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The 10 Most Misdiagnosed Car Sounds

Turns out, identifying car problems with sound alone is tough—and ignoring them can lead to expensive consequences.
ByAJ DiCosimo|
Don’t skip a trip to the mechanic.
Don’t skip a trip to the mechanic. | Henrik Weis/GettyImages

Some of us, when we hear our cars making a weird noise, head directly to the mechanic. Others might say, “Eh, probably nothing” or “I bet it will pass.” If the latter examples sound like you, take heed: A new analysis by the UK company Autotrader shows that ignoring these sounds can end up costing you a lot of money—and that even when drivers do stop to take a listen, most of them are completely misdiagnosing what’s wrong.

  1. The Top 10 Car Sounds Drivers Misdiagnose
  2. The Top 5 Drivers Most Accurate at Identifying Car Issues by Brand
  3. The Cost of Delaying Repair

The Top 10 Car Sounds Drivers Misdiagnose

A young man on vacation tries to fix his car when it breaks down.
Wait too long to get your car checked out and you might find yourself in this situation. | uchar/GettyImages

Autotrader recently asked 2000 British drivers to diagnose 10 issues just by listening to sound clips of actual car trouble. While more than half of drivers said they were confident they could identify the issue, 70 percent misdiagnosed at least half of the sounds. Confidence was especially high among Mercedes-Benz owners—80 percent said they’d know what was wrong by ear—but it was BMW drivers who got the most right.

The most confusing sound was low power steering fluid, which 82 percent of people misidentified. Wheel bearing issues came in just behind at 81 percent, and even the dramatic clank of a seized engine stumped nearly three-quarters of respondents. Some drivers performed slightly better with worn brake pads, although even that was misdiagnosed by almost half.

Below is the complete list of car issues confounding our ears, ranked.

Rank

Issue

Percentage Misdiagnosed

1

Low power steering fluid

82%

2

Wheel bearing issues

81%

3

Seized engine

72%

4

Loose or worn-out bolt

70%

5

CV axle issues

70%

6

Bad suspension

65%

7

Cooling system leak

61%

8

Loose exhaust shield

60%

9

Exhaust leak

55%

10

Worn break pads

48%

The Top 5 Drivers Most Accurate at Identifying Car Issues by Brand

BMW Celebrates 100th Anniversary
BMW drivers were pretty good at identifying car issues based on sound alone. | Lennart Preiss/GettyImages

Brand loyalty didn’t always predict accuracy. BMW drivers correctly identified eight out of 10 issues, making them the best audio mechanics on the road.

Rank

Car Brand

# of Correctly ID’d problems (out of 10)

1

BMW Drivers

8

2

Volkswagen drivers

6

3

Mercedes-Benz drivers

5

4

Ford drivers

5

5

Hyundai drivers

4

Chevrolet drivers, meanwhile, struggled the most—and were also the least likely to head to a mechanic when something didn’t sound right.

The Cost of Delaying Repair

Saving money for Car, Small a Car, Car Loan, Buying and selling car, Buying a car
It’s will probably cost more than a few coins to fix your car if you hold off on getting noises checked out. | sakchai vongsasiripat/GettyImages

Forty-seven percent of respondents claimed they’d get a sound checked out immediately, while 36 percent said they’d likely wait a month before investigating—but delaying repairs came with a steep cost. On average, drivers who ignored the sound ended up spending an extra $540 to fix the issue, and one in five reported paying over $950. Men were twice as likely as women to delay getting their cars checked, and Audi drivers were the most likely to put it off for more than a week.

Want to test your ears? Autotrader created a guide with audio clips to help drivers recognize what trouble sounds like: You can listen here.

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