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2017 Hyundai Elantra

Owner reports · Recalls · Investigations

More warning signs than most Elantra years

Owner complaints for the 2017 Hyundai Elantra are substantially higher than the model-year median of 182.

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When problems were reported

Mileage at the reported incident

280 reports with mileage · 486 unknown

NHTSA’s mileage field refers to the reported incident, not necessarily the filing date. This shows report counts, not the likelihood of a failure.

What to inspect

Issues worth paying extra attention to based on owner reports.

  • Engine. Review the 289 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
  • Structure. Review the 134 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
  • Electrical System. Review the 111 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →

NHTSA owner reports · September 18, 2026 snapshot.

37 crash reports6 fire reports19 injury reports

Power Train complaints

62 reports
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Mileage unknown · May 22, 2023
EnginePower TrainService Brakes

Have had the vehicle throw a code for a misfire 4 times in the 30,000 miles I have driven it. The times I have taken it to Hyundai dealerships in Northglenn and Boulder, Colorado they tried an update and just swap ignition coils to different cylinders. Example misfire is cylinder 3. They swap number 3 and 4 ignition coils to see…

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Have had the vehicle throw a code for a misfire 4 times in the 30,000 miles I have driven it. The times I have taken it to Hyundai dealerships in Northglenn and Boulder, Colorado they tried an update and just swap ignition coils to different cylinders. Example misfire is cylinder 3. They swap number 3 and 4 ignition coils to see if they can recreate the problem I the new cylinder. There is already a TCS 20-FL-001h. I recommend a full recall of these defective ignition coils be put out as the problems are still occurring. The problem is reoccurring and the time it takes to get into the shop is 3 weeks out at this time. By the time I get it in the code usually resolves and I have to wait until I get violent shakes and poor acceleration to indicate it is back. Had an accident in January if 2023 and it seemed the brakes were t working as they should. Twice after that the brakes felt as if they weren’t stopping as well as they should. I took the vehicle in and had the rear drum brakes adjusted and that seemed to fix the problem.

NHTSA ODI #11523136

Mileage unknown · Jan 29, 2023
EngineFuel/propulsion SystemPower Train

I’ve been having problems with my timing chain and power train for over a year. Got the timing chain fixed and now all i’m seeing is new problems with bad ignition coils and spark plugs and transmission problems. I’ve only had this car for 4 years and keep the maintenance up to date.

NHTSA ODI #11504308

Mileage unknown · Oct 21, 2022
EnginePower Train

Engine has about 84,000 miles on it and car recently through a code reading E78 and E79. Further research on the codes other Kia and Hyundai owners reported car threw same codes before the engine blew or threw the engine rod. I will have car checked out at dealership as it’s still under warranty

NHTSA ODI #11490368

Mileage unknown · Sep 23, 2022
EngineFuel/propulsion SystemPower Train

I am the owner of a 2017 Hyundai Elantra. I bought the car for my daughter for transportation to and from school and work. As her boyfriend was driving on a 3-lane highway in heavy traffic, the car would no longer accelerate, and the steering wheel locked. The engine just stopped and seized up. The car lost all power and steerin…

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I am the owner of a 2017 Hyundai Elantra. I bought the car for my daughter for transportation to and from school and work. As her boyfriend was driving on a 3-lane highway in heavy traffic, the car would no longer accelerate, and the steering wheel locked. The engine just stopped and seized up. The car lost all power and steering capability. He rolled the car into the left-hand turn lane. A police officer pulled up about 30 seconds later, said that he was obstructing traffic, and to move the car out of the turn lane. Her boyfriend had to push the car across the median, and 3 lanes of traffic, to get to the opposite side of the highway's shoulder, by himself. When he nearly had the car off of the road, on the opposite side of the highway, a pedestrian approached and helped him finish pushing it out of the road. This could have caused a major car accident, or someone could've been killed or injured while pushing the car. I have moved one hour away from my daughter, so I cannot provide her with a ride to and from school and work. She and I are stuck paying $301.18/mo on a car that is inoperable; it's just sitting and rotting at her apartment complex. We are also stuck paying $135.87/mo for her car insurance on a car that is inoperable. Also, this model year, 2017, has a problem with peeling paint too. The car has missing paint patches all over. Previously, at just 51,000 miles, the car had stalling problems. The car would just shut off while driving. It was repaired at Hyundai. When we got it back, it was still doing the same thing, and had to go back in again for service at Hyundai. I filed a formal complaint with Hyundai Consumer Affairs. Hyundai should have already issued recalls for these problems that many people are experiencing. I've been doing research and have found that this year and model Hyundai is very problematic. They are refusing to take responsibility by not issuing recalls on these recurrent problems that they're aware of.

