened from the outside. Hawaii is not subject to extreme temperature changes. I do not believe this is normal wear and tear as I experienced door handle failure as soon as 2 years of use with the least used door handles, rear passenger doors breaking before the most used driver?S door handle. There are numerous same failures reported on the internet. My Hyundai dealer now has these door handles in stock (used to have to order them in) and told me this is a common occurrence of my model Sonata and to report my concerns to Hyundai usa, which I did to no avail. Maybe they will listen to the NHTSA. Please help. Thank you.
As I was trying to get into my car at 7:20 am on 02/24/15 the driver side door handle just fell off the door. The temperature was below zero and it was a surprise to see that happen to a 5 year old car!!!! I called the dealership to see if there is a recall or problem they know of regarding the door but turned with nothing. Then searched online to see if there are anyone else had the same problem and to my surprise they are other people who had similar incidents in several states as well a youtube video of an individual lost 3 handles in California for a newer model Sonata!!!!!! called the Hyundai warranty but had to leave a message!!!!!
Outside rear driver door handle comes off for no reason it just broke off and I am not the only one. This could be a potential safety issue. In the event off an accident this could pose great danger to anybody trying to exit the vehicle. If the door handle brakes with child look door cannot be opened.
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- Edmond, OK, USA