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Hyundai has been around in the United States for almost four decades now. Initially well-received, Hyundai largely became the butt of jokes in the automotive world for a long while. Lately, however, the South Korean brand has completely revamped their image, and a Hyundai is no longer synonymous with an unimpressive commuter. Hyundai’s cars were quite frequently faulty too, but that is no longer the case. Now a youthful brand that launches increasingly impressive cars across every segment, Hyundai has certainly changed for the better.
However, for a brand that has been here in the US for 36 years, they certainly have skeletons they’d like to keep buried. Over the course of Hyundai’s time in America, the manufacturer has put out some surprisingly bad cars that were nothing but disappointments. Let’s take a look at ten of the worst Hyundai cars ever.
10/10 1986 Hyundai Excel
The Hyundai Excel was the car Hyundai came into the USA with. In its very first year, the Excel was quite a popular option, selling over 150,000 units, and it even managed to leave American cars behind due to how aggressively Hyundai had priced it.
However, owners soon came to realize that the excessive cost-cutting Hyundai had done led to an extremely faulty car that was plagued with problems. Naturally, sales plummeted, and going forward, people began to mock Hyundai as a brand. The Excel wasn’t just a bad car, it was a bad first impression, and it took years for Hyundai to fix that.
9/10 1998 Hyundai Accent
The Excel had to leave the US due to its increasingly poor sales, and thus, Hyundai replaced it with the Accent in 1994. Just four years later in 1998, the Accent failed its crash tests. It was found that the passenger compartment in the 1998 Hyundai Accent was very unstable during a collision.
As a result, this increased the risk of a major chest injury to occupants during a side crash. So much so that the Accent didn’t even make the legal minimum requirement. This is why Hyundai had to pull out the Accent in 1999, and the Accent became just another failed car that could have but didn’t improve on the failed Excel. Of course, today, the Accent has certainly come a long way.
8/10 2013 Hyundai Elantra GT
Hyundai’s 2013 Elantra GT was the newest in their lineup at the time. Sadly, it meant that the car was far from refined, and it definitely suffered for it. The 2013 Hyundai Elantra GT was plagued with the engine, steering, and electrical problems.
Owners complained about an incessant and loud ticking noise coming from the engine, but that wasn’t all. The engine itself jerked and stalled frequently. Not only did the clicking noise come from the steering wheel as well, but the wheel itself also was not fastened tightly enough. This was a tough year for Hyundai and the Elantra GT.
7/10 2003 Hyundai Tiburon
The 2003 Hyundai Tiburon was simply a bad car from start to finish. After all, it was recalled nine different times, which is quite telling. A suspension issue was the biggest problem with the Tiburon, where road salt corroded the front lower control arms.
This resulted in the control arms weakening and becoming perforated, increasing the chances of a crash and injury for all occupants. It was also plagued with electrical problems, the biggest of which was the battery wires coming loose and the car refusing to start.
6/10 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe
The Santa Fe has done well for itself over the past few years, and it even sells a lot better in the USA than it does in Korea. However, the 2008 model of the Santa Fe is not one that Hyundai would like anyone to talk about.
Recalled a whopping eight times, the 2008 Santa Fe had troubles with its airbag deployment, as the system didn’t register people of smaller sizes. The fuel level sensor failed for almost all owners, and the fuel gauge itself remained inaccurate. Add to that the engine problems of stalling, and gaskets leaking, Hyundai had a terrible car on their hands, and so did the poor owners.
5/10 2011 Hyundai Sonata
Originally introduced to the American consumer in 1989, the Hyundai Sonata has not had the best amount of success over recent years. 2011, however, stands out as a particularly horrible year for the car, where droves of customers complained about the erratic engine.
The engine of the 2011 Hyundai Sonata stalled and seized in the middle of the drive for no reason, and it also made excessive noise and consumed oil like there was no tomorrow. In fact, some models even caught fire.
4/10 2004 Hyundai Accent
The Hyundai Accent in 2004 surprised its owners as they saw complete transmission failure in their car even before the 100,000-mile mark. This had no other solution other than to completely replace the transmission.
Not only was this a costly affair, but it also didn’t do anything positive for the brand’s image, which, throughout the 2000s, remained that of an unreliable foreign brand. Customers also reported overdrive failure in the 2004 Hyundai Accent.
3/10 2015 Hyundai Genesis
Hyundai hadn’t quite got the right formula for great cars even when they were well into the middle of the 2010s. Even though the current Genesis is one of the best cars in the brand’s lineup, the 2015 model year simply wasn’t good enough.
Electrical and battery issues plagued the 2015 Hyundai Genesis, and even the engine refused to turn over or start on multiple occasions for many users. Anyone impressed by the current Genesis and thus thinking of settling for an older model would be heartbroken by the number of interior accessory problems and transmission issues the 2015 Genesis came with.
2/10 2012 Hyundai Santa Fe
Hyundai’s cars and engine failures almost seemed to go hand-in-hand for the longest time, and such was the case for the 2012 Santa Fe as well. Unsurprisingly, complete engine failure in the 2012 Hyundai Santa Fe was a common occurrence.
The engine seized and stalled in the middle of the drive, increasing the risk of crashing hugely. This wasn’t the only problem the vehicle had, either, as electrical faults were also reported, with the main one being the key fob’s utter failure to open the doors a lot of times.
1/10 2013 Hyundai Elantra
The Hyundai Elantra is one of the brand’s best offerings on their lineup today, but in its fifth generation, it proved to be a terrible car for owners as well as Hyundai’s brand image.
Not only was the engine prone to complete failure, but it also made incessant ticking noises at all times. In fact, owners reported rough shakes and vibrations from the engine as well. On some occasions, owners reported no acceleration from the 2013 Elantra, and even the tires wore out quite prematurely, with even low-mileage tires blowing out.
While Hyundai is a great car manufacturer today with impressive vehicles in their lineup, it took them quite a while to cement themselves as one of the main players in the market, and more importantly, one of the more reliable ones.
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