Hyundai Kona Hybrid reliability & safety

The Hyundai Kona Hybrid hasn’t specifically been crash-tested by Euro NCAP, however the petrol version was put through its paces in late 2017, giving the scores above.

A full five-star rating is a promising sign, while the Kona's 87% adult protection and 85% child protection scores outperform those of the four-star Kia Niro. A handful of active safety systems come as standard, while each version of the car comes with the option of additional kit designed to protect occupants.

Hyundai Kona Hybrid reliability & problems

The Kona Hybrid is too new for any common long-term problems to have become evident, although we’ve no reason to suspect that it'll be anything other than a reliable car. There are no known issues affecting the petrol versions of the car and the Kona Electric, so the same is likely to be true for the Hybrid.

Hyundai finished 22nd in our sister title Auto Express' 2019 Driver Power survey of the UK’s best manufacturers, falling from the 15th place is achieved the year before.

It recovered to 13th place in the 2020 survey, which also saw the Kona itself (including petrol, hybrid and electric versions) ranked 60th out of 75 models. Negative comments focused on practicality and engine noise, however; the car's reliability was praised, with only a tiny 4.5% of owners saying they'd experienced a fault.

Safety

Rear parking sensors, a reversing camera, lane-keeping assistance and driver attention alert systems are all standard on the Kona Hybrid.

In entry-level SE form, you have the option of adding the 'SmartSense' safety pack, which introduces automatic emergency braking (AEB) and smart cruise control that can react to traffic in the lane ahead. This may push some buyers towards the Kia Niro, where smart cruise control and AEB are standard.