2005 Hyundai Accent
This year drew an ordinary 49 complaints for a Hyundai Accent — the model's median is 101. What they were about is the unusual part: 34.7% of them mention shift, against 0% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 49 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 101 |
| Involving a crash | 9 |
| Involving a fire | 3 |
| Recalls | 1 |
| EPA combined | 26.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- shift — 34.7% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the model's other years (173.5×).
- brake — 38.8% of this year's complaints, against 13% across the model's other years (3×).
- lights — 34.7% of this year's complaints, against 9.9% across the model's other years (3.5×).
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
THE BRAKE LIGHTS REMAINED ILLUMINATED WHILE THE ENGINE WAS TURNED OFF, AND THE GEAR WOULD NOT SHIFT FROM PARK INTO DRIVE WITHOUT FORCE. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT TAKEN TO THE DEALER TO BE DIAGNOSED. THE FAILURE AND THE CURRENT MILEAGE WAS 66,000.
WHEN THE BRAKE PEDAL WAS DEPRESSED THE GEAR FAILED TO SHIFT OUT OF PARK, AND THE BRAKE LIGHTS FAILED TO ILLUMINATE. THE DEALER STATED THE VEHICLE WAS NOT INCLUDED IN NHTSA RECALL CAMPAIGN NUMBER 09V280000 (EXTERIOR LIGHTING). THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 47,000. TH…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 09V280000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Hyundai Accent was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2005 Hyundai Accent? What happened to yours?
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