AtWhatMileage
Engine · 15 owner reports

Other engine problem on the 2010 Hyundai Sonata

2 fires 2 of the 15 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.

Reports of this failure 15
With an odometer reading 12
Reports per 1,000 built 0.4 per 1,000
Filed below 36,000 miles 33%
Mention a crash, fire or injury 2
Typical repair $300–$4,000
What it means when it happens High
Rank among this year's problems 5th

When other engine problem gets reported

Owners of the 2010 Hyundai Sonata report other engine problem at a median of 65,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 35,000 miles and a quarter after 90,000 miles, from 12 reports that carried an odometer reading.

A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 5th most-reported problem on this model year.

The mileage distribution

The reported range runs from 25,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 110,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 84,050 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.

33% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.

The whole distribution

Percentiles of the 12 odometer readings owners gave.
10th25thMedian 75th90th
24,750 miles 32,846 miles 63,000 miles 88,250 miles 108,800 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 $300–$4,000 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 26 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2023, at a median of 100 miles, and latest on the 2008 at 115,000 miles.

By volume the 2011 carries the most reports, with 596; the 2010 has 15. 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.

Median
  1. 1996 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem
    no odometer readings given
    —
  2. 1997 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 57k
  3. 1998 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 80k
  4. 1999 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 89k
  5. 2000 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 56k
  6. 2001 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 63k
  7. 2002 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 57k
  8. 2003 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 18k
  9. 2004 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 85k
  10. 2005 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 74k
  11. 2006 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 85k
  12. 2007 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 101k
  13. 2008 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 115k
  14. 2009 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 101k
  15. 2010 (this one) 63k
  16. 2011 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 95k
  17. 2012 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 91k
  18. 2013 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 97k
  19. 2014 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 89k
  20. 2015 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 65k
  21. 2016 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 82k
  22. 2017 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 69k
  23. 2018 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 41k
  24. 2019 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 43k
  25. 2020 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 3k
  26. 2021 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 6k
  27. 2022 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 15k
  28. 2023 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 80
  29. 2024 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem
    no odometer readings given
    —
  30. 2025 Hyundai Sonata other engine problem 16k

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.

I went out to start my car and it wouldn't start. I had to call a tow truck after a jump wouldn't work. I bought the car a year and a half ago and when the driver tested the battery, it wasn't dead but it wasn't great. I replaced the battery ($95 at walmart) and the car started. For a day. The next day the car wouldn't start again, when we realized it was then the starter. I purchased and installed a new starter on the vehicle ($105 online) issue resolved. Pretty young of a car for the starter to go. *tr

85,000 miles NHTSA complaint 1022073 filed 2013-11-16

My 2010 hyundai sonata completely shut down on me 2-times in less than 5-minutes times while I was driving today. I was on my way to enter the expressway. The power steering and everything just shut down. My car just made a sudden stop. Thank god I had not entered the expressway and took the side streets home. I feel that this is a real safety hazard to myself, the passengers riding with me as well as other drivers, passengers and families on the road. My vehicle has 53,215 miles, there is no way this should be happening. If this is happening to my vehicle, I know it's occurring in other sonata's and other hyundai vehicles base on what I see in online entries on the 2010 hyundai sonata and hyundai vehicles. Manufactures must be held accountable for the defected products place on the market. I know that I'm a small voice against a large corporation, but if you take the time to investigate I know that my claim will be validated. I hope and pray that something is done about this before we are dealing with injuries or fatalities. I am a frustrated and unhappy hyundai sonata owner, looking for hyundai to put safety first! *tr

53,215 miles NHTSA complaint 1022255 filed 2013-11-17

Tl* the contact owns a 2010 hyundai sonata. The contact stated that the check engine warning lamp was illuminated and the vehicle had exhibited stalling failures. The transmission also failed to shift gears. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. However, the technician was unable to diagnose and duplicate the failure. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The VIN was not available. The failure and current mileage was 16,500.

16,500 miles NHTSA complaint 1022679 filed 2013-11-19

Also reported on the 2010 Hyundai Sonata

Other body or interior problem

147 reports median 68k

Door latch or handle failure

27 reports median 67k

Other powertrain problem

18 reports median 30k

Other brake problem

18 reports median 68k

Other steering problem

9 reports median 59k

How far this goes

Complaints are voluntary, so 15 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 engine problem happen on the 2010 Hyundai Sonata?

Across 12 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 65,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 35,000 miles and a quarter after 90,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.

How common is other engine problem on the 2010 Hyundai Sonata?

15 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