Update:
- A judge dismissed a class action lawsuit filed by a group of vehicle owners against Hyundai Motor Co. in a California federal court.
- The class action lawsuit claimed a number of Hyundai and Kia model vehicles contained an engine defect that caused them to use an excessive amount of oil.
- The vehicle owners argued the alleged defect, in addition to costing them money for the excess oil, caused the vehicles to stall and eventually fail.
- Court approval of the dismissal was not required as the class had not been certified nor proposed to be certified for purposes of a settlement, according to court documents.
Hyundai excessive oil consumption class action lawsuit overview:
- Who: A group of Hyundai and Kia vehicle owners are suing Hyundai Motor Co.
- Why: The drivers allege numerous models of Hyundai and Kia vehicles are equipped with defective engines that use excessive amounts of oil, stall and eventually fail.
- Where: The lawsuit was filed in a California federal court.
(April 20, 2022)
Hyundai makes numerous models of Hyundai and Kia brand vehicles with defective engines that use excessive amounts of oil, costing their owners huge sums of money, a new class action lawsuit alleges.
On Apr. 12, eight owners of Hyundai and Kia brand vehicles filed a class action lawsuit against Hyundai Motor Co. in a California federal court, alleging violations of federal warranty laws.
The Hyundai excessive oil consumption lawsuit alleges that numerous models of the automaker’s vehicles are equipped with defective Nu, Gamma, Theta, Lambda and Kappa engines.
The defective engines allegedly use excessive amounts of oil, stall and eventually fail. The drivers say Hyundai should have issued a recall for the vehicles a long time ago but hasn’t.
As a result, thousands of Hyundai and Kia owners and lessees have allegedly been forced to constantly check the oil levels, and oil must be added to the engines more frequently than even the owner’s manuals recommend, Car Complaints reports.
The engine issue has flow-on effects like reduction in engine lubrication due to crankshaft submersion and gaskets and seals damage, which leads to oil leaks.
The plaintiffs also claim that oil in their vehicles migrates to places where it shouldn’t be, damaging the combustion and exhaust systems.
This allegedly causes “abnormal wear of engine parts, oversaturation of carbon and deposits of oil sludge, ultimately requiring a costly engine rebuild or replacement.”
Automaker should honor warranty claims outside terms, Hyundai class action says
The plaintiffs allege that Hyundai should honor customers’ warranty claims even when the warranties have expired.
According to the lawsuit, Hyundai can’t adequately repair the oil consumption problems and doesn’t offer any reimbursement for out-of-pocket costs caused by the issue.
The class action states customers must suffer through long wait times for replacement parts, “and in most cases do not receive required engine replacements.”
The cars with the allegedly faulty engines include the 2012-2020 Hyundai Elantra, 2009-2018 Hyundai Genesis Coupe, 2019-2021 Hyundai Kona, 2020-2021 Hyundai Palisade, 2010-2012 and 2015-2021 Hyundai Santa Fe, 2009-2010 and 2015-2021 Hyundai Sonata, 2011–2021 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid, 2010-2013 and 2015-2021 Hyundai Tucson, 2011-2021 Hyundai Veloster, 2020-2021 Hyundai Venue, 2010-2021 Kia Forte, 2017-2020 Kia Niro, 2011-2020 Kia Optima and Optima Hybrid, 2012-2021 Kia Rio, 2011-2020 Kia Sorento, 2012-2021 Kia Soul, 2011-2020 Kia Sportage, 2018-2021 Kia Stinger and 2022 Kia K5.
Meanwhile, Hyundai has expanded its recall of vehicles with an exploding seat belt part issue that has caused multiple injuries to include 6,240 of its 2021-2022 Elantra and 2020 Accent vehicles.
The plaintiffs are represented by Nye, Stirling, Hale & Miller LLP, Sauder Schelkopf LLC and Walsh, PLLC.
The Hyundai Oil Consumption Lawsuit is Cho, et al., v. Hyundai Motor Company, LTD., et al. in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Are you one of the drivers affected by an allegedly faulty Hyundai engine? Let us know in the comments!
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3,221 thoughts onHyundai class action over excessive oil consumption dismissed
I have a 2015 Sonata Sport with just over 54,000 miles. Oil was changed about 2,000 miles ago. I was sitting at a red light yesterday morning and noticed a little smoke coming from the wood; got home and popped the hood and could see some smoke just behind the engine. Checked the oil and nothing, not a single drop! Ridiculous!
