2012 Hyundai Elantra problems
Owners have filed 922 complaints with NHTSA about the 2012 Hyundai Elantra. Engine is the most reported problem area, at 15% of complaints. After that come electrical system (14%) and air bags (13%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 922 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Engine 15% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 74 and 16
- Injuries and deaths
- 69 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 60,000 miles 602 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 78 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 110 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 107 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 99 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 77 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 55 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 37 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 21 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 5 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 9 |
| 200k+ miles | 4 |
What the data shows
Among the 602 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 60,000 miles. For engine specifically, the median reported mileage is about 67,000 miles (108 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 74 complaints mention a crash; 16 complaints mention a fire; 69 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2012 ranks 3rd most-complained-about out of 34 model years of the Hyundai Elantra with enough data (460 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 4 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
. During the accident on February 1, 2025, at the moment of impact, the passenger seat belt suddenly unlatched and became stuck on my right hand. As a direct result, I suffered a fracture in my right hand at the exact point where the belt got caught, as well as fractures in my foot, ribs, back, and multiple other injuries. This seat belt failure left me completely exposed to much greater danger, including the possibility of being ejected through the front windshield.
I was going down the bridge on settlers landing road the yellow school bus was in the right turning lane with right turning signal on .as I approached the light in the middle straight lane to keep toward the landing (hotel) on settlers landing Hampton va the bus some what merged back towards the middle lane and that when the bus crashed into the car it went under the bus it’s totaled the windshield and my sunroof collided the airbags did not deploy something needs to be done about that that was dangerous.I got…
Noisy steering.play in wheel . Noises as tured left and right. Either still or on motion. Clicking/clunking sound. Saw video about steering coupling. That seems to be the sound ...to my untrained ear.
Passenger side airbag light comes on and off all the time that someone is sitting in the seat. There is nothing in the seat or a person. It comes on and off while I am driving or sitting at the light. Most of the time, it does not come on when I first start the vehicle. It was repaired once several years and that was $350.00. That stayed on all the time. I think it is a mfg defect.