Complete transmission failure on the 2011 Hyundai Sonata
3 fires 3 of the 12 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 complete transmission failure gets reported
Owners of the 2011 Hyundai Sonata report complete transmission failure at a median of 75,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 15,000 miles and a quarter after 120,000 miles, from 11 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 98,000 miles. It is the 45th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 1,300 miles at the tenth percentile to 120,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 117,700 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.
36% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,300 miles | 13,100 miles | 77,000 miles | 119,000 miles | 119,000 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, 3 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 $2,800–$8,000 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.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 8 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2001, at a median of 20,000 miles, and latest on the 2006 at 150,000 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.
While driving my new 2011 hyundai sonata gls sedan with 200 miles on the odometer, the transmission failed completely when a transmission hose blew off releasing all the oil out of the transmission. Once at the dealership they showed me that hose clamp for the hose had never been attached correctly at the factory! The car is at the dealership for repairs. It is not know at this time if the transmission has been damaged due to the loss of oil. We were not hurt and didn't lose control of the car. This incident occurred on a flat piece of highway, should it occurred in hilly terrain or passing another vehicle the results could have been much different since the car became inoperable. Very disappointing since the car had only 200 miles on it! *tr
On 12/2/2010, I was driving at highway speed (approximately 60 MPH) and the car violently jolted, as if I had run over a large object. If I had not had both hands on the steering wheel, I might have lost control of the vehicle. Subsequently, I was able to drive the vehicle, but it seemed to be over-revving, as if it was stuck in the wrong gear. I returned the vehicle to the dealership that night. After reading the computer error code, the service manager indicated that they would have to replace the transmission. I was provided with a loaner vehicle. On 12/8/10, I received a call from the service manager. He stated that in these circumstance, the transmission is typically replaced with a rebuilt transmission with a new housing. He indicated that the dealership was trying to obtain a new transmission for me. They were experiencing difficulty because there was 80 some requests for new transmissions and only 70 some available (county?, state?, central florida?) updated 01/20/11 *bf
When driving at highway speed the car made a huge thud, it automatically shifted from 6th to 4th gear and remained stuck in fourth gear until you turn off the car. Took car to dealer and entire transmission had to be replaced. *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
Other electrical problem
Tail light, brake light or signal failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 12 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 complete transmission failure happen on the 2011 Hyundai Sonata?
Across 11 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 75,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 15,000 miles and a quarter after 120,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is complete transmission failure on the 2011 Hyundai Sonata?
12 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