AtWhatMileage
Glass · 4 owner reports

Other visibility problem on the 2008 Hyundai Santa FE

Only 3 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.

Reports of this failure 4
With an odometer reading 3
Reports per 1,000 built 0.1 per 1,000
Filed below 36,000 miles 33%
Mention a crash, fire or injury 0
Typical repair $150–$1,400
What it means when it happens Moderate
Rank among this year's problems 32nd

When other visibility problem gets reported

There are 4 reports of other visibility problem on the 2008 Hyundai Santa FE, 3 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.

A part like this is normally expected to survive 75,000 miles. It is the 32nd most-reported problem on this model year.

The whole distribution

Percentiles of the 3 odometer readings owners gave.
10th25thMedian 75th90th
— — 50,000 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 $150–$1,400 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.

The same failure on other years

The same failure is reported on 15 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 600 miles, and latest on the 2009 at 85,000 miles.

By volume the 2007 carries the most reports, with 70; the 2008 has 4. 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.

What owners wrote

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.

Driving ~10-15 MPH in public park, 2 kids in carseats in back seat. Weather was rainy. I had just turned on the rear window defroster for defog about 4-5 minutes prior. Sudden loud "boom" and rear/back window exploded, sending shards of glass into passenger compartment. There were no other people or cars around the outside of the vehicle, and I had not recently opened the rear hatch/door. *tr

7,580 miles NHTSA complaint 723049 filed 2009-06-09

My 2008 santa fe ltd that suffered a loss of the left rear quarter glass, including the frame molding, while driving on the freeway a few days ago. The glass company stated that it appeared to have actually break off of the bolts and simply fly off the vehicle. The only thing left on the vehicle was the urethane adhesive, which was stretched out around the back of the quarter panel. Another interesting note is that while inspecting the right rear quarter glass, it appears to be suffering from the same phenomenon, and may come off at any time. I contacted the dealership, which informed me that my auto is out of warranty and that there are no recalls for this issue at this time. Considering that my auto insurance deductible is $500, I was forced to pay for the replacement out of pocket for $338.55. *tr

50,000 miles NHTSA complaint 973588 filed 2013-04-12

Driver's side sun visor broke from its socket while driving on the highway. The visor hung by the wire for the light. This is a well known defect. It is dangerous and should be addressed by the manufacturer. I was able to jury rig it back - very simple and easy; however their neglect of this is dangerous.

85,000 miles NHTSA complaint 1334961 filed 2016-11-18

Also reported on the 2008 Hyundai Santa FE

Fuel gauge or level sensor failure

173 reports median 80k

Other fuel system problem

78 reports median 80k

Other speed control problem

39 reports median 53k

Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure

38 reports median 82k

Other engine problem

29 reports median 72k

How far this goes

This page is kept out of search results because 4 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.

Complaints are voluntary, so 4 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 other visibility problem happen on the 2008 Hyundai Santa FE?

Across 3 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 50,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.

How common is other visibility problem on the 2008 Hyundai Santa FE?

4 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