2021 Hyundai Kona: What to check before buying

Heavy oil use and sudden engine failure dominate these reports. Engines burn or lose oil between changes, often with no low-oil warning, then knock, stall, or seize, sometimes on highways and in traffic. Some fail by 12,034 miles. Others start burning oil or lose piston rings much later. Cold-start knocking is a common early sign. Dealers sometimes find nothing wrong at first or run oil consumption tests. Many complaints are about long waits for replacement engines, recall repairs, and parts, with cars off the road for months.

Stalling at low speed or in turns comes with excessive oil use in both reports. Owners describe ticking or dinging noises, rough revving, and slow acceleration before the stall. One owner was adding oil every other week. Shops either found no cause or recommended more testing, and neither car was repaired. The pattern matches the oil-consumption complaints filed under engine.

Stalling while driving is the most common pattern. The engine cuts out with no warning and restarts normally. Dealers often find no fault code and cannot fix it. Two fires are reported: a parked car that burned from the engine compartment, and an electric model that caught fire while being unplugged. Electric-model owners also describe battery warnings, failed DC fast charging, repeated inverter coolant warnings, and long waits for recall parts. Other complaints include false blind-spot and collision warnings, a failed heater and defroster, and a clogged AC drain that let water and mold into the cabin.

The dual-clutch automatic jerks, downshifts hard, and lunges when coming to a stop. It can also hesitate for several seconds when pulling away from a rolling stop. Owners report sudden drops into low gear, stalling at lights, and a total loss of drive power in traffic. One describes the transmission overheating on a steep snowy grade, then bucking and smoking. Dealers often find no code, and software updates do not always help. Oil consumption is also reported starting around 61,000 miles. An electric model was left inoperable by a motor position sensor failure while waiting for parts.

Unwanted acceleration and loss of power appear in a small number of reports. In the most serious one, a stuck accelerator led to a crash and rollover. The steering wheel airbag caught fire and the driver suffered fractures and head injuries. Other reports describe the car surging forward when the brake is released, a transmission stuck in third gear that hits the fuel cutoff on the interstate, and a sudden loss of drive power on cruise control that only a restart fixes.

Two failure types appear. In one, the pedal sinks and stopping takes hard pressure because brake fluid leaks from pinholes and fittings in the brake lines. In the other, on electric models, a "Check regenerative brakes" message appears with brake warning lights, and the parking brake may apply while driving or stopping. One dealer replaced the integrated electric brake unit. Another warning came back days after a dealer update.

Rainwater gets inside the headlamps and cuts their light output. The one dealer response reported was to let them dry out, with no repair. A separate complaint says the low-mounted LED headlights leave dark spots in the beam and glare at oncoming drivers over small bumps, even when the dealer finds the aim correct. Water intrusion was reported at 5,052 miles.

The car pulls to the right from new, with the wheel off center and heavier effort turning left. An alignment did not fix it. A separate report describes noise from the steering column plus bucking when pulling away from stops at 16k miles, with a long wait for a dealer appointment. Neither report describes a loss of steering control.

Running the compact spare on a front wheel can cause heavy smoke within 10 miles and damage the front drivetrain. A dealer advised never mounting the spare on the front, and a similar spare-tire report appears under other complaints. A separate complaint involves a car sold new in April 2021 with tires made in 2019.