Other powertrain problem on the 2013 Hyundai Sonata
4 crashes 3 fires 3 injuries 10 of the 71 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 powertrain problem gets reported
Owners of the 2013 Hyundai Sonata report other powertrain problem at a median of 47,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 15,000 miles and a quarter after 77,500 miles, from 47 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 9th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 700 miles at the tenth percentile to 110,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 108,753 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
43% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 690 miles | 16,000 miles | 47,000 miles | 77,500 miles | 109,443 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, 4 a crash, 3 a fire and 3 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 $400–$4,500 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 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2008 at 105,000 miles.
By volume the 2011 carries the most reports, with 121; the 2013 has 71. 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.
A lady with a brand new 2013 sonata turned off her car in a parking lot without putting the transmission into park. While she was not looking and doing something else, the car began to roll forward and eventually crashed into the side of my brand new car. There was no electronic warning that she needed to shift into park! *tr
Purchased 2013 hyundai sonata gls at streetboro ohio hyundai dealer new in mid june 2012. Vehicle seemed ok but at about 1500 miles idle became rough particularly at idle in drive at lights and stops. Took in to dealer and was told after 4 days in shop that problem was familiar to the dealer and an engineer was being called in to figure out the solution as no codes were stored in computer.I left the dealer after being told car is within hyundai specs but was running strange. The dealer seems to be avoiding doing anything to admit there is a issue and refused to allow a service tech to ride along with me to experience the problem. They also refused to let my salesman go in a newer model with me to see if any other vehicles had same issues.I wrote to hyundai corporate and was given a list of other dealers to go to.as the problem has begun to get worse the idle will now rev and then decelerate the vehicle when coasting and I can imagine what this braking action will cause the vehicle to do as the weather becomes worse and snow appears. This seems to be a growing problem with the hyundai models from the recent hyundai forums posts. *tr
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 hyundai sonata. While parked on a slight incline, the vehicle began to roll backward. The vehicle had a push button to start the engine and allowed the contact to shut the vehicle off while the vehicle was not in drive. The contact entered the vehicle and applied the brakes and was able to stop the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing. The technician stated that the vehicle was operating as designed. The contact stated the vehicle should have had a safety feature that would not allow you to shut the engine off unless the gear was in park. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 3. Updated 12/05/12 *bf
Also reported on the 2013 Hyundai Sonata
Other engine problem
Other steering problem
Other electrical problem
Other fuel system problem
Tail light, brake light or signal failure
Other lighting problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 71 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 powertrain problem happen on the 2013 Hyundai Sonata?
Across 47 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 47,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 15,000 miles and a quarter after 77,500 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other powertrain problem on the 2013 Hyundai Sonata?
71 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