Hyundai Elantra

Which Hyundai Elantra years should you avoid?

Going by 8,735 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the Hyundai Elantra years to avoid are 2013, 2017, 2020, 2012 and 2008.

• 20131,314 complaints, 5.4× a typical Elantra year, most often about the brakes.
• 2017770 complaints, 3.2× a typical Elantra year, most often about the engine.
• 20202.9× the usual share of fires, crashes and deaths for a car of its age (6 fires, 21 crashes, 2 deaths).
• 2012654 complaints, 2.7× a typical Elantra year, most often about the airbags.
• 20082.3× the usual share of fires, crashes and deaths for a car of its age (24 fires, 38 crashes).

Better bets: among years old enough for a low count to mean something, the 2022 drew the fewest complaints without an unusual share of serious ones.

Too new to judge: 2025 and 2026. Complaints take a few years to arrive, so a new model year looks better than it is.

How this is worked out: each year is compared with a typical year of the same model, which takes most of the difference in sales out of it, and its share of serious failures is compared with every other car of the same model year, because older cars were complained about differently. A year needs 25 complaints to be judged at all. Complaints are unverified owner reports. Full method →