2016 HYUNDAI SONATA — Complaint #1780340
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:ENGINE:OIL/LUBRICATION filed November 26, 2021
NHTSA complaint #1780340 (ODI reference 11441744) concerns a 2016 HYUNDAI SONATA and was filed on November 26, 2021. The owner reports the failure occurred on May 15, 2021. The vehicle had 45,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Illinois based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as engine and engine cooling:engine:oil/lubrication, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same HYUNDAI SONATA cohort independently describe similar engine and engine cooling:engine:oil/lubrication failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2016 HYUNDAI SONATA shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2016 Hyundai Sonata. The contact stated that while driving at 45 MPH, she smelled a strong burning odor. The engine oil warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who diagnosed that there was an oil leak. The dealer replaced the engine oil; however, the failure reoccurred while driving. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer twice, but the dealer diagnosed that no issues were found. The dealer replaced the engine oil again; however, the failure persisted. The contact stated that upon servicing the vehicle, the independent mechanic confirmed that there was an oil leak. The dealer was notified of the failure and advised the contact to take the vehicle in for a diagnosis. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 45,000.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1780340 |
| ODI Number | 11441744 |
| Date Filed | November 26, 2021 |
| Failure Date | May 15, 2021 |
| VIN | 5NPE34AF4GH |
Similar ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:ENGINE:OIL/LUBRICATION Complaints for 2016 HYUNDAI SONATA
See attached document for complaint
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Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.