NHTSA ODI #11486074

Mileage unknown · Sep 7, 2022
Electrical SystemPower Train

UNKNOWN. Battery died out on my twice, every two years. Motor needed to be replaced after 5 years.

NHTSA ODI #11483262

Mileage unknown · Aug 22, 2022
EnginePower Train

My car stalled twice while driving on my way to work and had a weird knocking sound. I brought this to my local mechanic and they believed it was Rod Knock cause by premature rod bearing failure. They said this is a common issue with Hyundai 2.0L 4 cylinder engines and told me to reach out to a Hyundai dealership. The first deal…

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My car stalled twice while driving on my way to work and had a weird knocking sound. I brought this to my local mechanic and they believed it was Rod Knock cause by premature rod bearing failure. They said this is a common issue with Hyundai 2.0L 4 cylinder engines and told me to reach out to a Hyundai dealership. The first dealer I called said if it was the rod bearing it would be covered under an extended warranty. That dealership couldn’t get me in for 3-4 weeks so I called the dealership I purchased the car new at. They said the same thing that it was a common issue with the 2.0 4 cylinder engines and said they could get me in in less than a week. I paid to have my car towed to them on Friday and they called me this morning confirming that it is a worn rod bearing and informed me I would need a new engine. They said that my specific VIN is not covered by their extended warranty covering this specific issue. It is my understanding that specific models using the same engine are covered but for some reason mine is not. I just spent over $2000 on the engine with issues that they said they wouldn’t cover and now they want me to pay them over $7000 to replace the engine on an issue they are aware of in this 2.0l engine they manufactured. Please help me to rectify this issue with my car. I cannot afford $7000+ for a new engine and I certainly cannot afford a new car. This car is less than 6 years old and I would have expected power train to last significantly longer.

NHTSA ODI #11480602

Mileage unknown · Aug 9, 2022
Electrical SystemPower Train

Started having intermittent misfires on various cylinders, specifically cylinder 3. (Code P0303) This would mainly cause the engine to stall, or idle. No accidents or injuries to report, but having a car stall out at 80 MPH on the freeway is certainly scary as hell. Just frustration and possible damage to other parts of the engi…

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Started having intermittent misfires on various cylinders, specifically cylinder 3. (Code P0303) This would mainly cause the engine to stall, or idle. No accidents or injuries to report, but having a car stall out at 80 MPH on the freeway is certainly scary as hell. Just frustration and possible damage to other parts of the engine (spark plugs and some wiring). Took vehicle into local auto shop where they reproduced the problem, but informed me of TSB 20-FL-001H, which can only be fixed by a Hyundai dealership due to the ECM reprogramming and the proprietary nature of the tool to perform that. As such I have taken the vehicle to a Hyundai Dealership where, again, they were able to find and diagnose the problem, as well as determine the spark plugs were likely fouled by the known-faulty ignition coil packs. This is the third time in 75,000 miles I've replaced them.

NHTSA ODI #11478410

Mileage unknown · Aug 4, 2022
EngineFuel/propulsion SystemPower Train

Bad Ignition Colis Poor Fuel Economy: if you notice that your car is getting less mileage from a full tank than normal, this could mean that you have a bad ignition coil. This takes place because, when your, spark plugs aren’t getting a certain power, the system will try to compensate by taking more fuel. Hard Starts And Stall…

