2005 HYUNDAI ELANTRA — Complaint #738817
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SEAT BELTS:INTEGRATED CHILD SEAT filed October 8, 2009
NHTSA complaint #738817 (ODI reference 10286747) concerns a 2005 HYUNDAI ELANTRA and was filed on October 8, 2009. The owner reports the failure occurred on November 18, 2007. The vehicle had 8,584 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to North Carolina based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as seat belts:integrated child seat, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: yes, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. A complaint that flags a crash, fire, or fatality is escalated on NHTSA's internal review queue and factors more heavily into any Preliminary Evaluation decision on this make and model. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same HYUNDAI ELANTRA cohort independently describe similar seat belts:integrated child seat failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2005 HYUNDAI ELANTRA shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
PURCHASED 2005 HYUNDAI ELANTRA NOVEMBER 14, 2007. DEALERSHIP CARFAX SHOWED 40,836 ODOMETER MILES. DEALERSHIP ODOMETER DISCLOSURE STATEMENT SHOWED 8,494. NOVEMBER 18, 2007 DROVE I-26 IN COLUMBIA, SC. DROVE ON EMERGENCY STRIP TO AVOID DEBRIS ON ROAD. REAR END SPUN OUT AND LOST CONTROL OF CAR. CRASHED INTO 18 WHEELER AND PUSHED ACROSS INTERSTATE, UP AN EMBANKMENT, UNDER A CATCH FENCE AND STOPPED ON A SERVICE ROAD. A TOTAL LOSS. NOT UNTIL 11/29/07 THAT I WAS MADE AWARE OF A POSSIBLE RECALL ON THE STEERING LINKAGE TIE ROD ASSEMBLY. AIR BAG DID NOT DEPLOY. DMV.ORG REPORT OF 11/24/07 SHOWS ODOMETER READING 40,836 AND NO ODOMETER PROBLEM TITLE RECORD. CARFAX REPORT STATED NO RECALLS REPORTED. I CONTACTED THE DEALERSHIPS HEADQUARTERS ABOUT THE ODOMETER DISCREPANCY. SHORTLY THEREAFTER, THE CARFAX INFO WAS CHANGED SHOWING ODOMETER READING 8,584 AND ALSO THEY BACKDATED INFORMATION. SHOWED ODOMETER DISCREPANCY ON THE ALTERED REPORT. JUST CLERICAL ERRORS? IF WE SUFFERED A TOTAL LOSS, HOW COME OUR
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 738817 |
| ODI Number | 10286747 |
| Date Filed | October 8, 2009 |
| Failure Date | November 18, 2007 |
| VIN | KMHDN56DX5U |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.