673 NHTSA owner complaints · 4 recalls · data-computed verdict. No opinions — public data only.
Complaints per year on the road: 48.07
Verbatim reports filed with the United States safety regulator (NHTSA) by owners of this exact model year. Public record.
The contact owns a 2012 Hyundai Elantra. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, the brake pedal felt spongy while depressed. After parking the vehicle, the contact later restarted the vehicle, and the brake pedal extended to the floor while depressed. While inspecting under the hood, the contact discovered that there was no brake fluid inside the brake fluid reservoir. The cause of the failure was not y…
Apparently a VERY common crankshaft angle sensor malfunction caused the engine to stall out at a stoplight, putting me in harm's way
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 c…
What the community is saying right now.
| Campaign | Component | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 13V115000 | Air Bags:Side/Window | Hyundai Motor Company is recalling certain model year 2011-2013 Elantra vehicles manufactured from November 12, 2010, through March 5, 2013.… |
| 20V393000 | Equipment:Electrical | Hyundai Motor America (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2011-2012 Hyundai Elantra and Sonata Hybrid, 2012 Accent and Veloster vehicles. The 12… |
| 23V651000 | Service Brakes, Hydraulic:Antilock/Tract | Hyundai Motor America (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2011-2015 Elantra, Genesis Coupe, Sonata Hybrid, 2012-2015 Accent, Azera, Veloster, 201… |
| 15V871000 | Electronic Stability Control (Esc) | Hyundai Motor America (Hyundai) is recalling certain model year 2011-2012 Elantra vehicles manufactured October 29, 2010, to October 25, 201… |
EPA combined 32 MPG · estimated annual fuel cost $1,900
Re-priced automatically from your country's retail fuel, electricity and parts indices — change country in the bar at the top. Estimates; see methodology.
The most-reported issue in NHTSA complaint data is Engine (139 complaints in our indexed sample).
Our data verdict is AVOID with a reliability score of 20/100, computed from 673 NHTSA complaints and 4 recall campaigns. See the verdict card for the top reasons.
Yes — NHTSA lists 4 recall campaign(s) for the 2012 Hyundai Elantra, 3 of them touching fire, crash or stall risk, the most recent recorded 01/04/2013. Check this car's VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls before you buy.
Fuel, maintenance band and depreciation — computed from public data in 10 seconds.
Open the true-cost calculatorComplaints & recalls: NHTSA ·
Fuel economy: EPA fueleconomy.gov ·
Scoring: our published methodology.
Maintenance bands are industry-average estimates (AAA Your Driving Costs, CarMD index) — labeled estimates, not measurements.
Last updated: 2026-08-20.