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Bad Ignition Colis Poor Fuel Economy: if you notice that your car is getting less mileage from a full tank than normal, this could mean that you have a bad ignition coil. This takes place because, when your, spark plugs aren’t getting a certain power, the system will try to compensate by taking more fuel. Hard Starts And Stalling: the ignition needs to spark at just the right time for the engine to start and a vehicle to run. If an ignition coil is malfunctioning and not delivering the required voltage to the spark plugs, you will find it hard to start the engine. Misfiring Engine: A malfunctioning ignition coil will cause your vehicle to misfire when you accelerate. In some other cases, a misfire could cause your vehicle to shut down while you are driving

NHTSA ODI #11477586

Mileage unknown · Jul 13, 2022
EnginePower Train

This is just to inform the issue that I faced with my car, Hyundai Elantra 2017. The incident happened twice. I was driving once on an interstate, luckily was driving very slow (due to traffic), when I accelerated a from a halt position the car started to jerk and the engine light came up and the car stopped. I then took the car…

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This is just to inform the issue that I faced with my car, Hyundai Elantra 2017. The incident happened twice. I was driving once on an interstate, luckily was driving very slow (due to traffic), when I accelerated a from a halt position the car started to jerk and the engine light came up and the car stopped. I then took the car on the shoulder and turned on the car after 5minutes, luckily the light went away and was able to drive back home slowly and safely without any problem then. Thought it's just a one off situation. This again happened when I was driving in the city; Stopped at a signal and was starting from stop position on a signal when the engine light shows up again and car started to jerk again, with that on I slowly drove 1 mile back to home. The next working day I took it to the dealership to get the car checked. The service center said that they will have to replace 4 spark plugs, 4 Coils, and the driver belt. I got that replaced and got the car back finally after 2 weeks. It was disappointing to hear that warranty didn't cover anything. My car is 5.5 years old and 61,000 miles only and the dealership and Hyundai USA declined the request to cover any of the charges saying it's out of warranty. (i.e. just 1000 miles outside the limit of 60K and 6 months outside the window of 5years). Today I just wanted to share the experience that I had and that just at 61000 miles, it gave what seemed to be a big problem with the powertrain and at that time felt unsafe to drive.

NHTSA ODI #11473728

Mileage unknown · Mar 8, 2022
Power Train

1) The transmission has a delay in shifting, and I smell burning under the hood. I took it back to the dealer where I bought it. I was told nothing was wrong with it. The problem has been coming back. The dealership was Dennis Hyuandai on Morse Rd in Cols. Oh. 43219 2) I am afraid I may have this problem on the highway some day,…

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1) The transmission has a delay in shifting, and I smell burning under the hood. I took it back to the dealer where I bought it. I was told nothing was wrong with it. The problem has been coming back. The dealership was Dennis Hyuandai on Morse Rd in Cols. Oh. 43219 2) I am afraid I may have this problem on the highway some day, as it has become more frequent. 3) Dealer claims nothing wrong with the transmission. 4) No I didn't know I had this opption. 5) No none. It has been and on and off problem for nearly 2yrs

NHTSA ODI #11455644

Official recalls

4

17V213000 · Steering:electric Power Assist System

Mar 28, 2017

Hyundai Motor America (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2017 Elantra vehicles. The affected vehicles may have a damaged Electronic Power Steering (MDPS) connector resulting in a loss of electric power steering assistance.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: Loss of power steering assist would require higher steering effort, especially at lower speeds, which may increase the risk of a crash.

Remedy: Hyundai will notify owners, and dealers will replace the EPS motor, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin April 28, 2017. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1-800-243-7766. Hyundai's number for this recall 161.

17V063000 · Service Brakes, Hydraulic:power Assist:hydraulic

Jan 26, 2017

Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2017 Elantra vehicles. In the affected vehicles, the brake booster may fail, resulting in a loss of power brake assist.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: A loss of power brake assist can lengthen the distance needed to stop the vehicle, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy: Hyundai has notified owners, and dealers will replace the brake system booster assembly, free of charge. The recall began on February 6, 2017. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1-800-633-5151. Hyundai's number for this recall is 157.

16V956000 · Air Bags:frontal:driver Side:inflator Module

Dec 30, 2016

Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai) is recalling certain model year 2017 Hyundai Elantra vehicles manufactured April 15, 2016, to September 13, 2016, and Sonata vehicles manufactured May 27, 2016 to September 16, 2016. In these vehicles, the end seal for the driver's frontal air bag inflator may not have been properly installed, possibly resulting in reduced inflation of the frontal air bag in the event of a crash.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: In the event of a crash, an air bag that does not inflate fully increases the risk of injury.

