Fuel pump failure on the 2008 Hyundai Elantra
3 crashes 3 injuries 6 of the 43 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When fuel pump failure gets reported
Owners of the 2008 Hyundai Elantra report fuel pump failure at a median of 1,200 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 600 miles and a quarter after 5,000 miles, from 41 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 300 miles at the tenth percentile to 20,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 19,325 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
Reports bunched into a band this tight usually mean the component has a life of its own: it goes at roughly the same mileage regardless of who owns it.
90% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 325 miles | 600 miles | 1,201 miles | 3,917 miles | 19,650 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 3 a crash and 3 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $600–$2,600 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 3 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2008, at a median of 1,200 miles, and latest on the 2012 at 120,000 miles.
By volume the 2008 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
New 2008 hyundai elantra gls, had problems in 1st gear engine would shut off and sometimes it would run very ruff ,sometimes starting the car I would turn the key and it was like the battery was dead had to do it 2 or 3 times before the starter would catch on and start the car. I only drove this car for 12 days before taking it into the dealer for a complete check up also the alarm wasnt working. They told me that the fuel pump was bad (new car only 1000 miles????) and it should take a few days to get the part in, then after a week they told me they were still waiting on the part and there is a "natl back order on this part" and they should be getting in the part soon they hope. Week 2 there still waiting on the part and he has 4 cars waiting for the same part all elantras (3from their stock). Week 3 still waiting, still no part, I called hyundai they told me they dont know of any problems or possible recalls on the part and promised to call me back in 24 to 48 hrs, I had to call them back 4 days later asking why I didnt get a call back, another customer care agent helped me this time saying that she is so sorry im having such…
New 2008 hyundai elantra gls, had problems in 1st gear engine would shut off and sometimes it would run very ruff ,sometimes starting the car I would turn the key and it was like the battery was dead had to do it 2 or 3 times before the starter would catch on and start the car. I only drove this car for 12 days before taking it into the dealer for a complete check up also the alarm wasnt working. They told me that the fuel pump was bad (new car only 1000 miles????) and it should take a few days to get the part in, then after a week they told me they were still waiting on the part and there is a "natl back order on this part" and they should be getting in the part soon they hope. Week 2 there still waiting on the part and he has 4 cars waiting for the same part all elantras (3from their stock). Week 3 still waiting, still no part, I called hyundai they told me they dont know of any problems or possible recalls on the part and promised to call me back in 24 to 48 hrs, I had to call them back 4 days later asking why I didnt get a call back, another customer care agent helped me this time saying that she is so sorry im having such…
We purchased the vehicle new in april of 2008. The vehicle abruptly looses engine power, shuts down and stops. This has now occurred three times. On june 6th the vehicle broke down in traffic. It was towed to the dealer. They repaired a pvc hose that had collapsed. After picking up the vehicle the following day, the same event occurred, stranding us in the middle of a divided, heavily traveled, road. The vehicle was again towed to the dealer for repairs. This time the fuel pump was replaced. After waiting five days for the part to be delivered, I picked up the car once again. My wife had earlier noticed a very strong odor of gasoline after we brought it home. On june 19th I was out running errands with my children. The vehicle, again shut down in the middle of the road. I again had the vehicle towed to the dealer. The service manager then informed me he had just found out hyundai was having a problem with the fuel systems on their 2008 elantra models. I then called hyundai customer service to file a complaint about the vehicle. I also ask the representative to check on any recalls or campaigns against my vehicle. After checking…
Also reported on the 2008 Hyundai Elantra
Other steering problem
Other brake problem
Other engine problem
Parking brake failure
Other electrical problem
Cruise control failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 43 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does fuel pump failure happen on the 2008 Hyundai Elantra?
Across 41 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 1,200 miles. A quarter were filed before 600 miles and a quarter after 5,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is fuel pump failure on the 2008 Hyundai Elantra?
43 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.7 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed