Other powertrain problem on the 2004 Hyundai Sonata
1 crash 1 of the 7 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 6 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 powertrain problem gets reported
There are 7 reports of other powertrain problem on the 2004 Hyundai Sonata, 6 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 92,000 miles. It is the 10th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 34,750 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, 1 a crash 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 $400–$4,500 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 24 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2020, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2008 at 105,000 miles.
By volume the 2011 carries the most reports, with 121; the 2004 has 7. 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.
My 2004 hyundai sonata has been having clutch and flywheel problems starting at less than 10,000 miles. It is now at 40,000 miles and it's getting worse. I've had mechanics (not biased hyundai personal) tell me that the fly wheel is most likely warped, causing the clutch to shimmy and slip under load (up hills with passengers, etc). I had the dealer look at it and they said it was "fine". I'm thinking about taking it to another dealership. *jb
Dt*: the contact stated after having a flat tire due to a road hazard, the dealer performed an inspection and it was determined the tread depth was depleted. The tires were replaced. The tires were michelin mxd4 plus h 205/165/115. Additionally, the automatic transmission was slipping into gears without warning while driving various speeds. The vehicle was inspected by the dealer who was unable to duplicate the problem. The automatic transmission seized and was towed to the dealer. The vehicle is currently awaiting replacement of the automatic transmission.
Hyundai sonata, 5 speed, 2005, 4 cylinder, 47,500 miles, approximately 4 years old. There was a lot of play in the clutch, but it still engaged. Once engaged however, the vehicle was slow to build up speed. Took it to key hyundai, the dealer where it was purchased. Was immediately told that their 5 year, 60,000 mile bumper-to-bumper warranty would not be in effect because this was due to normal wear-and-tear. They never dropped the transmission to look at the internals. They gave me the choice of $1,100 for repairs, and $2,500 if a new flywheel was needed. Since it wasn't covered by a warranty, I took it to my mechanic. He dropped the transmission and noted that the flywheel came loose from the shaft it was attached to and caused wear to the clutch assembly housing. The flywheel and other parts would have to be replaced. The flywheel alone will cost $1050, and the entire job about $2300. No after market flywheels are available for this vehicle. Hyundai should have honored their warranty. I spoke with several people at key hyundai plus hyundai usa customer service. Key said that it was not going to be warranted and customer service…
Also reported on the 2004 Hyundai Sonata
Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure
Other body or interior problem
Other suspension problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Other electrical problem
Rust or structural corrosion
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 7 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 7 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 powertrain problem happen on the 2004 Hyundai Sonata?
Across 6 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 35,000 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 powertrain problem on the 2004 Hyundai Sonata?
7 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.5 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