Other lighting problem on the 2011 Hyundai Sonata
1 crash 1 fire 2 of the 82 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 lighting problem gets reported
Owners of the 2011 Hyundai Sonata report other lighting problem at a median of 77,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 37,500 miles and a quarter after 100,000 miles, from 52 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 86,000 miles. It is the 13th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 10,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 135,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 126,453 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.
23% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8,850 miles | 38,455 miles | 78,393 miles | 100,777 miles | 135,303 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 and 1 a fire 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 $120–$1,200 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 16 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2018, at a median of 300 miles, and latest on the 2009 at 115,000 miles.
By volume the 2013 carries the most reports, with 94; the 2011 has 82. 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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2011 hyundai sonata. The contact was driving approximately 35-40 MPH when the steering wheel began to shake violently, exhibiting an abnormally loud noise. The steering wheel would not turn in any direction. The vehicle was towed to a dealer for diagnosis in which they were unable to replicate the problem. There was a recall under NHTSA campaign id number: 10v426000 (steering:gear box:shaft sector) yet the technician advised that the defect was not related to the recall. The contact stated that the power steering software was updated, which was the remedy stated in the recall notification. In addition, the contact stated that the automatic headlights would not function properly. The VIN was unavailable. The failure mileage was approximately 7,000. Updtated 2/17/11 *cn updated 05/06/11
Unable to see objects in the road at night when using low [normal] beams for headlights. Hit "road gators" 2 times causing damage to car both times. No other cars were involved. Now I drive around with my high beams on. Have no more "road gators." *tr
"esc" light activated intermittently over past four days. Suddenly brake switch failed, resulting in brake lights failing completely. Unable to start the vehicle (since that requires brake pedal to be pressed, and brake switch failure means car doesn't know pedal is depressed), and unable to switch gears at all for same reason. This failure has occurred on two separate hyundai sonatas I have owned (a 2006 and now a 2011) more than a dozen times. The most recent time was in this vehicle, 28 days ago. This failure is known by hyundai, but still requires a time and money investment to fix, I have lost hundreds of hours of my time to fix this problem which has never been mitigated. I had to pay out of pocket for the first several brake switch replacements, they have since been covered by the dealer. Hyundai says they have developed a new brake switch which was supposed to last longer, but the failures persist. *kb
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
Other electrical problem
Tail light, brake light or signal failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 82 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 lighting problem happen on the 2011 Hyundai Sonata?
Across 52 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 77,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 37,500 miles and a quarter after 100,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other lighting problem on the 2011 Hyundai Sonata?
82 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.3 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