One of the quietest Sonatas we track — but it still carries the fuel-tank recall, and the injectors are starting to show.

The pattern that grows into the 2023's signature problem starts here. Hyundai's bulletin is precise: vehicles with the 2.5-litre GDI Theta III engine — GDI meaning Gasoline Direct Injection, and this is the naturally aspirated version, not the turbo — may show one or more misfire codes because the direct-injection fuel injectors are leaking internally, caused by the injector's internal filter breaking up. The instruction is to replace all four injectors, not just the failed one. The bulletin covers 2021 to 2023, with earlier diagnostic bulletins going back to 2021. Owners describe it as stalling and poor acceleration from misfires, a check-engine light for a cylinder misfire and a fuel-to-air mixture code, and — the reason this matters beyond drivability — one dealer confirming the bad injector was leaching gasoline into the engine oil, which can lead to total engine failure. One 2022 owner has had the injectors replaced twice in three years. Get any stored codes read before purchase, and ask whether injectors have been replaced and when.

Recall 22V746 covers 2021 to 2022 Santa Fe and Sonata among others: a transmission oil-pump malfunction can impair the car's fail-safe limited-mobility drive mode, resulting in a complete loss of drive power. Dealers inspect and replace the transmission as necessary and update the transmission software, free, with owner letters mailed January 2023. Hyundai's supporting bulletins make the mechanism clearer — cars setting high-pressure electric oil pump codes may need the whole eight-speed wet dual-clutch gearbox replaced, moisture in the oil-pump connector can corrode the terminals, and a later software update revises clutch touch-point learning specifically to improve judder, with some gearboxes fitted with a redesigned clutch spring. On an N Line with the 2.5-litre turbo, that gearbox is what you are driving; on the other trims it is a conventional eight-speed automatic.

Recall 21V524 covers 2021 to 2022 Santa Fe and Sonata vehicles equipped with 2.5-litre turbocharged engines: fuel may leak at the pipe connection between the high-pressure fuel pump and the fuel rail, raising the risk of fire. Dealers inspect and tighten or replace the pipe free; owner letters went out in September 2021. This one applies only to the turbo N Line, so establish which engine the car has before you worry about it — but if it is a turbo, this and 22V746 are both live.

The 2022 Sonata Hybrid's 19 complaints are mostly one story with an escalating tail. The common version is the car going flat while parked — owners describe the key fob failing, having to use the emergency key blade to get in, and pressing the dashboard 12-volt reset button to start; several have had the battery, a voltage regulator and a software update done and the problem returned. Hyundai's bulletin describes diagnostic code P1BB20, 12V Lithium Battery Cell Voltage High, on Elantra, Sonata and Tucson hybrids of this era, causing a warning light and in some cases limp mode, fixed by a Battery Management System software update. The tail is more serious: one owner at 88,000 miles had a dealer find a fault in the solar-roof DC-DC converter along with the high-voltage battery bulging, and the battery module was replaced. Another lost all power at 78 mph on the highway. On any 2022 hybrid, ask whether the battery-management software was applied and whether either battery has been replaced.

The same exhaust-heat-recovery leak that runs through 2020 and 2021 shows up on the 2022 hybrid too — one owner reports the car blowing white smoke from the exhaust and losing coolant. Hyundai's bulletin covers 2020 to 2023 Sonata Hybrids and attributes it to an internal leak at the EHRS, the Exhaust Heat Recovery System built into the centre muffler, which uses exhaust heat to warm the engine up faster. Supporting software updates address coolant flow and trapped air. Check the coolant reservoir yourself and ask whether the car has ever lost coolant, run hot, or had a muffler assembly replaced.

A recurring 2022 complaint with no bulletin behind it: the forward collision system braking hard for nothing. One owner reports it three times since buying the car new, the most recent that week. It appears across the generation — a 2018 hybrid owner describes it triggering at an underpass on a clear day, a 2023 owner at over 70 mph with no cars ahead. It is a complaint-sourced pattern rather than a recognised defect, so the practical advice is modest: ask the seller whether it has ever braked on its own, and if the car has been in a front-end repair, ask who recalibrated the radar and camera.

The 2022 is three model years clear of the seventh-generation Sonata, so none of the Theta II rod-bearing material applies — different engine family, different architecture. Hyundai's anti-theft campaigns for cars without an engine immobilizer list model years 2011 to 2019 on their Sonata bulletins, so the 2022 sits outside that population as well. And the white-paint warranty extension's Sonata bulletins stop at 2019. What is left is genuinely short: the fuel-tank recall, the injectors, the transmission recall if it is a turbo, and the 12-volt battery if it is a hybrid.