Other electrical problem on the 2011 Hyundai Sonata
8 crashes 18 fires 4 injuries 30 of the 198 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.
When other electrical problem gets reported
Owners of the 2011 Hyundai Sonata report other electrical problem at a median of 55,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 6,000 miles and a quarter after 96,000 miles, from 143 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 5th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 400 miles at the tenth percentile to 140,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 139,234 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.
47% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 376 miles | 6,200 miles | 55,000 miles | 95,500 miles | 139,610 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, 8 a crash, 18 a fire and 4 an injury are 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 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
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.
2011 hyundai sonata gls automatic transmission. Insert key to start engine. When I want to turn off engine, the key will not go past acc. I push in the key and try to turn key into the lock position, it will not go into the lock position. I have to fiddle around with the release switch, and shifter on the shifter arm. Eventually I can get the key out. The engine does shut off, but can't leave car, because it can be started again. I can't leave the car because the car can be started without me being there. This failure happens almost every time I try to turn off the car. I brought the car back to king hyundai fl, twice, without them fixing the problem. I am now waiting for them to replace some parts to the shifter arm. If that does not work, I will invoke the lemon law. *tr
Just purchased a 2011 hyundai sonata, as I was driving home I was beside a tractor trailer who was attempting to turn into my lane. Here is the problem as I laid on the horn I noticed it's no louder than the road runner on disney channel. This is a huge safety concern and I think this should be brought to hyundai attention asap. This horn needs to be changed to an appropriate sound level so oncoming traffic and dangerous situations can be avoided. I am not the only person the believes hyundai should address this issue as I now see many complaints on the web about the horn just not being loud enough. Hyundai has come alone way and certainly has made a name for themselves and I would hate to see someone get injured or killed do to the horn not being able to get attention and avoid accidents... I hope NHTSA looks into this issue and it's addressed by hyundai....the horn needs to be changed. *tr
We took delivery of our 2011 hyundai sonata on 4/29/2010. As we were driving home a car on the lane next to us on my right hand side started shifting onto my lane. I blew the horn but he still cut me off. At the light I asked the person who cut me off if he didn't hear me blowing my horn at him and he said no I am really sorry but I didn't see you and I didn't hear your horn either. When I got home I got into my other car and started it with the AC on and no radio I asked my wife to press the horn on the sonata and I can barely hear it and we were just sitting in our driveway with no road noise and my radio off. I looked into this issue online and others have the same issue with the horns on their sonata. Hyundai also admitted that the horn was weak but I still see no change or recall. Please look into this matter before it cost someone their life or a real bad accident. *tr
Also reported on the 2011 Hyundai Sonata
Other steering problem
Other engine problem
Steering column or shaft failure
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Tail light, brake light or signal failure
No-start or intermittent start failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 198 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 2011 Hyundai Sonata?
Across 143 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 55,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 6,000 miles and a quarter after 96,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other electrical problem on the 2011 Hyundai Sonata?
198 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.8 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