1998 Hyundai Sonata at 80,000 miles
You did not give a mileage, so this uses 80,000 — the median reported failure mileage for this model year, which is a rough stand-in for “a typical example of this car”. Put your real reading in the box below for an answer about your car.
At 80,000 miles on this car
At 80,000 miles on a 1998 Hyundai Sonata, 8 of the failure modes other owners have reported already have their median report at or below your reading, and 0 more fall inside the window where they are usually reported. The heaviest of the ones already due is other powertrain problem.
Already past the median 8
Half of all reports of these failures came in at or below where your car is now.
- Other powertrain problem 41k
- Door latch or handle failure 70k
- Other visibility problem 43k
- Other body or interior problem 71k
- Other electrical problem 43k
- Other engine problem 80k
- DPF, EGR or DEF system failure 90
- Other lighting problem 43k
You are in the window 0
Your reading falls inside the middle half of reports for these.
Nothing here.
Typically later 5
Reported further down the road than where you are.
- Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure 90k
- Overheating 91k
- Strut, shock or spring failure 100k
- Fuel leak or fuel odor 108k
- Stalling while driving 282k
Timing unknown 9
Reported, but too few owners gave an odometer reading to place them.
- Timing chain, belt or tensioner failure 3×
- Complete transmission failure 2×
- Fuel pump failure 2×
- Steering column or shaft failure 2×
- Window regulator or power window failure 2×
- Other fuel system problem 2×
- ABS module or sensor failure 1×
- Other brake problem 1×
- Other steering problem 1×
Why the list is generic until you type a number
Every figure below is a comparison against your odometer, so with no reading given the page has to pick one: 80,000 miles, roughly what a 1998 car covers at 12,000 miles a year. A reading 30,000 miles either side of that moves failures between the columns, which is the difference between a useful list and a generic one.
Already inside the reported range
8 failure modes on the 1998 Hyundai Sonata have a median reported mileage at or below 80,000: other powertrain problem (median 40,000 miles, 8 reports), door latch or handle failure (median 70,000 miles, 6 reports), other visibility problem (median 45,000 miles, 5 reports), other body or interior problem (median 70,000 miles, 5 reports), other electrical problem (median 45,000 miles, 3 reports) and other engine problem (median 80,000 miles, 2 reports).
These are the ones worth mentioning to a mechanic by name at the next service. Being past a median is not being overdue — it means the reports cluster below where you are now, so if the failure was going to be typical, it would already have happened.
Still ahead of you
5 further modes sit above your reading, the nearest being fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure at a median of 90,000 miles. On a car you intend to keep, these are the ones that decide whether it is worth keeping.
What this list is not
It is a reading of what owners of other 1998 Hyundai Sonatas reported, and at what odometer reading they reported it. It is not a maintenance schedule, not a diagnosis, and not a prediction about this car: two identical cars with different service histories are not the same car.
Complaints are filed voluntarily, mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers, and a failure mode with few reports has a wide window even when the median looks precise. Modes with fewer than 8 dated reports are shown without percentiles for that reason.
Where 80,000 miles falls on the curve
The three columns above sort the failure modes one by one. This is the same evidence in aggregate: every dated report on this model year, stacked up in the order the odometer readings arrived. The dashed line marked you is where your car sits. How much of the line is to the left of that mark is how much of this model year's reported trouble is, on the evidence, already behind you.
About 48% of the dated reports on this model year had already been filed by 80,000 miles. That is the share of the problems that show up in this record, not of the problems this car will have. A further 2 reports came in above the top of the scale, which is why the line stops short of the top.
- Line share of reports filed by that mileage
- Dashed the mileages called out above
A steep early climb means a car whose reports cluster young, which is the pattern of a defect rather than of wear. A line that only gets going past six figures is the opposite. Neither shape says anything about the specific car in your driveway, and a curve built from a few dozen readings can be moved by one owner with a talkative afternoon.
Full report for the 1998 Hyundai Sonata Compare with another car
Questions this page answers
What should I expect at 80,000 miles on a 1998 Hyundai Sonata?
8 of the failure modes owners have reported on the 1998 Hyundai Sonata have a median report at or below 80,000 miles, and 0 more fall inside the mileage window where they are usually reported. That is a watch list drawn from other owners, not a prediction about this car.
How to use the three columns. The left column is the list to hand a mechanic before you buy, and to check the service history for if you already own the car. The middle column is what to budget for this year. The right column is not a reprieve — it is a reminder that a used car has a bill schedule, and this is roughly where it falls. All of it is drawn from 68 owner complaints about this exact model year, not from a maintenance manual. How the percentiles are computed.
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