Hyundai, Kia Engine Defect Class Action Transferred to Calif. Court

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On Tuesday, an Illinois federal judge issued an order directing the transfer of a class action lawsuit over alleged Hyundai and Kia engine defects to California federal court, where similar lawsuits are currently pending.

Plaintiff Andrea Smolek and defendants Hyundai Motor America and Kia Motors America Inc. jointly asked the court to transfer the engine defect class action lawsuit to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California so that it could be coordinated with three related cases.

“As the parties have stipulated to transfer to the Central District of California, and in light of the related proceedings already pending there, it appears a transfer would serve both the convenience of the parties and the interests of justice,” U.S. District Judge Marvin E. Aspen wrote in his order.

The Illinois class action lawsuit was filed by Smolek in April, just a few months after an $8.59 million class action settlement with Hyundai in California. Smolek seeks to represent a Class of Illinois residents who owned or leased Kia and/or Hyundai vehicles with Theta II engines that were not subject to recalls by the motor companies.

Smolek says she bought a new 2015 Kia Sorento LX in the Chicago area in 2014. Less than two years after the purchase, she says she heard loud noises coming from the engine which were “punctuated by a loud bang, the violent shaking of her vehicle, and the illumination of the check engine light on the instrument panel.”

When she took her vehicle to a Kia dealership, a technician checked the engine and told her the vehicle’s oil had turned to sludge, the Kia class action lawsuit says. The technician blamed the issue on Smolek never changing the vehicle’s oil even though she produced documentation to show the oil had been changed in accordance with Kia’s guidelines.

According to the Kia engine defect class action lawsuit, Kia denied Smolek’s warranty claim. Kia reportedly agreed to inspect the engine but would charge her $1,000 if the technicians could not find a defect. She was also reportedly told that the vehicle’s engine needed to be replaced before she left the dealership or her warranty would be voided.

Smolek says she felt that she had no other option and purchased a new engine from the Kia dealership for $6,000. To pay this cost, she says she took out two high-interest loans.

The Kia class action lawsuit claims that the engine defect arises from a design flaw in the Theta II engine, which allows contaminants to enter the engine’s fuel injection system. The contaminants cause the oil to thicken and the engine to fail.

Hyundai reportedly recalled vehicles with the Theta II engine in September 2015 and March 2017, claiming the issue was related to metal debris that was left in the engine during the manufacturing process, not an engine defect. Kia recalled vehicles with the Theta II engine in March.

Hyundai and Kia reportedly recalled about 1.66 million vehicles in North America. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration subsequently initiated an investigation into the Hyundai and Kia recall.

Smolek is represented by Stacy Bardo of Bardo Law PC.

The Hyundai, Kia Engine Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Andrea Smolek v. Hyundai Motor America (Corporation), et al., Case No. 1:18-cv-02716, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.