2012 hyundai elantra will not start or crank

Asked by joshdalrymple Jan 05, 2015 at 10:35 AM about the 2012 Hyundai Elantra GLS FWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

The car wouldn't crank or start when I got to the gas station.  After multiple tries with
putting the car shifter in park to neutral and switching the gears it finally started.  I
called the dealership and took it down to get looked at.  As I was driving it down to the
dealership as I was approaching the traffic light I realized the car wasn't running
anymore and by this point I had limited brake assistance and also lost all power
steering and had to use the e-brake to help with stopping the vehicle to prevent the
accident that was about to happen.  This was a great thing that I was driving and not
my wife as she would've froze and might not have been able to think how to get the
car to stop in which this could have been a accident with bodily injury or even
possible death of the person driving the car or the innocent person that was collected
up in the accident but no one would know as it didn't happen, thank god for this.  I had
the car towed the rest of the way to the dealership and they looked at it and the car
started for them and they tested the Battery, alternator, and starter and all tested
good so they gave the car back to me stating it was the AC invert-or that was plugged
in to the cigarette lighter.  I told them that I plugged the invert-or in after the car died
to charge my phone but they still insisted that I was lying i guess.  I drove the car off
the lot and a few days later the same thing happened again but I was going 35 mph
and was able to stop the car with no incident as I was afraid to drive the car normal
speed and knew it would happen again as the dealer ship had not found anything
faulty.  Now it sits in the driveway and is completely dead and will not start.  The
dealership Major Hyundai of Stroudsburg, PA 18360 will not allow me to bring my car
back to them and Hyundai will only tow it to the closest dealership which happens to
be them.

4 Answers

11,065

The reason you had limited braking is because the brakes are vacuum assisted. The power steering is assisted by the power steering pump driven by the serpentine belt. Without the engine running, you have neither. Could be the neutral safety switch since you were able to start it in neutral and not park. After that I have no other guesses.

1 people found this helpful.

It wouldn't start in neutral I had to keep switching gears and finally in park it did start. Is there a switch that allows the car to start once it's in park? The reason I ask is because it feels like when you try to start the car with the shifter in the drive position were everything works but no turning over

11,065

The neutral safety switch is designed to prevent people from starting cars in drive or park, anything that could cause the car to accidently move without the driver expecting it to. When it starts going out you can sometimes start the car in neutral

1 people found this helpful.
130

There is a huge thread of Elantra owners not being able to start their cars. http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/Discussion-t40609_ds554427?sntEmlId=500929339#msg556342

5 people found this helpful.

Your Answer:

Elantra

Looking for a Used Elantra in your area?

CarGurus has 3,192 nationwide Elantra listings starting at $1,850.

Postal Code:

CarGurus Experts

  • #1
    G. Jacob Durbin
    Reputation
    3,620
  • #2
    Taku Zhou
    Reputation
    3,090
  • #3
    Pirdman
    Reputation
    2,890
View All

Find great deals from top-rated dealers

Search

Related Models For Sale

Used Hyundai Sonata
39 Great Deals out of 1,036 listings starting at $3,499
Used Honda Civic
159 Great Deals out of 3,391 listings starting at $2,230
Used Toyota Corolla
120 Great Deals out of 1,950 listings starting at $1,995
Used Honda Accord
44 Great Deals out of 907 listings starting at $2,799
Used Toyota Camry
49 Great Deals out of 952 listings starting at $2,212
Used Kia Forte
80 Great Deals out of 1,203 listings starting at $2,500
Used Nissan Altima
27 Great Deals out of 672 listings starting at $2,000
Used Nissan Sentra
67 Great Deals out of 1,830 listings starting at $2,495
Used Hyundai Elantra GT
24 Great Deals out of 258 listings starting at $4,995
Used Mazda MAZDA3
76 Great Deals out of 1,519 listings starting at $2,299
Used Hyundai Accent
31 Great Deals out of 389 listings starting at $2,499
Used Hyundai Tucson
82 Great Deals out of 2,174 listings starting at $1,591

Content submitted by Users is not endorsed by CarGurus, does not express the opinions of CarGurus, and should not be considered reviewed, screened, or approved by CarGurus. Please refer to CarGurus Terms of Use. Content will be removed if CarGurus becomes aware that it violates our policies.