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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3,222 thoughts onHyundai class action over excessive oil consumption dismissed
I have a 2017 Sonata. Started burning oil at 90,000. Been fighting with Hyundai to make the repair but they refuse claiming it is out of warranty. I bought the car from Enterprise and the warranty expired at 60,000 miles. They did have me come in to reprogram the main chip and notice said that would extend the warranty to lifetime. Very interested in the outcome of this case.
My 2017 Hyundai Sonata is going through a large amount of oil. It started when the car had around 90,000 miles on it and the dealer stated they could do tests to the car but it is very costly to find the problem because it could be one of many issues. They said they could start with the most common but it would be about $800 and they can’t guarantee it will fix the problem. Is anyone having any luck finding out the problem and solution?
My car has approximately 117K miles on it. At first it started with me having to get an oil change every other month and still having to get the ‘top off’ services offered by most oil change companys (thank god) and each time they’d tell me I had little to no oil in it. Eventually my car started stalling, and my check engine light came on. After getting a reading it came back as cyclinder 4 misfire but they couldn’t tell me what exactly that meant so easiest thing to do was replace spark plugs first. Did and the problem was solved, again a month later I had the same issue, after replacing spark plugs again I noticed there was oil surrounding the plugs. Seemed odd, but was cleaned and replaced, and every other month after round and round I went. Last week I started to have severe stalling and went decided to go have the entire car checked out. They’re report ‘ inspected spark plug and has signs of excessive oil consumption, inspection with camera found oil running down the cylinder walls and oil puddle on the bottom of the cylinder. Said could cause sudden fire, and car to stall out while in drive. Local dealership has waiting list until end of July!!!! Can’t get any answers from Hyundai representatives, round and round I go. Ridiculous!!!
You forgot the Hyundai accent. I purchased it from Kingston Nissan. In Kingston ny Last March. 37000 miles. Previous owner From Yonkers. Now twice. Found after oil change two months before. no oil. NO OIL. UGH. there is no caring anymore with anything that’s made there’s no care put into it. Nobody cares about what they’re doing on these assembly lines. Nobody cares it’s disgusting. Nobody cares about quality if you want quality you’ve got to spend $70,000 on the couch it’s it’s insanity it’s insanity much less what you have to spend on a stupid car it’s insanity and I’m so sick so sick so sick so sick why can’t they just do their jobs right? I knew I should’ve bought that Hyundai. I knew it I should’ve stuck with Chevy I knew it. I have a 2006 Monte Carlo with 257,000 miles on it and it’s still running. You can’t kill those 3.5 shoe just can’t do it now that’s quality that’s caring .
I have a 2016. In June of 2022 my car pulled back while driving on the freeway and my engine light came on. I immediately pulled over and was towed to the nearest Mobil gas station. Apparently I was out of oil. Luckily the mechanic was able to add pil so I could drive it home. I took it to Hyundau, as I had just received an pil change about a month prior. Only to find out I had a major oil leak. Dealership stated it was from the rocket gasket and would cost me a couple of thousand to fix. I decided not to go through with the repair as I felt the oil loss was the result of a poor oil change. I took car to my old.mechanic and after he cleaned the engine twice he found the oil leak was due to the gasket in my valves. It was repaired but my car requires pil weekly. This is definitely a defect as a car should not consume this much oil. So now I drive it but bot without adding oil every other week.
If you’re having an issue with Hyundai, go onto the Better Business Bureau’s website and file a complaint: http://www.bbb.org.
They have Auto-Line for people with warranty disputes or you can file a regular complaint against them.
An update to my previous comment: my 2015 Hyundai Elantra with 87,000 miles on it needs the engine replaced after I was driving it with no oil. I had put a quart of oil in it the same day that engine failed.
What I have done is filed a complaint on the Better Business Bureau’s website: http://www.bbb.org. If you have a warranty dispute they have Auto-Line that you can use to file a complaint. I don’t have a warranty on my car (bought it used) so I just made a regular complaint against Hyundai. If you’re having the same issues I am, please go on there and file a complaint. The more complaints filed against them, hopefully the more likely they are to do something about it.
2016 Tucson.. so many issues where do I start. It’s as if I had the car at 250k when I got it at 48k. Left turn signal decides by itself if it wants to work or not.. driver side window hesitates in the cold so ofc it can’t be replicated at the shop in order to put a claim in against warranty. Software needed upgraded because it hesitates from a stopped position.. that still hasn’t completely been remedied. And now the oil being consumed disproportionate to driving. I work from home so no reason why I’m checking the oil every other week and refilling 2-3 quarts because I’m scared to overfill. Started around 70k miles with regular oil changes.. then it started chugging so we replaced spark plugs and was considering induction/carbon cleaning only to find this lawsuit. What a shame.. beautiful cars that they cheaped out on what was under the hood.. and they did it consistently. Look at all the models on this list and the other recalls for this manufacturer. Also had seat belts stuck but repaired with warranty.. also had 2 doors that the locking mechanism wouldn’t release. Never buying a Hyundai again until I see them off the recall list for YEARS. So sad this was my dream car
Drove my hyundai palaside no more than 1300 miles and had to add 1&1/2 quarts of oil this is sity driving.
2012 Santa Fe Limited 6 cyl, just under 108,000. Losing oil somewhere and turning into sludge and asphalt. Engine tapped, knocked, Thunk ed and screeched. Now needs replaced. Had to dealer about this, they checked it out. It was within their guidelines. Just keep an eye on it. build up on my engine just didn’t happen. I changed the oil and filter every 3 to 6,ooo miles. Not covered under any recall.