Other steering problem on the 2013 Hyundai Sonata
6 crashes 1 fire 6 injuries 13 of the 258 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 steering problem gets reported
Owners of the 2013 Hyundai Sonata report other steering problem at a median of 45,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 3,000 miles and a quarter after 82,000 miles, from 192 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 100 miles at the tenth percentile to 112,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 111,951 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.
46% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 miles | 3,125 miles | 45,000 miles | 82,250 miles | 112,051 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, 6 a crash, 1 a fire and 6 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 $350–$2,400 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 2020, at a median of 800 miles, and latest on the 2002 at 135,000 miles.
By volume the 2011 carries the most reports, with 737; the 2013 has 258. 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.
Steering feel is extremely light/loose, especially at highway speeds. Vehicle wanders enough from left to right to require constant correction to keep it from going over center line or off side of road. If I adjust steering to left vehicle continues to left requiring an immediate adjustment to right which causes vehicle to continue to right and then to left and then right...I am constantly fighting with the steering to stay in my lane. Concerned about our safety while driving this brand new vehicle. *tt
I purchased brand new 2013 hyundai sonata limited in august'12. After buying when I was riding back home on freeway(approx speed 60 MPH) the car tends to drift in either left or right and keep on wandering in the lane. It is pretty difficult to keep the vehicle in the lane. There are almost two incidents where I just escaped the accidents because of this problem which could have been fatal. When I contacted the dealer they told that it is because of banking on the roads but I tested the same road and route with other vehicle which performed as it should be, no drift or anything. Even the tire pressure and wheel balancing is fine so this is definitely a issue with the electronic steering and stability. Please look into this matter as it could be life threatening and most of the consumers are facing it with no response from the company. Thanks. *tr
While getting on the on-ramp to the highway, the power steering failed, causing me to almost lose control of the vehicle. Steering was extremely hard to use. The eps light and skid control lights both came on, and later bluelink noted error also. *tr
Also reported on the 2013 Hyundai Sonata
Other engine problem
Other electrical problem
Other fuel system problem
Tail light, brake light or signal failure
Other lighting problem
Other brake problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 258 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 steering problem happen on the 2013 Hyundai Sonata?
Across 192 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 45,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 3,000 miles and a quarter after 82,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other steering problem on the 2013 Hyundai Sonata?
258 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.2 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