Hyundai Sonata vs Nissan Altima

Nissan Altima wins this comparison overall. Nissan Altima comes out ahead on 3 of 4 reliability metrics — including a 83% lower complaint rate. The Hyundai Sonata edges ahead on crash-involvement rate. Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation via VinItel.

On reliability data alone, the Nissan Altima is the safer bet — but the actual condition of the specific car matters far more than the model average. Check the VIN of any vehicle you're considering for accident history, title issues, and odometer rollbacks.

Top complaints for the Hyundai Sonata: Engine Problems, Steering Defects, Airbags. Top complaints for the Nissan Altima: Transmission / Drivetrain, Airbags, Electrical Faults. Source: NHTSA via VinItel.

Across all model years, the Hyundai Sonata has 21,890 NHTSA complaints and the Nissan Altima has 20,099. Normalized for sales volume (complaints per 10,000 vehicles sold), the Nissan Altima has the lower complaint rate. Raw counts can mislead — a 2× more popular model will naturally collect 2× more complaints. Detailed normalized comparison: vinitel.com/stats/nhtsa-complaints/compare/hyundai/sonata/vs/nissan/altima

Crash-involvement rate from NHTSA complaints: Hyundai Sonata 5.2% vs Nissan Altima 6.2% — the Hyundai Sonata has the lower crash rate. NHTSA NCAP star ratings (frontal, side, rollover) for both models are also shown on the comparison page. Note: the per-VIN history matters more than the model average — a salvage-title car of any model carries higher crash exposure than the median.

Fire-involvement rate based on NHTSA complaints: Hyundai Sonata 3.80% vs Nissan Altima 1.60%. The Nissan Altima has the lower reported fire rate. Fire complaints are a relatively rare but important safety signal — they often correlate with electrical-system or fuel-system defects. Check specific recall campaigns at vinitel.com/stats/nhtsa-complaints/hyundai/sonata and vinitel.com/stats/nhtsa-complaints/nissan/altima

The comparison page renders a year-by-year head-to-head table — for each model year (where both models have data), it shows complaint count or per-10K rate side by side and marks which model fares better that year. Buyers cross-shopping a specific model year should always check the year-level VinItel pages: vinitel.com/stats/nhtsa-complaints/hyundai/sonata/{year} and vinitel.com/stats/nhtsa-complaints/nissan/altima/{year}.

All complaint, crash, fire, and fatality data comes from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) consumer-complaint database — the same source insurance regulators and the federal government use. NCAP star ratings come from NHTSA's New Car Assessment Program crash tests. Sales-volume normalization (per 10K sold) uses US annual vehicle sales. Data refreshes every 6 hours. Source: NHTSA via VinItel.