The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has launched an official investigation on the Hyundai Sonata after receiving 40 individual complaints about front subframe corrosion in the 1999 through 2002 model year Sonatas. There are 19 complaints for MY 1999 Sonatas, 16 for MY 2000, 3 for MY 2001 and 2 for MY 2002 with most of the complaints (35) from States that use large amounts of salt on the roads during snowy months.
NHTSA supports that the corrosion in the subframe is pretty severe as consumers have reported 'fist-sized holes in the frame'. According to NHTSA investigators, this can result to complete or partial suspension control arm detachment from the vehicle, wheel collapse or separation, half shaft detachment resulting in sudden vehicle disablement and/or steering anomalies. -Continued
Incident speeds range from 5 to 65 mph. NHTSA reports that one incident allegedly resulted in the vehicle becoming disabled in the traffic lanes of a parkway at night with the driver and child passengers stuck in the car while passing traffic swerved around the vehicle at high speeds.
Another complaint alleged the failure resulted in the vehicle becoming "stuck in the middle of a dangerous intersection" while a third complaint indicated that the vehicle was declared a total loss by the insurance carrier due to damage caused by the lower control arm completely separating from the frame, causing the half-shaft to detach from the transmission and resulting in damage to the wheel housing and quarter panel from the partially detached wheel.
