2005 HYUNDAI ELANTRA — Problems, Recalls & Safety Data
N/A
Safety Rating
180
Owner Complaints
4
Recalls
2
Service Bulletins
0
Investigations
Overview of the 2005 HYUNDAI ELANTRA
The 2005 HYUNDAI ELANTRA has received a total of 180 safety complaints filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). There have been 4 recall campaigns affecting this vehicle, covering issues with EXTERIOR LIGHTING, AIR BAGS. 2 technical service bulletins have been issued by Hyundai Motor America for this model year. The most commonly reported problems involve the Air Bags (50 complaints), Vehicle Speed Control (12 complaints), and Air Bagsfrontal (11 complaints).
Recalls for the 2005 HYUNDAI ELANTRA
NHTSA has recorded 4 recalls for the 2005 HYUNDAI ELANTRA, potentially affecting up to 236,553 vehicles.
Recall 09V280000 — EXTERIOR LIGHTING
| 3,011 vehicles affected
Defect: HYUNDAI IS RECALLING 3,011 MODEL YEAR 2005-2007 ELANTRA, TUCSON, SONATA, AZERA AND ACCENT VEHICLES. A MALFUNCTIONING STOP LAMP SWITCH MAY CAUSE THE BRAKE LIGHTS TO FAIL TO ILLUMINATE WHEN THE BRAKE PEDAL IS DEPRESSED OR MAY CAUSE THE BRAKE LIGHTS TO REMAIN ILLUMINATED WHEN THE BRAKE PEDAL IS RELEASED. A DEFECTIVE STOP LAMP SWITCH MAY ALSO AFFECT THE OPERATION OF...
Consequence: ANY OF THESE MALFUNCTIONS COULD LEAD TO A CRASH.
Remedy: DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE STOP LAMP SWITCH FREE OF CHARGE. THE RECALL BEGAN ON SEPTEMBER 2, 2009. OWNERS MAY CONTACT HYUNDAI OF PUERTO RICO CUSTOMER SERVICE AT 1-787-999-4310.
View full details →Recall 05V479000 — AIR BAGS
| 2,105 vehicles affected
Defect: CERTAIN VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH AN ADVANCED AIR BAG SYSTEM. THE OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (OCS) INSTALLED IN THE RIGHT FRONT SEAT OF THE VEHICLE MAY MISCLASSIFY A CHILD RESTRAINT SEAT (CRS) AS AN ADULT. THIS MAY OCCUR IF THE CRS IS INSTALLED AFTER AN ADULT HAS BEEN SEATED IN THE RIGHT FRONT SEAT. IF THERE HAS NOT BEEN A 'KEY ON'...
Consequence: THE POSSIBILITY OF MISCLASSIFICATION OF A CRS AS AN ADULT MAY ALLOW THE RIGHT FRONT AIRBAG OR SIDE IMPACT AIRBAG TO DEPLOY IN A CRASH AND COULD RESULT IN INJURY TO THE RIGHT FRONT OCCUPANT.
Remedy: DEALERS WILL REPROGRAM THE VEHICLE'S OCS ELECTRONIC CONTROL UNIT (ECU) TO REMOVE THE FEATURE THAT MAY CAUSE THE CRS TO BE RECOGNIZED AS AN ADULT. THE RECALL BEGAN ON NOVEMBER 15, 2005. OWNERS MAY CONTACT HYUNDAI OF PUERTO RICO AT...
View full details →Recall 05V395000 — AIR BAGS
| 231,160 vehicles affected
Defect: CERTAIN VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH AN ADVANCED AIR BAG SYSTEM. THE OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (OCS) INSTALLED IN THE RIGHT FRONT SEAT OF THE VEHICLE MAY MISCLASSIFY A CHILD RESTRAINT SEAT (CRS) AS AN ADULT. THIS MAY OCCUR IF THE CRS IS INSTALLED AFTER AN ADULT HAS BEEN SEATED IN THE RIGHT FRONT SEAT. IF THERE HAS NOT BEEN A 'KEY ON'...
