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Last week, Hyundai Motor America Inc. was hit with a class action lawsuit in California federal court alleging that the motor company failed to disclose a defect in the engine of its 2011 to 2015 Sonata models.
Lead plaintiff Beth Graham, a Sonata owner, alleged in her class action lawsuit that Hyundai did not disclose that the engine in the Sonata model was manufactured with a defect in its rotating assembly that causes “sudden and catastrophic engine failure.”
“The rotating assembly cannot withstand the long-term stress generated within the Sonata’s combustion chambers and fails within the useful life of the engine (most failures occur between 60,000 to 90,000 miles),” the Hyundai class action lawsuit alleges. “When the rotating assembly fails, it does so without warning and causes the engine to seize suddenly—leaving Sonata drivers without power and struggling to maneuver the vehicle to safety.”
Graham further alleges that in addition to concealing this defect from Sonata owners and failing to issue a recall, Hyundai improperly denied warranty coverage to owners whose engines failed due to the defect. “Hyundai has concealed the problem from consumers and implemented a concerted practice of denying warranty coverage for failed engines,” the engine defect class action lawsuit alleges.
“Hyundai tells Sonata owners that they must submit a complete record of the vehicle’s maintenance history before making a warranty claim—even though it knows that Sonata engines fail regardless of owner maintenance and that the faulty rotating assembly is responsible,” Graham alleges in the Hyundai class action lawsuit. “For those warranty claims that are submitted, Hyundai’s practice is to deny them based on inadequate maintenance records or improper maintenance,” she continues. “Hyundai denies that engine failures are widespread in Sonata vehicles and blames its customers for the problem—forcing them to pay as much as $10,000 for an engine replacement.”
Graham also alleges in her class action lawsuit that Hyundai was or should have been aware of the defect. “Hyundai is, of course, currently aware that Sonata engines are seizing in record numbers,” the Hyundai class action lawsuit alleges. “It provides Hyundai dealerships with replacement engines and carefully tracks both part sales and the type of repairs conducted by its dealerships,” Graham further explains.
“In addition, many Sonata owners have complained to their dealership and to Hyundai’s corporate office—to no avail,” the Hyundai class action lawsuit continues. “The strong likelihood is that Hyundai knew of the rotating assembly defect much earlier, likely before Class Vehicles were ever released to the public.” Graham further points out that discovery and review of Hyundai’s internal records will be necessary to know whether Hyundai was aware of the defect, “but the rotating assembly defect is one that would typically be discovered during standard pre-release testing,” she contends.
Graham alleges that Hyundai violated various state laws and class members are entitled to costs and damages. The proposed Class includes “[a]ll persons who purchased or leased a 2011-2015 Hyundai Sonata within the United States.”
Graham is represented by Eric H. Gibbs, Dylan Hughes, and Steve Lopez of Gibbs Law Group LLP.
The Hyundai Sonata Engine Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Graham v. Hyundai Motor America Inc., Case No. 5:15-cv-02071, in U.S. District Court for the Northern District for California.
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310 thoughts onClass Action: Hyundai Failed to Disclose Sonata Engine Defect
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Im having the same issue with my 2015 sonata is burning oil like crazy literally have to put 3 quarts every 1 to 2 weeks. My car is still cover under the warranty but yet they’re not taking responsibility for it. They send me to do an oil consumption test which every shop I called don’t offer that test.
I took my 2016 Sonata Hybrid to the dealer where I bought it and they are the only ones who have touched it for ALL maintenance and repairs for 5 1/2 years. They have a new service manager and my husband went with me on this one. At this time I did not have the official “Paper” recall notice, but had printed one off of my monthly “Vehicle Health Report” that gets sent to my email. ( This was after a mechanic we know had to fill it up with 3 quarts of oil ( about 2 months after my regular oil change at the dealership) — we took it to this mechanic in an emergency situation because we heard the noise, my husband checked the oil and it didn’t even register on the stick !
He added all new oil to it that day and told us about the recall.
When we went to the dealership the so called Service manager said it was “Normal” for these cars to burn a quart at least every 1000 miles. ( by the way: mine now is going through a quart about every 400 miles). He told me there was a test they had to do on it but did not have time that day. ( When I told him I thought I should have been notified of a recall this serious directly by the dealership – he had the nerve to sit there and my husband saw him hitting the keyboard as he was verifying my email – and in it there are (2) r’s ….. he asked me “how many r’s in your email?? I told him and he turned his monitor around and said ” oh, here’s the problem your email is incorrect……… I knew then he was a liar -I told him I have been getting emails from their direct dealership since I bought the car and my email had always been on record.
Bottom line, I lost trust in them right then and there. I took it for the “APPOINTMENT” at a “sister” dealership and they took it in, and about an hour later – ( again, I had my husband stop by so they wouldn’t think they were just talking to a dumb woman – and he said the same thing – ” well, it’s not unusual for these cars to burn a quart of oil within 1,000 miles) I know better than that – its burning internally just like the recall said ! I am now adding a quart every 400 miles. I just saw on my email vehicle health report “Recall 198 Cleared” They cleared it and did absolutely NOTHING. ( The independent mechanic I trust said Hyundai is having to replace many engines because of this) Of course, they don’t want to mess with me because mine has 150,000+ miles on it – but I have maintained it very well and its like new with the exception of this.
