2018 Hyundai Kona: What to check before buying

Heavy oil burning leads to engine knocking, lost power and stalling, and owners often report adding a quart every one to two weeks with no leak in sight. Shops and dealers diagnose failed piston rings, low compression or a slipped timing chain, and the usual fix is a new engine. Failures cluster from about 63,000 to 126,000 miles, many around 100,000. Sudden power loss at highway speed is a common theme. Three reports describe engine-compartment fires, including one at 17K miles and one in a home garage that injured the owner.

Oil burning followed by misfires, knocking and stalling makes up most of these reports, with piston ring failure and engine replacement as the usual result. The dual-clutch transmission draws complaints of jolting and shaking at crawling speeds, and one failed outright at 72,000 miles, leaving the car unable to accelerate on the freeway. One report blames a stall on a drain plug missing after an oil change. In one fire report, the car went into limp mode on the freeway and caught fire within minutes.

Fires are the main concern here. Four of seven reports involve fire, and five people were injured. One car smoked and caught fire while parked at 22,000 miles. Others describe the electrical system acting up just before a fire, though some of those cars had salvage history or aftermarket stereo wiring. Smaller complaints cover a front passenger door lock that stops working, headlights flickering after startup until the car has gone about a mile, and the touchscreen changing settings on its own.

The roof antenna breaks off at interstate speed and becomes a possible road hazard. One report describes the front passenger-side bumper area coming loose from the frame and dropping to the ground, then tearing off when the car backed out. Another describes a rear passenger door that will not open from inside. The A/C also gives off a mildew smell at startup. Only three complaints are on file, and none involve a crash or injury.

The driver airbag fails to deploy in hard frontal crashes, leaving the driver unprotected. Both reports describe crashes, one into trees and one into a car that stopped suddenly in a fast lane, and both list injuries to the head, chest, knee or neck. One owner says Hyundai declined to look into why the airbag stayed folded. With only two complaints, this is not a broad pattern, but each case is serious.

Headlight performance on early-build cars is the complaint. Owners of LED-equipped Limited models built before June say oncoming drivers flash their high beams because the low beams cause so much glare. SE and SEL owners say their headlights were too dim and that Hyundai changed the design mid-year without offering a fix for cars already sold. Neither report describes a crash, but both owners say the problem makes night driving on narrow roads unsafe.