Other wheel or tire problem on the 2002 Hyundai Sonata
When other wheel or tire problem gets reported
Owners of the 2002 Hyundai Sonata report other wheel or tire problem at a median of 40,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 40,000 miles and a quarter after 115,000 miles, from 11 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 60,000 miles. It is the 6th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 35,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 150,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 116,000 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
18% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 34,000 miles | 38,200 miles | 38,750 miles | 114,350 miles | 150,000 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 $200–$1,500 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.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 20 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2020, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2001 at 120,000 miles.
By volume the 2011 carries the most reports, with 40; the 2002 has 17. 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.
The consumer has a tire for life contract. The consumer took the vehicle into the dealership for replacement tires. The tires were replaced with p205/65r15 m/s. The vehicle manual stated that the appropriate tire size should be p205/60r15 91h. *ak *sc
Goodrich control plus tires caused problems with 2002 hyundai sonata. *mr this problem has been present since the first day of ownership. With 25 miles on the tires, a flat tire was present. The tire dealer informed the consumer that the valve stem had been cut and needed to be replaced. Two days later another flat tire was present. The left front tire each time. It was recommended to change from a "t" series rated to tire to an "h" rated tire. Soon after placing the "h" rated tire, and using a shorter valve stem, the hub caps continued to rotate on the rim, caused by the tire flexing against the hub cap. *sc
Factory installed hub caps turn on wheels with acceleration and braking, causing pressure on tire valve stems. This leads to piercing of tire valve stem and rapid deflation of tire. Hub caps have jagged edges on hub cap where contact is made with tire valve stem. There is no mechanism to prevent the hub caps from moving.*ak
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
Airbag failed to deploy in a crash
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 17 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 wheel or tire problem happen on the 2002 Hyundai Sonata?
Across 11 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 40,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 40,000 miles and a quarter after 115,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other wheel or tire problem on the 2002 Hyundai Sonata?
17 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.4 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