Parking brake failure on the 2010 Hyundai Elantra
Only 3 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When parking brake failure gets reported
There are 3 reports of parking brake failure on the 2010 Hyundai Elantra, 3 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 26th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 42,000 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
Putting it right typically runs $250–$1,300 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 7 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2012, at a median of 20,000 miles, and latest on the 2007 at 110,000 miles.
By volume the 2008 carries the most reports, with 21; the 2010 has 3. 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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2010 hyundai elantra. The contact stated that while driving at 30 MPH, the vehicle experienced unintended acceleration. The failure occurred without warning. The vehicle could not be stopped even when the brake pedal was depressed. The vehicle was able to be stopped and parked when the emergency brake was applied. The vehicle was restarted and operated as normal. The failure had occurred on several occasions. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was not diagnosed. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle failure mileage was approximately 42,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2010 hyundai elantra. The contact stated that while driving at 30 MPH, the vehicle experienced unintended acceleration. The failure occurred without warning. The vehicle could not be stopped even when the brake pedal was depressed. The vehicle was able to be stopped and parked when the emergency brake was applied. The vehicle was restarted and operated as normal. The failure had occurred on several occasions. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was not diagnosed. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle failure mileage was approximately 42,000.
When putting the car in park on a incline the transmission fails to hold the car resulting in the car rolling away while unoccupied, I put my 2010 elantra in park got out of it to get something from the back sseat, the car was on an incline at the time in my driveway. As I reached to open the rear driver side door I hear a loud bang and then I had about a second to look around and then the transmission made a repetitve banging and clicking sound as the car started rolling backwards. I had to open the front driver door and hop in the car while it was moving so I could hit the brake pedal to stop the car. After this I went to a local hyundai dealer and talked to them about the issue the told me they have seen this before and had to replace transmissions in the cars affected. I bought mine from a used car lot about ten days ago I am taking it back and they are going to attempt to fix the car, however I would like a recall issed so I can take this car to get the problem fixed so I know for sure this is not going to happpen again.. As of right now I have to use the emergency brake to hold the car to be sure its not going to roll away…
Also reported on the 2010 Hyundai Elantra
Other steering problem
Steering column or shaft failure
Other electrical problem
Other powertrain problem
Other brake problem
Other body or interior problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 3 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 3 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 parking brake failure happen on the 2010 Hyundai Elantra?
Across 3 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 40,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is parking brake failure on the 2010 Hyundai Elantra?
3 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 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