The redesign fixes the engine and finds seven new recalls — but they are the fixable kind.

Hyundai is recalling certain 2021 and 2022 Santa Fe, Santa Fe HEV, Elantra and Elantra HEV vehicles, along with 2022 Elantra N and Santa Fe PHEV models, because a damaged printed circuit board may cause the rearview camera image to fail to display. That makes the car non-compliant with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 111, the rear-visibility rule, and NHTSA's stated consequence is reduced driver visibility and increased crash risk. Dealers replace the rearview camera free of charge and owner letters were mailed on 14 January 2025. Hyundai's number is 271. Owners in the complaint file describe the failure well — a screen that appears half on and half off, or goes black, worsening with every use — and at least one reports being told the repair had no available solution. Put the car in reverse on the test drive and confirm the camera works, then check the VIN separately, because a working camera today does not mean the recall is closed.

This is the single most repeated complaint on the new Elantra and it has a genuinely useful answer. Hyundai's bulletin states that certain Elantra, Elantra N and Elantra Hybrid vehicles may experience an inoperable horn, and that the warranty coverage for the horn replacement under this condition has been extended to 10 years or 120,000 miles from original retail delivery or first use, whichever comes first, valid for original and subsequent owners, with instructions to install the latest design. A companion bulletin states the scope as 2021 to 2025 model year Elantra, 2022 to 2025 Elantra N and 2021 to 2025 Elantra Hybrid. The complaint file shows why it exists: owners on their second and third horn, a horn that never worked from purchase, a horn whose fuse blows every time it is replaced, and several who only discovered the fault at the moment they needed it. Press the horn on the viewing — it takes a second, and if it does not sound, that is a free repair for a decade rather than a negotiation. Note that this is a warranty extension, not a safety recall.

Hyundai is recalling certain 2021 Elantras because the driver and front passenger seat back recliners may have been improperly welded. NHTSA's stated consequence is that an improperly welded recliner could separate from the seat back frame during a crash, increasing the risk of injury. Dealers inspect and if necessary replace the seat back frame assembly free of charge, owner letters were mailed on 21 June 2021, and Hyundai's number is 204. This is a 2021-only campaign — it does not name the 2022 car, despite one popular video attributing it to that year. Straightforward to close out, and worth confirming given what the seat back is for.

Hyundai is recalling certain 2020 and 2021 Santa Fe and 2021 Sonata and Elantra vehicles because, during manufacturing, the windshield may not have been properly bonded to the vehicle, allowing it to detach in a crash. Dealers remove and reinstall the front windshield panel free of charge, owner letters were mailed on 20 June 2022, and Hyundai's number is 216. A bonded windshield is structural on a modern car — it helps the roof hold up in a rollover and gives the passenger airbag something to push against — so this is not a glass-cosmetics recall. One thing to watch on a used example: if the windshield has since been replaced for a stone chip, ask who did it and whether the recall was recorded, because the paperwork and the physical car can diverge here.

The Elantra Hybrid arrives for 2021 and its 29 complaints are two stories. The first has a recall: 23V589 covers 2021 to 2023 Elantra HEV vehicles where a software error in the motor control unit may cause unintended vehicle acceleration after the brake pedal is released. Dealers update the motor control unit software free of charge, owner letters were mailed on 29 September 2023, and Hyundai's number is 248. Owners describe it vividly — a car surging more than 15 mph above the set speed with a foot off the accelerator, another accelerating against the brakes at a red light — and one reports it recurring a month after the software was applied, which is worth knowing. The second story has no recall but does have a bulletin. Owners get a "Check Hybrid System" warning followed by sudden loss of motive power, sometimes at motorway speed, and restore the car by pressing a 12-volt reset button on the dashboard. Hyundai's bulletin identifies the condition on Elantra, Sonata and Tucson hybrids as diagnostic code P1BB20, 12V Lithium Battery Cell Voltage High, which triggers a warning light and can put the car into limp mode, and prescribes a Battery Management System software update. Dealers frequently cannot reproduce it, so ask whether that BMS update has been applied by name.

A consistent 2021 cluster with no recall behind it. Owners report the forward radar failing and disabling everything that depends on it — forward collision warning, adaptive cruise control, lane keeping, blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert, often all lighting up at once. Several link it to weather, describing the sensors dropping out in rain or snow and sometimes recovering on their own. One records diagnostic code C162078. Hyundai does have a related bulletin for this model year, though it addresses the opposite direction: a transmission control unit update for 2021 Elantras with the 2.0-litre engine and the IVT gearbox, revising the damper clutch logic to address a potential engine stall immediately following Forward Collision Avoidance activation at low engine speed. IVT stands for Intelligent Variable Transmission, Hyundai's name for a continuously variable gearbox — one with no fixed gears. So the safety system intervening and the car stalling are connected on this car, and there is a software fix. Ask whether it has been applied, and on the test drive check that no assist warnings are latched on the dashboard.

Hyundai's bulletins describe Campaign 993, an anti-theft software upgrade with window decals, alongside Campaign P32 for steering-wheel locks and Campaign 9A5 for a reinforced ignition-cylinder protector, launched after a rise in thefts of 2011 to 2022 Hyundai vehicles not equipped with engine immobilizers and targeted through social media. Every Elantra row carrying these campaigns lists model years 2011 to 2022, so the 2021 is in the population. The related class settlement gives the test you can run yourself: cars built without an immobilizer have traditional turn-key-to-start ignitions, so a push-button-start Elantra is not in this group. These are campaigns and a settlement, not safety recalls, and the software is free. Ask whether 993 has been applied, and note that one Hyundai bulletin warns the software update can make the horn honk on remote start until a separate remote-start module update is done — a different fault from the horn failure above.