FORD TAURUS vs HYUNDAI SONATA

The FORD TAURUS (1977–2019, 39 model years) carries 23,867 NHTSA consumer complaints and 80 safety recalls, while the HYUNDAI SONATA (1987–2025, 38 model years) carries 21,712 complaints and 120 recalls. Severity indicators for the pair split as follows: 1,480 vs 1,132 crashes, 684 vs 820 fires, and 49 vs 23 reported fatalities.

Raw complaint counts favor whichever nameplate has fewer vehicles on the road, so the cleaner lens is components: which specific part families concentrate each model's filings? For the FORD TAURUS, the leading complaint category is vehicle speed control (1827 filings), followed by power train:automatic transmission and engine and engine cooling:engine. For the HYUNDAI SONATA, it is engine (4456), ahead of steering and air bags. When the two vehicles cluster around the same component, the problem is likely a shared supplier or a shared federal standard under stress; when they diverge, each nameplate has its own defect signature independent of the other.

NHTSA's New Car Assessment Program gives the FORD TAURUS an average 4.8/5 crash-test rating versus 5/5 for the HYUNDAI SONATA, aggregated across all model years with published scores. Use the side-by-side table below as your scorecard, but do not treat it as a verdict. Recall counts tell you how many defects the manufacturer has already been compelled to remedy; complaint counts tell you what owners are still flagging today; and safety ratings tell you how the vehicle performs in standardized barrier tests, three different lenses on the same underlying question. The "also compare" links at the bottom of this page let you triangulate against neighboring nameplates in each model's competitive set.