2012 Hyundai Elantra
Complaints about this year name airbag light far more often than the other years of this generation — 8% of them, about 11× the usual rate of 0.7%.
Generation 2 of the Hyundai Elantra, which began in 2011 and ran to 2016. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 673 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 260 |
| Involving a crash | 49 |
| Involving a fire | 12 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 32 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- spring — 6.1% of this year's complaints, against 1.5% across the other years of this generation (4×). Owners wrote it as: spring, coil, springs.
- start car — 6.2% of this year's complaints, against 2.2% across the other years of this generation (2.9×). Owners wrote it as: start car, car park.
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 AIRBAG LIGHT IS TURNING ON AND OFF INTERMITTENTLY, MOST OF THE TIME IT IS ON.
TAKATA RECALL. AIRBAG LIGHT IS ON. LOOKED ONLINE AND A LOT OF OTHER PEOPLE ARE HAVING THIS ISSUE.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 15V871000 ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) Fixed free of charge.
- 13V115000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 20V393000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 23V651000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Hyundai Elantra 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 Elantra? What happened to yours?
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