Other visibility problem on the 2011 Hyundai Sonata
1 fire 1 of the 21 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 visibility problem gets reported
Owners of the 2011 Hyundai Sonata report other visibility problem at a median of 30,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 50,000 miles, from 11 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 75,000 miles. It is the 34th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 1,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 105,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 104,000 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.
73% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 miles | 7,500 miles | 28,000 miles | 51,843 miles | 105,000 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
Of these reports, 1 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 $150–$1,400 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 15 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2012, at a median of 300 miles, and latest on the 2018 at 125,000 miles.
By volume the 2006 carries the most reports, with 176; the 2011 has 21. 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 stated that the windshield had distorted images and a rippled effect at the bottom. When she looked at the right of the windshield, it seemed as if vehicles were moving into her lane, causing her to move into the left lane to avoid accidents. When she rode in the passenger seat, she noticed the same problem. She took the vehicle to the dealer where the windshield was replaced. However, she noticed the same rippled effect. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer but the dealer told her to contact the manufacturer. The manufacturer had not been notified of the second windshield's problem. The current mileage was approximately 2,100. The failure mileage was approximately 100. Updated 02/07/11 *bf updated 04/21/11
When I returned home from work and closed the driver door the rear windshield shattered and exploded outward. It was 7p and hyundai was closed, had safelite emergency replace windshield and they confirmed it did not break from an impact but from stress due to a bad factory install. Hyundai refused warranty reimbursement claiming it cannot be proven one way or another the windshield was defective. *tr
Tl* the contact owns 2011 hyundai sonata. The contact noticed that the headlights produced a shadow on the windshield making it extremely difficult to see clearly when driving at night. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for diagnostics. The technicians stated the headlights met safety standards. The technician advised the contact to upgrade the headlights at her expense. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 8,500. Updated 09/21/11 *bf updated 09/28/11
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 21 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 visibility problem happen on the 2011 Hyundai Sonata?
Across 11 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 30,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 50,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other visibility problem on the 2011 Hyundai Sonata?
21 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 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