Other electrical problem on the 2002 Hyundai Sonata
2 fires 2 of the 10 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
Only 7 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.
When other electrical problem gets reported
There are 10 reports of other electrical problem on the 2002 Hyundai Sonata, 7 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 85,000 miles. It is the 9th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 57,500 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
Of these reports, 2 a fire is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $250–$2,000 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 24 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2020, at a median of 1,100 miles, and latest on the 2007 at 100,000 miles.
By volume the 2011 carries the most reports, with 198; the 2002 has 10. 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.
Electrical system. I have already filed one complaint on the check engine light and the sensors. It has been in the dealership 9 times prior to this one. Now it is a cam sensor and I believe a speed sensor. Not only that but both wheel bearings are bad. It has roughly 78,000 miles. You can only get parts at a dealership. The parts are not only overpriced, but the dealership charges outrageous prices to do anything. You can unhook the battery and the light will stay off for a couple of months and then it comes back on. I take it to the dealership and they supposedly fix it and the light comes back on in a shorter amount of time than unhooking the battery. I have spoke with hyundai when the problems started and all you get is we'll fix it until the warranty is up then you are out of luck. I can't keep the check engine light off long enough to even sell it. *jb
Dt: the speedometer intermittingly stops working without warning. The consumer says she has tried to see if speed or distance affects it. She says there is no reason that she can see to make it stop working. The consumer has taken the vehicle to the dealer for the 5th time today. The manufacturer called the dealer to get it fixed. She said other electric components are not working as well. The doors, windows, and clock are slowly getting worse. The consumer has concerns that it might lead to something more serious, like a fire. *jb
My 2002 hundai sonata blk 4 door automatic. I started to get in the car thurs morning 2/15/07 at 4am. The key in the ignition would not go in. I had the car towed to my local mechanic. He did advice to put a new battery in the car. He said it was time for a replacement. I have been going to him for some time. And find him very reputable in the area. However, the tow man also could not put the key in the ignition. When I picked up the car at his shop the key went in. Battery works great. So the next morning 2-16-07 the ignition would not go in again. I called my dealer and had the vehicle towed there. They said it didn't do that for them that the car was fine. They tried the key all day. They said they would repair the vehicle if the problem occurred at the time of testing the situation there. The car is under a policy of warranty for 60,000.00 miles. However, I could give them $160.00 to open up the ignition to the tumbler. I feel that if its under warranty that they should repair the problem. There only suggestion was to tow it again if it persists. I said what if I get stranded, and yes, I have no cell phone. They said just call…
Also reported on the 2002 Hyundai Sonata
Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure
Other body or interior problem
Rust or structural corrosion
Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure
Other suspension problem
Other wheel or tire problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 10 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 10 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 electrical problem happen on the 2002 Hyundai Sonata?
Across 7 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 60,000 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 electrical problem on the 2002 Hyundai Sonata?
10 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 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