Consequence: THE POSSIBILITY OF MISCLASSIFICATION OF A CRS AS AN ADULT MAY ALLOW THE RIGHT FRONT AIRBAG OR SIDE IMPACT AIRBAG TO DEPLOY IN A CRASH AND COULD RESULT IN INJURY TO THE RIGHT FRONT OCCUPANT.
Remedy: DEALERS WILL REPROGRAM THE VEHICLE'S OCS ELECTRONIC CONTROL UNIT (ECU) TO REMOVE THE FEATURE THAT MAY CAUSE THE CRS TO BE RECOGNIZED AS AN ADULT. THE RECALL BEGAN ON OCTOBER 31, 2005. OWNERS MAY CONTACT HYUNDAI AT 1-800-633-5151.
View full details →Recall 05V187000 — STEERING:LINKAGES:TIE ROD ASSEMBLY
| 277 vehicles affected
Defect: CERTAIN PASSENGER VEHICLES MAY HAVE BEEN BUILT WITH THREADED PORTIONS OF THE STEERING GEARBOX ASSEMBLY'S LEFT AND RIGHT INNER BALL JOINT ASSEMBLIES THAT CONTAIN INTERNAL CRACKS IN THE MATERIAL STRUCTURE.
Consequence: IF THE INNER BALL JOINT ASSEMBLY WAS TO BREAK AS A RESULT OF THE INTERNAL CRACK, THE TIE ROD END ASSEMBLY WOULD NOT LONGER BE ATTACHED TO THE STEERING GEAR BOX. THIS WOULD PREVENT STEERING CONTROL OF THAT FRONT WHEEL BY THE SEPARATED TIE ROD WHICH COULD RESULT IN A CRASH.
Remedy: DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE STEERING GEARBOX ASSEMBLIES ON THESE VEHICLES FREE OF CHARGE. OWNERS WERE CONTACTED BY TELEPHONE BEGINNING ON APRIL 8, 2005, AND INSTRUCTED NOT TO DRIVE THEIR VEHICLES. HYUNDAI WILL ARRANGE TO PICK UP AND RETURN THEIR VEHICLES...
View full details →Owner Complaints for the 2005 HYUNDAI ELANTRA
180 complaints have been filed with NHTSA for the 2005 HYUNDAI ELANTRA. Below is a breakdown by vehicle component.
Most Recent Complaints
UNKNOWN On January 24,2026, I was thankfully traveling only about twenty mph a block from my home and something happened in the front drivers side suspension that caused me to almost hit three parked cars. Once I got stopped, the car couldn’t get get pushed forward, won’t roll at all forward, like it’s in park, but in neutral we were able to push it backwards to the house. It seems that it could be what is described in recall 069. However when I put my vin in it said zero recalls. I see a letter to the original owner of this car, but I don’t see any info with the recall being repaired. The car hasn’t been worked on yet as we had a huge snowstorm the night the car broke and have since had sub zero temps and I’ve not found anyone to work on it in front of my home in this weather. How should I proceed? How can I get more info in regards to if this recall was remedied on this car?
UNKNOWN On January 24,2026, I was thankfully traveling only about twenty mph a block from my home and something happened in the front drivers side suspension that caused me to almost hit three parked cars. Once I got stopped, the car couldn’t get get pushed forward, won’t roll at all forward, like it’s in park, but in neutral we were able to push it backwards to the house. It seems that it could be what is described in recall 069. However when I put my vin in it said zero recalls. I see a letter to the original owner of this car, but I don’t see any info with the recall being repaired. The car hasn’t been worked on yet as we had a huge snowstorm the night the car broke and have since had sub zero temps and I’ve not found anyone to work on it in front of my home in this weather. How should I proceed? How can I get more info in regards to if this recall was remedied on this car?
UNKNOWN On January 24,2026, I was thankfully traveling only about twenty mph a block from my home and something happened in the front drivers side suspension that caused me to almost hit three parked cars. Once I got stopped, the car couldn’t get get pushed forward, won’t roll at all forward, like it’s in park, but in neutral we were able to push it backwards to the house. It seems that it could be what is described in recall 069. However when I put my vin in it said zero recalls. I see a letter to the original owner of this car, but I don’t see any info with the recall being repaired. The car hasn’t been worked on yet as we had a huge snowstorm the night the car broke and have since had sub zero temps and I’ve not found anyone to work on it in front of my home in this weather. How should I proceed? How can I get more info in regards to if this recall was remedied on this car?