I am trading cars this summer but it will not be a Hyundai – lost total faith in them. (Just hope my car does not catch on fire before I decide what I want to buy )
TOP CLASS ACTIONS ARE YOU READING all these people and you know there is a lot more out there getting denied, this is the second time I file a request for a class action we are STILL GETTING SCREWED BY HYUNDAI CORPORATE . 71000 IS NOT MUCH MILAGE AND A QUART EVERY TANK OF GAS, THE DEALER HAS ALL MY RECORDS BUT DENIED MY LEGITIMATE CLAME, i HAD ALL THE MAINTENANCE RECORDS FOR PLUG CHANGES AND OIL AND OIL FILTER CHANGES TRANSMISSION AND COOLANT CHANGES YOU NAME IT I DID IT BY THE BOOK AND HAD THE RECORDS TO PROVE IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please help us !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m having the same problem. My car is burning oil like cazy.
i bought a used 2013 hyundai sonata with 45,000 miles on it and was the 3rd owner. Right off the bat it burned a quard of full synthetic amsoil 5w/20 signature series every 1000 miles. so I changed it 5k later with full synthetic pennzoil ultra platinum 10w/30. I live in tampa Fl. warm weather. by the time it reached 69k it was burning a quart every tank of gas 330-350 miles per quart. I had to do 5 oil consumption tests and they even sealed up the oil system and put their own filter and semi synthetic oil and got the same results. I got a case manager from Hyundai corp and the St petersburg dealership on 34 st went to the hyundai warranty dept and they said I was the 3rd owner and it was NOT UNDER WARRANTY tough luck,I could trade it in for another HYUNDAI ? NO THANKS NOW I STILL OWE $3800 and have to use 15 qts to make 5k miles and change the oil and filter WHIE IT’S ALWAYS BEING ADDED TO EVERY TANK FULL. i HOPE THE OIL CONSUMPTION DOESN’T GET ANY WORSE ! Will the catalytic converter hold up ? The issue is with the defective piston rings they are too loose and letting the oil get by TCA WON’T HELP
I have a 2015 sonata with the same issue. The car burns oil, has no leaks and doesn’t smoke. Always have to add 3 quarts of oil before my 5k oil change. Didn’t know anything about this issue until I read these comments.
Thanks for the information.
Leased 2015 Sonata just under 2 years ago, my fault I guess but badly screwed on the deal due to out side pressures. The engine totally seized last year, but Hyundai replaced it. Ever since, check engine light has been on and local dealer claims just coincidence came on at same time. I feel the leasing company American Car Center had to know about the engine problems and recall when leased, but their contract appears to address that, plus arbitration, and high cost to just turn the car in. All I really want is out. Sound like any chance of that?
My Sonata is at dealership right now. In September when I had oil change and tune up done I expressed concern over the oil burning so fast
The service manager played down the issue and told me the engine had already been replaced before I bought car. If that’s the truth they replaced it with another defective engine.
I basically have the same story. I bought my Sonata used. My wife’s Sonata 2014 is burning through oil and while driving at certain speeds you can hear metallic clinking. One time my wife was stopped at a red light and the car shut off, she had to put it in neutral and restart the car. I dropped the car off at the dealership today and the service technician is acting like the my car does not qualify for the Engine replacement because it had already been inspected in 08/04/2017 when the car had 36,217 miles. My car is currently at 86 thousand miles.
2016 Hyundai Sonata with 50,000 miles burns almost 2 quarts every 1,000 miles we love the car but will be trading it in this summer for something different since the dealership said that corporate won’t do anything about it.
We have a 2016 Sonata hybrid – for 5 years since ownership religiously have taken it to local dealer where purchased for service. In January 2021, oil light flickered on a few times when making wide/long turns My husband checked oil and it would not even register on the stick. We immediately took it to a shop at end of our street and they found only about a 1/2 qt of oil in it !! ( it also began making a scrubbing noise when in engine mode ).
They drained the old out, put in new oil and it seemed to be ok until today….. when I braked kind of hard in traffic I noticed the light flashed again…… and later began noticing that scrubbing noise again. Took it back to that same mechanic and again….. hardly no oil.
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Of course it was not time for oil change, so he added more to it and set my computer to advise me at 2500 miles I need to get oil added between changes –
It is not smoking at all from exhaust; no dripping anywhere — he said it is burning “internally” and engines blowing are a huge problem with Hyundai cars lately. I told him I have not received a recall notice and he said they are trying to keep it quiet.
Any suggestions of what I should do ??? I can’t believe this is an issue. I have maintained this car exceptionally well ( got 150,000 miles on it) and really love the car, but now I do not trust is not to run out of oil and if I take to the dealer they are going to probably charge me well over 1,000.00 ( every time is just a simple sensor or something — since its out of warranty I can’t get out of there without spending a fortune.
Can someone tell me more about this law suit???
I am having the same issue with my 2013 hyundai sonata. They did the three oil consumption test. They finally said that will replace the engine but they will only pay 80% of the cost to replace the engine because they say it is out of warranty (126,000 miles). Had brought this to their attention over a year ago. As of 02-01-2021 it has already been in the shop for two weeks. I said that the engine has a life time warranty and they tell me class action lawsuit is separate with the lifetime warranty. They told me once the warranty department makes a decision that is the final decision. Hyundai is not taking complete responsibilities for their failures.
Didn’t your car come with a 10 year warranty? I bought a 2011 Hyundai Sonada sport rental with 38,000 miles., with warranty my engine stopped at 87,000 miles . But my dealership replaced my engine. I told them about the recall.
I have a 2016 hyundai that I purchased through the dealership I manage. I get an oil change every 3k miles or less and have all the records of maintenance. When I did an oil change I was told I have a bad engine thats consuming too much oil. I just paid 4500 to get my car paid off early. Smh!