all vehicles · every Elantra year · method

Hyundai Elantra 2012

Safety complaints filed by owners in the first three years, per 1,000 sold.

0.60 per 1,000

1.0 times this nameplate’s own median · from 116 complaints filed in the first three years, of 675 ever. 95% lower bound 0.49.

Against its own model years

The model year carries far more information than the badge, so this is the comparison that matters.

Model year	Per 1,000	Complaints
2008	0.98	93
2009	0.29	29
2010	0.47	55
2011	0.37	59
2012	0.60	116
2013	1.53	345
2014	0.28	67
2015	0.17	39
2016	0.27	61
2017	0.76	154
2018	0.39	78
2019	0.31	59
2020	0.71	99
2021	0.88	101
2022	0.89	107
2023	1.11	140

What owners describe

Phrases over-represented in these complaints compared with the same component on every other vehicle. Counts are complaints containing the phrase.

Engine 140 complaints

ticking	22	16%
key	16	12%
switch	13	10%
ticking noise	10	7%

Electrical System 129 complaints

won't start	11	9%
out park	10	8%
tried start	10	8%

Air Bags 128 complaints

light	93	72%
airbag light	49	38%
spring	15	12%
clock spring	14	11%
clock	14	11%
stays	14	11%

When it breaks

21% of reported failures happened before 30,000 miles (median 62,000 miles, from 448 complaints that recorded one).

Failures arrive late and spread out, which looks like wear. Service history matters more than model year here.

What NHTSA did

5 investigations covering this model year, 2 of which list a recall campaign.

Hyundai and Kia ABS Module Fires

What owners and forums say

Not built yet. This panel is meant to carry community sentiment beside the filed-complaint data, so the two can be compared. Showing something weaker here would defeat its purpose.

Check this yourself

Example records behind this page:

10424735 · 10427043 · 10440887 · 10440980 · 10441405 · 10443541

Limits of this figure. It counts safety complaints filed with the federal government, which is a floor on failures and not a census: problems that only cost money are under-reported. Complaint rates also reflect how likely a brand’s owners are to file, which cannot be separated from how often the car fails. Sales are calendar-year and the denominator for this nameplate is verified against a published figure.