Stalling while driving on the 2003 Hyundai Santa FE
When stalling while driving gets reported
Owners of the 2003 Hyundai Santa FE report stalling while driving at a median of 105,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 175,000 miles, from 8 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 75,000 miles. It is the 16th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 20,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 180,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 158,888 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
25% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22,112 miles | 46,028 miles | 107,386 miles | 172,750 miles | 181,000 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $300–$2,500 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 14 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2003 at 105,000 miles.
By volume the 2012 carries the most reports, with 41; the 2003 has 8. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Our 2003 sante fe will shut off while driving down interstate with no warning at all. The tach drops to zero then the vehicle will restart and continue going. The vehicle also bucks while driving at times and the transmission shift hard when putting in reverse at times. Vehicle has been sent to dealership several times with multiple issues. Dealership thinks its a electrical problem but states vehicle will have to be taken to different dealership and we would be responsible for a rental car and the repair bill. We purchased the car in november of 2006 and within 45 days of the purchase we started to have problems with the vehicle. Sante fe had 54,000 miles when the first problem started and now has 64,000 which they state the vehicle is out of warranty because we are the second owners. Nothing has been done to resolve this issue. The vehicle is not safe to be driven on highways because of the shutting off and bucking incident's. *tr
My hyundai santa fe 2003, 4 cylinder, 2.4 liter engine stalled 4 times. Engine light came on. I took it to service diagnosed with crank precision sensor. No covered under warranty. Doing research I found out that the 2001 and 2002 was recalled for this matter. Also found out that many 2003's are having the same problem. Also I find it disturbing that hyundai wont cover this because it is and electronic part but the engine can just stall at any moment. Because it was recalled 2yrs prior should raise a red flag. I will be calling hyundai corp. Thank you soraya garcia *tr
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 hyundai santa fe. While driving approximately 25 MPH, the vehicle jerked and the engine stalled without warning. Roadside assistance was called to the scene and the vehicle was towed to an authorized dealer for diagnostic testing. The throttle position sensor was replaced. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer on a separate occasion for the identical failure and the throttle position sensor was replaced again. The vehicle has not been repaired properly and the failure still persists. The failure mileage was 22,112 and current mileage was 41,496.
Also reported on the 2003 Hyundai Santa FE
Other suspension problem
Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure
Other powertrain problem
Other electrical problem
Other brake problem
Other body or interior problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 8 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does stalling while driving happen on the 2003 Hyundai Santa FE?
Across 8 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 105,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 175,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is stalling while driving on the 2003 Hyundai Santa FE?
8 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed