Other electrical problem on the 2009 Hyundai Elantra
1 crash 2 fires 3 of the 13 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 other electrical problem gets reported
Owners of the 2009 Hyundai Elantra report other electrical problem at a median of 70,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 90,000 miles, from 12 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 6th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 20,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 110,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 85,700 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
17% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21,900 miles | 46,500 miles | 70,500 miles | 90,500 miles | 107,600 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, 1 a crash and 2 a fire 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 $250–$2,000 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 26 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2004, at a median of 1,500 miles, and latest on the 2001 at 160,000 miles.
By volume the 2013 carries the most reports, with 73; the 2009 has 13. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
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.
On my way to work on august 8, 2013, I was on the freeway in the early morning rush hour traffic driving approximately 50 MPH when my power steering went complete out and the eps light came. I took the vehicle to the hyundai dealership and after they inspected the vehicle, they indicated that it was a known issue and they had developed an update that they could upload it to to the computer responsible for the power steering in the vehicle. Once the update was run, the vehicle was driving like normal. This morning on july 4, 2014, I went to start my vehicle and was driving again in the early morning rush hour traffic, and low and behold the eps light came on again. I will be contacting the dealership first thing in the morning and asking they inspect the vehicle. I doubt that this time an update will fix the problem as it has occurred twice now and expect that it will cost tons to fix the vehicle. This time I have done research on various hyundai forums and just googling the term "eps light hyundai elantra 2009" and found that many individuals are experiencing the same issue with the eps light. This is a hazard and is something…
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 hyundai elantra. While driving approximately 35 MPH, the transmission exhibited hesitation. The failure recurred numerous times. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who flushed the transmission. The failure persisted after the service was performed. In addition, the horn failed to operate intermittently. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified. The approximate failure mileage was 20,000.
Backing out of a "fast food" drive thru lane , car did not turn, as normal, and struck a pole with the passenger side back panel. At the time I had no explanation for why car didn't follow the driveway curve. I have never as an adult had an at fault accident, and had no explanation for this. The part has been recalled on my car. I am on a fixed income & could not afford to get car repaired. I put report into hyundai, but need to know liability for "accident" & repairs. I called your phone line & was put in touch with hyundai & have case #[xxx]. This form won't allow me to enter "eps control unit". Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6). *tr
Also reported on the 2009 Hyundai Elantra
Other steering problem
Steering column or shaft failure
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Loss of power steering
Other speed control problem
Other brake problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 13 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 other electrical problem happen on the 2009 Hyundai Elantra?
Across 12 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 70,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 90,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other electrical problem on the 2009 Hyundai Elantra?
13 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 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