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
My 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe has oil consumption each time I get an oils change within a week or so my oil light goes on and I take it it in a it needs oil. Today after an oil change and 2000 miles left before the next oil change I had to take it in and they had to add 3 quarts. This is definitely a defect.
Hi, I own 2016 Santa fe and had the same oil comsumtion issue. Dealer required me to have an oil change,
PCV replacement, flush and other stuff that costed me more than $500. After that, they monitored my oil consumption every 1000 km for 6 months. It was burning 1-1.5 litre for every 1000 km. Ultimately, they replaced the engine for free. Apparently, there is a recall on these engines.
My 2018 Hyundai Tuscon has same issues. It turned off as i was driving, engine and oil light came on. I checked oil and there was none so i put 5 quarts in and the lights went off. A week later the engine light came back on and was losing power and was barely drivable. I’ll be taking it to the dealership tomorrow. It only has 52,000 miles on it.
I have a 2016 Tuscon and it is also burning alot of oil. I’ve put 10 qrts in it in the past month and my check engine light just came on. I change the oil regularly and take very good care of this car. I was told the engine light was a miss fire but I’m going to another place to have it looked over again because it does not sound or drive right
I took my 2016 Sonata SE in to have diagnostic performed to determine why it was consuming oil and the lock up my engine during testing. I am meeting on Monday with Service Department Manager to discuss my options. This should definitely be a recall.
I have a 2019 Hyundai Tucson. For the past year, I have had to get my oil changed once every two months because it burns through so quickly and it has been stalling out. I have a disability and need my car to get around. Please help.
Our 2019 Kia soul started consuming excessive amounts of oil. The vehicle was maintained properly with regular oil changes and even added extra oil often the couple weeks before the engine failed to keep levels safe. The car is only 3 years old and we’re facing $12000 in repairs. The car isn’t even worth that much anymore. We tried to call kia headquarters to report this and stayed on hold for an hour without talking to a single person. I then filed a complaint on their website. The site said they have 48 hours to contact us. 82 hours later, we still haven’t heard anything from Kia. I don’t know where to turn now. We are stuck renting a car to get to work and Kia should be held responsible for manufacturing defects.
I took my Sonata 2016 with 79,000 miles to the dealership to check the engine oil consumption. Perfectly maintained with all service done in dealership.. In 3 months of oil test, it went from consuming 0.9 quarts in first test to 2quarts in the 3rd test. They submitted the claim and now Hyundai came back with rejection because car is out of warranty (Claiming that I should not be covered as the second owner).
Dealership gave no details what exactly the problem with oil consumption is and if it would relate to Theta II engines settlement claim which should still cover 2nd owners..
Now the engine light is on.. and it is only because of their terrible advice to not add any oil during the test because it would make the test results invalid.
Now I have a car with <85,000 miles, engine light on, lots of oil consumption, and rejection of the repair ..
Any help or advice would be much appreciated!!!!
I have a 2017 Kia Sportage. We get regular oil changes but have to add oil to the car pretty much every week. It’s really getting ridiculous and very expensive.
My 2016 had oil consumption – totally broke down on a county road at night in the middle of nowhere. I spent over 700 dollars before the mechanic told me about oil consumption. The engine was replaced – they charged me for hoses and other stuff and did not supply a vehicle having my vehicle over 3 weeks. They refused to reset the mileage.
I have a 2018 Santa Fe Turbo with 108k miles. I have always had oil changes done at dealership at 3500/4k miles during warranty. After warranty I used local mechanic. I’m due for an oil change and the oil light flashed on for a few seconds but went off, so I checked the oil and it was 4 quarts low. This is the first time I’ve seen the oil light come on, so I wonder since I changed oil regularly at 3500/4k miles it never lost enough to turn on prior. My concern is this has probably been using oil for quite some time and since I changed oil so often I never knew I had an oil consumption problem until now. I will be contacting my dealership to find out my options. I’m sure it will be “sorry it’s out of warranty “
How do I join this class action suit?