Remedy: Hyundai will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver's frontal air bag module, free of charge. The recall began February 13, 2017. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1-855-371-9460. Hyundai's number for this recall is 156.

16V232000 · Air Bags:frontal

Apr 21, 2016

Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai) is recalling certain model year 2015-2016 Sonata vehicles manufactured May 29, 2014 to February 11, 2016, 2017 Elantra vehicles manufactured January 12, 2016 to February 22, 2016, and one 2016 Sonata Hybrid vehicle manufactured October 15, 2015. In these vehicles, the driver's frontal air bag may be missing a chemical enhancer required for the second stage air bag deployment, resulting in the second stage not deploying in certain crashes. The primary stage will deploy as intended.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: An air bag that does not inflate increases the risk of injury.

Remedy: Hyundai will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver's frontal air bag module, free of charge. The recall began on May 5,2016. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1-855-371-9460. Hyundai's number for this recall is 144.

Model-level recall history does not show whether a particular VIN is affected or has received a repair. Check a VIN with NHTSA ↗

NHTSA investigations

1

DP22003 · Loss Of Motive Power

Opened Sep 12, 2022 · Closed Dec 12, 2023

Status: closed (inferred from source dates) · Engine

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) received a letter dated July 13, 2022, petitioning the Agency to initiate a safety defect investigation into loss of motive power allegations attributed to oil drain pan assembly failures on certain Hyundai Motor America, Inc. and Kia America, Inc. vehicles spanning Model Years (MY) 2005-2021. The Petitioners cited examples of complaints indicating that the subject vehicles were experiencing rapid loss of engine oil due to oil drain plug back outs, resulting in loss of motive power and/or catastrophic engine damage. Additional complaints were provided which alleged that the oil drain pans lack sufficient structural integrity and are susceptible to cracking. The petition itself can be reviewed at NHTSA.gov under ODI number 11481745. On September 12, 2022, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened Defect Petition (DP22-003) to evaluate the Petitioners’ request. The Petitioners have provided additional complaints within four supplemental letters dated January 31, 2023, March 21, 2023, May 23, 2023, and August 4, 2023. ODI’s evaluation included the review and analysis of the complaints and supporting information submitted by the Petitioners, as well as additional complaints submitted directly to NHTSA which referenced either the oil drain plug or a crack in the oil pan. After reviewing the available data, ODI has not identified evidence that would support opening a defect investigation into the oil drain pan assemblies of the subject vehicles. Based on a review of the available information, a loss of motive power resulting from an oil drain plug back out has not occurred between the initial sale of a vehicle and the completion of its first oil change. If during an oil change service, a technician fails to remove the existing drain plug gasket before installing a new gasket, it is likely that a proper seal between the drain plug and the oil pan will not be made. An improper seal between the drain plug and oil pan could lead to the backing out on the drain plug, resulting in the sudden loss of oil while driving. Additionally, the provided examples of oil pan cracks were localized to the immediate vicinity of the oil drain plug and/or appeared to be the result of direct-contact with a tool during servicing.  There is no information to support that a vehicle-based defect exists relating to the oil pan assembly, and instead the documented incidents are related to the failure to follow the proper maintenance procedures during oil change service. In October 2023, Hyundai published a Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) that provided detailed instructions for oil change service on its gasoline powered vehicles, specifically highlighting the need to remove and replace the existing drain plug gasket prior to reinstalling the drain plug. After a thorough review of the material submitted by the petitioner, the information already in NHTSA's possession, and the potential risks to motor vehicle safety implicated by the petitioners' allegations, NHTSA does not believe that a formal investigation is warranted. Therefore, the petition is denied. A Federal Register Notice (FRN) further detailing NHTSA’s reasons for denial of the petition will be published. The reference numbers for the complaints to NHTSA cited by the petitioner can be found in the petition submission documents in the public file for DP22-003. To review those complaints and the additional complaints ODI added to its evaluation which are cited in the Closing Resume ODI Report Identification Number document, go to NHTSA.gov.

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