I have a 2005 hyundai elantra that the front and rear subframe/ suspension crossmembers are completely rotted out. There is a safety recall that I found online for 2003 elantras for this same problem, but I can't seem to find anything for a 2005 model. They are the same body style and it's the same exact crossmember used on these years. Hyundai knew there was an issue and they never fixed it for the 2005 model year. The rear crossmember rotted right through on mine and the back tires almost fell off of the car. Luckily I was right down the road from my house when it happened. After I replaced the rear crossmember, I noticed that the front was just as bad and there's a Crack and as soon as I pushed on it with my fingers, they went right through the metal and now there's a baseball sized rust hole right by the lower control arms on both sides of the front suspension crossmember. The car has just over 100,000 miles and now it's not drivable. There are dozens of reports online with people reporting the same exact issue. Myself or another driver could have been killed if this happened on the highway. The body is in nice shape on the car, so it's not like the whole car is rusted out. I looked for a new crossmember on multiple elantras in the junkyard and they all have the same issue, the body's are in good shape but both crossmembers are completely rotted away. This was an issue that hyundai had a recall on and never fixed for this year. There are many of these models still on the road that are an accident waiting to happen as well. Apparently from what I've read, the crossmembers and control arms never had any drain holes in them and they would rot from the inside out. Here's a link to the same issue for the 2003 year. I'll upload pictures of the crossmember and the underside of the car showing that the car isn't all rusted out, it's just the crossmembers. [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
As I was driving about 25-30 mph when the front drivers side lower control arm snapped, resulting in loss of control and steering, which could’ve caused a major accident if driven on a highway/interstate at a higher rate of speed. The damage revealed the control arm had rotted from the inside and had broken from the bushing connected to the frame, with no indication of rust in the outside, which has been something that has documented with other same generation Hyundais. I have not been able to bring it to a dealer or mechanic to have it checked
Safety Rating for the 2005 HYUNDAI ELANTRA
NHTSA has not yet tested the 2005 HYUNDAI ELANTRA in its New Car Assessment Program.
Technical Service Bulletins for the 2005 HYUNDAI ELANTRA
Hyundai Motor America has issued 2 technical service bulletins (TSBs) for the 2005 HYUNDAI ELANTRA. TSBs are notices sent by manufacturers to their dealers describing a known issue and the recommended repair procedure.
0501004 — POWER TRAIN:MANUAL TRANSMISSION
TRANSMISSION GEARSHIFT KNOB CAP REPLACEMENT - SERVICE CAMPAIGN T14. *TT
01011901 — AIR BAGS
AIRBAG REPROGRAMMING GUIDE. *TT
NHTSA Investigations for the 2005 HYUNDAI ELANTRA
There are no NHTSA defect investigations on record for this vehicle.
Other Model Years of the HYUNDAI ELANTRA
- 2000 HYUNDAI ELANTRA — 259 complaints
- 2001 HYUNDAI ELANTRA — 445 complaints
- 2002 HYUNDAI ELANTRA — 431 complaints
- 2003 HYUNDAI ELANTRA — 310 complaints
- 2004 HYUNDAI ELANTRA — 209 complaints
- 2005 HYUNDAI ELANTRA (current)
- 2006 HYUNDAI ELANTRA — 209 complaints
- 2007 HYUNDAI ELANTRA — 364 complaints
- 2008 HYUNDAI ELANTRA — 423 complaints
- 2009 HYUNDAI ELANTRA — 312 complaints
- 2010 HYUNDAI ELANTRA — 494 complaints
Other HYUNDAI Models
- HYUNDAI SONATA — 21,725 total complaints
- HYUNDAI SANTA FE — 9,835 total complaints
- HYUNDAI TUCSON — 7,920 total complaints
- HYUNDAI ACCENT — 2,733 total complaints
- HYUNDAI PALISADE — 2,456 total complaints
- HYUNDAI VELOSTER — 1,738 total complaints
- HYUNDAI GENESIS — 1,702 total complaints
- HYUNDAI IONIQ 5 — 1,636 total complaints