2016 Hyundai Elantra
This year drew an ordinary 290 complaints for a Hyundai Elantra — the model's median is 260. What they were about is the unusual part: 13.8% of them mention trunk, against 3.5% across the other years of this generation.
Last year of its generation. This Hyundai Elantra ran from 2011 to 2016, 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 | 290 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 260 |
| Involving a crash | 22 |
| Involving a fire | 5 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 30 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- trunk — 13.8% of this year's complaints, against 3.5% across the other years of this generation (4×). Owners wrote it as: trunk, latch, trunk latch, close.
- acceleration — 7.2% of this year's complaints, against 2.1% across the other years of this generation (3.5×). Owners wrote it as: acceleration, stop sign.
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
notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V146000 (Latches/Locks/Linkages) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer…
the trunk failed to open when the trunk lever was pulled from inside the vehicle. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer and was not repaired. The contact referenced NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V146000 (Latches/Locks/Lin…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 24V146000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
- 26V307000 AIR BAGS 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 2016 Hyundai Elantra? What happened to yours?
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