2021 Hyundai Elantra
This year drew an ordinary 129 complaints for a Hyundai Elantra — the model's median is 266. What they were about is the unusual part: 20.9% of them mention seat, against 3.4% across the other years of this generation.
First year of a new generation. The Hyundai Elantra was redesigned for 2021. 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 | 129 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 266 |
| Involving a crash | 8 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 6 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 33 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- seat — 20.9% of this year's complaints, against 3.4% across the other years of this generation (6.1×).
- rain — 7% of this year's complaints, against 2.1% across the other years of this generation (3.4×). Owners wrote it as: rain, coming vehicle, failure determined, lamp.
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
Windshield wipers will stop midway moving and stay in place at random times while switched on. Not related to rain droplet mode. Happens at random. Obstructs view of road.
The horn is not working when I press the horn or on the key fob. I had it checked and the fuses were fine. The seat belt chime also does not work out of nowhere, same time the horn stopped working.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 21V796000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 21V00M000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
- 21V302000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
- 22V218000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 22V354000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 24V879000 BACK OVER PREVENTION 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 2021 Hyundai Elantra? What happened to yours?
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