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’ve had my 2016 Elantra GT stall out multiple times. Twice on the highway. I get regular oil changes, sometimes before I even hit 2,000 miles. The oil is bone dry after I drive less than 1,000 miles after an oil change. I had the catalytic converter replaced for $2k. My car won’t accelerate over 40mph AGAIN, so now I’m spending more time taking side streets everywhere I go in a major city. Costing me on repairs, extra oil, gas, time… and ultimately more wear and tear on this colossal P.O.S. DEATH TRAP. It’s disgusting that there is a class action suit, and it likely means nothing. I’ll take my car in, have to figure out transportation for a month or more, all to have them deny this extended warranty coverage? Nightmare.
I was just notified of this issue, as my car hit 75,000 miles and my oil light was coming on. I never needed to put oil in my car, so apparently once it hits 75,000 that is when the issues starts, so I added oil and them got the oil changes 2 weeks ago, I went to have it serviced for brakes and he checked the oil level, and behold it was already low, this is crazy, so not I have to add another thing to my list to check, good thing no
damage was done so far, but this should be taken care of by Hyundai. I will definitely not buy another Hyundai again, and this was my first and last time, yikes!!!
I own a 2016 Hyundai Tucson that’s burning excessive oil. I’ve had several oil consumption tests done by the dealership for over a year w/o resolve, until a sudden decision that they would no longer “try to resolve the issue” with a claim that l was “maintenance negligent”
between 8,000 – 18,000 miles. (Totally fabricated loyal customer from purchase of vehicle all maintenance done with them timely (lifetime oil changes) to include 20,000, 40,000 & 60, 000 mi. Maintenance. and other recommendations by the mechanics over the years!!. All staff that performed service on my car and whom l dealt with are no longer employed. Covid resulted in their customer service going from 5 star to the sewage!,with a revolving door.
It’s my belief my situation was mishandled too much money was lost in the testing with no results and in the middle of the last test they had to find away to turn the table on the customer. So l received the magic call ” has any other dealership worked on your vehicle? AND Do you have proof and paperwork showing you had maintenance done from 8,000 to 18,000 miles?, my answers was No to both questions to include, you should have my maintenance history in your computer!, and if you can’t see it check for it in the “cloud” isn’t that where you archive your records. Next thing l know, they send me a picture of my engine with the Valve top off attempting to show me the problem requesting me to authorize the payment for them to do the engine cleaning (part of the oil consumption test) that they were suppose to be doing (note they had my car for a month, Left me high and dry). I refused to pay and here we are!!!
My 2016 Sonata Ltd uses excessive amounts of oil. I have to put oil in on a weekly basis. It will be bone dry if I go 2 weeks without adding oil.
I have a 2008 Hyundai Tucson and there has been about five times I’ve had my oil checked and it’s been bone dry and I’m not sure why always have my oil changed every 3000 miles
My wife’s Sonata has this issue, which we are just finding out about. I checked her oil yesterday and it was bone dry and just at 3000 miles since last oil change. No damage noted yet, but I have no idea how long it has been like this.
I have a 2014 Hyundai Elantra GT and I am also experiencing severer loss of oil (completely empty after 2000 miles of driving since oil change. I just put new spark plugs in less than a year ago, less than 5000 miles and they are already fouling. In addition, I am worried that the damage to the engine is also causing issues with the clutch overheating. I had to get the car towed last month, as it was stalling and could not maintain consistent RPMs or acceleration. Paid for tow, and they charged me for diagnostic, even though power train is under 100K miles and under 10 years! Now they want me to come back to test how much oil it is losing.
My 2015 Sonata Limited has been experiencing the same problems with oil consumption. The dealership performed the oil consumption test, which showed excessive use every 1000 miles. Hyundai denied any responsibility for correcting the problem.
My 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport is having a problem with byrning oil
Same situation as above for my daughter’s 2016 Sonata Limited. Can’t keep up with the oil consumption (a quart every ~300 miles easy). (Lilburn, GA)