So what are we supposed to do here? Two mechanics have told me there’s only so many times they can replace spark plugs. They’ve both said the engine is shot. I’m getting piston 2 misfire check engine light as well. Car runs horribly. I want to sell it but I can’t in this condition. This is BS. How do we join that class action lawsuit??
My wife bought a 2017 Hyundai Sonata Sport, new from a dealership in Alabama. We babied the car to save on the miles, always keeping it serviced. It had about 114,000 miles on it when the engine started making a rattling noise. We told the dealership about this at our next oil change. He proceeded to tell us that the problem was bad engineering with the fuel being too close to the valves during combustion. He said it was the valves rattling because of carbon build up. He said they had a way to clean the carbon off that worked sometimes so he advised us to try it. We had to pay to have it done somewhere around 250 dollars. The cleaning did not work so we took it back after a few weeks and paid to have the same cleaning done again. It also did not help! He said the next thing is take the heads off and physically remove the carbon at a cost of over 1800 dollars. While we were dealing with this problem my wife came home one day and said she saw her oil light blink on for a second but it went right back off. She said she had never noticed that happen before. I went out to check the oil. The mileage was 116,000 now ( give or take a few miles) so I thought there was no way the oil was low but when I checked oil wasn’t even touching the dip stick. My wife called the dealership with this new problem and we were told to bring it in for an oil consumption test so we did. The first 1076 miles it had used a quart and we were told that was acceptable by Hyundai and we had actually gone over by 76 miles. The next test we made sure not to go over so we were at around 950 or 960 miles. The test was over a quart with less than a thousand miles driven. We are now waiting on our third test. My wife was told we could have a new engine installed for 8,000 dollars. We are still fighting trying to get justice for our car that has just over 117,000 miles and should be lasting for several more years.
I have a 2014 Hyundai Sonata that I have to put 4 quarts of oil in every month. I googled why it was happening was brought here. Please add me to the law suit and contact me!
Have a 2014 Santa Fe Sport, recently was told by a certified auto mechanic that the engine is burning oil. Have had to top off 2 times, so far.
My 2020 Kona Uses 3 quarts of oil every 5000 miles. what is wrong with this thing?
I’m at 73k miles. When purchased, I was able to go the recommended intervals for oil changes and engine tune ups. Now, I’m losing oil faster than ever – about 1 qt every 300 miles or so. I wish I did more research on this before my purchase. I know no engine is perfect, but this is ridiculous. I’m set to get this car diagnosed by the dealership that sold it to me. I can almost guarantee they are going make me go in circles and wait forever. As my only way to get to work (and basically anywhere but home) I can’t afford to pay them the large amounts of money to change one part at a time. I hope they figure this out soon!
From Ontario Canada here,
Have had no issues with my 2009 Kia Rio 5 …until less than 2 years ago….a check engine light led to discovering my spark plugs drowning in oil and multiple blown gaskets because of it…got it fixed….car always started beautifully and purred nicely….except for the fact that the exact same issue but the oil on the spark plugs and gaskets and stuff happened AGAIN TODAY! I can’t afford this again! We have kids!
I’m in Toronto Canada with a Santa Fe that I have to top up a quart of oil every week. I called the Hyundai head office here and they refused to take care of the problem
I have a Hyundai Sonata 2014 with a bit over 100,000 Miles. These past few months it started burning oil in excess. It first started with an oil leak and that was fixed something with the seals. However, the excess oil consumption continues, and like many of us, I cant find where its going, there is no other leak, no fumes burning out, no visible anywhere in the engine. I would hate to get into a car payment. my car still looks good. Every private mechanic tells me to get rid of the vehicle. its frustrating.
I bought a brand new 2018 Hyundai sante fe it keeps burning oil don’t know what to do
just make sure you keep a quart of oil in car . check it often . the dealer or hyandai won’t help you
I am currently in the midst of an oil consumption test. Had an oil change at the dealer. They sealed oil dip stick and oil cap. I have to bring it in every 1000 miles to see how much oil it’s burning. They said they will submit this to Hyundai and I may need a new engine. They also said my engine should burn 1 quart every 1000 miles which is BS! At holds 4.5 quarts and recommend oil change is 5000 miles. Do the math.
My 2011 Hyundai Sonata Se has excessive oil consumption. It is not leaking oil. I add 2 quarts at around every 500 – 600 miles!