2012 Hyundai Accent
This year drew an ordinary 153 complaints for a Hyundai Accent — the model's median is 88. What they were about is the unusual part: 6.5% of them mention recurred, against 1.6% across the other years of this generation.
First year of a new generation. The Hyundai Accent was redesigned for 2012. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 153 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 88 |
| Involving a crash | 13 |
| Involving a fire | 8 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 31.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- recurred — 6.5% of this year's complaints, against 1.6% across the other years of this generation (4.2×). Owners wrote it as: recurred, failure recurred, attempts, recurred several.
- especially — 7.2% of this year's complaints, against 2.1% across the other years of this generation (3.5×). Owners wrote it as: especially, weather, occasionally, cold weather.
- approximately mph — 7.8% of this year's complaints, against 3.1% across the other years of this generation (2.5×). Owners wrote it as: approximately mph, grinding.
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
WHILE AT A PARKING LOT, THE VEHICLE BEGAN TO ACCELERATE INDEPENDENTLY WITHOUT ANY WARNING. THE FAILURE RECURRED SEVERAL TIMES. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO THE DEALER. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT DIAGNOSED OR REPAIRED. THE [VIN] WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE. THE APPROXIM…
IT TOOK SEVERAL ATTEMPTS TO START THE VEHICLE WITHOUT WARNING. THE FAILURE RECURRED ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS. THE CONTACT ALSO STATED THAT THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO THE DEALER ON FIVE SEPARATE OCCASIONS. THE FAILURE WAS UNABLE TO BE DETERMINED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 20V393000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 23V651000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC 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 2012 Hyundai Accent? What happened to yours?
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