2005 Hyundai Elantra
This year drew an ordinary 137 complaints for a Hyundai Elantra — the model's median is 266. What they were about is the unusual part: 30.7% of them mention bag, against 4.3% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 137 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 266 |
| Involving a crash | 30 |
| Involving a fire | 3 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| EPA combined | 25 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- bag — 30.7% of this year's complaints, against 4.3% across the model's other years (7.2×). Owners wrote it as: bag, air bag, bag light, bag deploy.
- seat — 24.1% of this year's complaints, against 3.4% across the model's other years (7×).
- bags — 20.4% of this year's complaints, against 7.3% across the model's other years (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: bags, air bags, appointment, vin included.
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 CONTACT STATED THE AIR BAG LIGHT IS CURRENTLY ILLUMINATED. A NHTSA RECALL, # 05V395000 WAS PERFORMED ON THE VEHICLE CONCERNING, THE AIR BAGS HOWEVER, THE RECALL DID NOT REMEDY THE PROBLEM. THE DEALERSHIP WOULD NOT OFFER A SECOND REPAIR WITHOUT CHARGE UND…
: THE CONTACT STATED THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT REMAINS ILLUMINATED AND THE OCS LIGHT WORKS INTERMITTENTLY. AN NHTSA RECALL, # 05V395000 WAS PERFORMED ON THE VEHICLE CONCERNING, THE AIR BAGS HOWEVER, THE RECALL DID NOT REMEDY THE PROBLEM. THE DEALERSHIP WOULD NOT…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 09V280000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 05V479000 AIR BAGS
- 05V395000 AIR BAGS
- 05V187000 STEERING 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 2005 Hyundai Elantra? What happened to yours?
Loading comments…