2010 Hyundai Elantra
This year drew an ordinary 453 complaints for a Hyundai Elantra — the model's median is 260. What they were about is the unusual part: 51.4% of them mention steering, against 17.1% across the other years of this generation.
Last year of its generation. This Hyundai Elantra ran from 2007 to 2010, so it had the whole run for its faults to be found and fixed. Last years are usually the most sorted of a generation.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 453 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 260 |
| Involving a crash | 49 |
| Involving a fire | 13 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| EPA combined | 29 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- steering — 51.4% of this year's complaints, against 17.1% across the other years of this generation (3×).
- wheel — 24.7% of this year's complaints, against 6.7% across the other years of this generation (3.7×).
- column — 18.5% of this year's complaints, against 6% across the other years of this generation (3.1×). Owners wrote it as: column, steering column, coupler, column needed.
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
IN MY STEERING WHEEL IT MAKES A CLUNKING NOISE. I BROUGHT IT INTO A SERVICE STATION AND THEY TOLD ME IT NEEDED A FLEXIBLE COUPLING GROMT. I DIDN'T DO THIS IT IS ALL THE WAY DOWN IN THE STEERING COLUMN. THEY TOLD ME IT SHOULD BE A RECALL BECAUSE IT IS NOTHING I…
while driving at various speeds, the steering wheel made abnormal clicking sounds and was slightly resistant. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where the steering coupler was replaced; however, the failure recurred. T…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 20V061000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 15V100000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 13V113000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING 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 2010 Hyundai Elantra? What happened to yours?
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