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!
Don’t Miss Out!
Check out our list of Class Action Lawsuits and Class Action Settlements you may qualify to join!
Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:
3,221 thoughts onHyundai class action over excessive oil consumption dismissed
My 2018 sonata, bought new, has had issues with a noisy engine since about 20k miles. Always complain to dealer at every oil change and they say they can’t diagnose. Never thought a car with only about 47k miles would have an oil consumption issue but here I am, sitting in the dealer waiting for them as they prepare the car for the consumption test. 3 weeks ago my oil pressure light went on. I had a spare quart in the car and added and the light went off. When I got home I checked and added 3 more quarts and it was still low!!!! Approx 6k miles since prior oil change. Had the oil changed the next day. Now, 3 weeks and 800 miles later the car is 1 quart low. Hyundai says 1qt every 1 k miles is acceptable. Since when? Never had a new car I bought, that was under 100k miles, need to have oil topped off every 1k miles!!! Maybe they should tell you that when you buy the car so you can do your best to preserve it.
2013 Hyundai Sonata, currently with 118K miles on it going through approximately 1 qt oil every 1000 miles. So far, no other issues. I had it at the dealer for a different warrently recall at about 90K and mentioned the excessive oil consumption then. They assured me it was normal, which I knew to be a lie. I have never owned a vehicle that consumed so much oil unless it was visible on the ground below due to defective seal, and certainly not at that low if a mileage.
My 2013 has 148000 miles and uses about a quart every 1500 miles. Not happy with that.
Definitely having this problem with my 2017 Santa Fe Limited Ultimate. Have to add AT LEAST a quart of oil a month.
I’m going through this right now! I have a 2018 Hyundai Elantra, and almost 3 weeks ago my engine just started knocking loudly, and then it just shut down while I was driving at about 45 mph on a busy highway. Somehow I got it to start after 2 tries and pulled into a parking lot where it shut down for good. I worked for Kia, which is made by Hyundai for 3 years and knew about a massive recall for an engine defect that caused this exact issue, knocking in engine and system shut down and all of those engines had to be replaced. I even checked with the master mechanic I knew from Kia who confirmed that yes my year was included. I get towed to Hyundai and let them know I am very aware of the recall for the defective engines that’s main diagnostic tool was literally using a device to listen for knocking in the engine. You did not need any device in my case, it was loud. I was told that they checked and my vehicle was not part of that recall, and that there were zero recalls on my car. I said I worked for Kia and we had several cars coming in for that recall that included 2018 models and they all needed new engines. How is it possible that my car, that gets synthetic oil changes as required, out of the clear blue suddenly start having the exact same engine knocking and complete shut down, that automatically qualified them for total engine replacement, but my “particular vehicle” is not on the recall list? He tried to dumb me down by saying that recall mainly affected larger vehicles like the Santa Fe, referring to a completely different recall that caused those engines to catch fire. He said I’m still under warranty, all I have to do is submit all of my service reports to them before they will honor the warranty. I have spent 3 weeks trying to track down every shop that I went to that I can’t even remember the names of except for one near my home. I would normally go during lunch, but I travel all over NJ every day for my job so it’s not like I went to the same place each time. I never thought to keep my receipts, and boy was that a big lesson learned! I am just about to submit the last 2 service reports I was missing, and I am so disappointed in Hyundai, I will not buy another one. I wish it had happened before this suit was finished because I believe that they did NOT put every car that should have been included on that recall list. I think there was such a massive number of cars that were sold with defective engines, listing them all would have meant replacing the engines in a majority of the cars they knowingly sold with this dangerous and expensive defect. When he tried to site a completely different recall thinking I wouldn’t know what he was doing, I was sure I was correct
I’m going through the same thing with my 2015 Santa Fe. It started to burn oil adding quart every 1000 miles before 100k warranty. Of course they said it was reasonable and now at 130k my engine needs replacement. Hyundai says my car not part of class action settlement because cylinder went first not connecting rod bearing. They did nothing about all this and don’t honor there warranties. It’s horrible!
I recently bought a 2017 sonata and I’m putting in about 1 quart of oil a week
I have a 2013 Hyundai Somata Limited and only have 70,000 miles on it. Recently it has been using about 2 quarts of oil between oil changes. So I called the dealership and told them what was happening and was told to bring it, since my warranty was extended to 10 years/120,000 miles. They changed the oil and I was told to bring it back after I drove 150 miles. Well I did that and when I took it there they broke their seal to check the oil and it was overfilled. I know they did that on purpose so it wouldn’t show it was burning oil. So now they did another oil change and want me to bring it back after I drive 500 miles, What exactly do I do now? I do not trust them.
I’m having the same issue. 2016 Sonata burned through 3 quarts in 2 months. I use full synthetic 5w-20. Had my valve seal replaced 3,000 miles ago along with my plugs and wires. This crap is annoying and expensive. This is our 4th Hyundai and I’ve never had problems like this. My wife wants to pay it off and sell it quick
I have a 2017 Hyundai Elantra SE
I have been finding my vehicle with these exact symptoms.
My mechanic is who brought my attention to this site.
3 years ago I bought a 2015 Hyundai Sonata at the local Hyundai dealership. I knew that the warranty had ran out but I thought it unusual that Hyundai refused to give it any other service warranty other than as is. Then I found out why. They knew that the car had engine problems and we’re trying to pawn it off on someone without them being responsible for the issues with the Theta engines in Hyundai sonatas. Long story short I suffered within one year unusual excessive amounts of oil that had to be used in the car and eventually stalling an engine failure which required that I $8,000 out of my pocket to get the engine replaced and after a year of negotiation and talking to Hyundai I was only able to get back 70% of what I spent to get the engine replaced. The engine was not properly replaced because many parts that should have been replaced were not replaced and it continued using excessive oil.. I am sure that the engine May Fail again which would be the second time in 3 years unless I get rid of the car or replace it again. I definitely want to join this lawsuit against Hyundai over the excessive use of oil and engine damage to the car that I purchased from their dealership. I advise anybody looking at buying a Hyundai to look at the recalls and the problems with many of their models from 2015 to 2021. Please include me in this lawsuit. I never again see buying a Hyundai in my future far too many problems and very few Solutions on the part of Hyundai!
We are in the same boat, 2013 Hyundai Sonata, not listed for the affected years shown above but about a year ago we started to observe lower oil levels during routine oil changes (and we obsessively maintain and service our vehicle). Now at 82K miles, we are having to add 1qt every month. We’ve switched from buying 1 qt at Walmart to 5 qt because of how frequent we have to do it to keep the oil level sufficient on the dipstick. No leaks, not a single drop on the floor. Our exhaust pipe is showing black soot and sludge so we can see it is burning the oil. We’ve repeatedly reported it to our Hyundai dealership in the Alexandria, VA, area and they have refused to document it and suggesting we pay for an oil consumption test. We have an appointment on 11/23/22 for the fuel line recall repair and will obviously bring it up again. We have also reported hearing engine rattling and clanking sounds during acceleration over the last decade which the dealership has consistently responded is normal and they found nothing wrong. Will never buy another Hyundai.
My 2017 Sonata has all the same issues described here. I bought it new and have had Hyundai perform all the oil changes since I’ve purchased it. Was never told once about the issue. My engine started knocking and I took it in to Hyundai since it is still under warranty and was told they could not find any issues. Then I discovered the low oil myself and noticed it constantly running low and was told this was within Hyundai specs. Freaking liars!