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
Own a 2015 kia optima sx turbo and had the engine seize. Contacted Kia and was asked if I had the knock sensor software upgrade. I did not receive any recall notice regarding this issue. I bought the vehicle from my daughter. She said she never saw a recall notice. Kia refused to do anything since I did not get the upgrade. Any further action for me? If so, add me to the list.
Five years ago I bought a 2017 Hyundai Sonata from Enterprise. The car had only around 20,000 miles when I purchased it. After four years the car began burning oil. Every few weeks I have to add two quarts of oil. This is in addition to recalls for the ignition security issue as well as a defective trunk latch. The dealer still refuses to acknowledge this issue so I am stuck constantly adding motor oil every few weeks.
2013 Genesis Coupe, 96k miles, is consuming oil at an accelerated rate, requiring more frequent maintenance and oil changes despite otherwise good maintenance record. Even local dealership had identified an “oil leak” and “fixed it”, charging me in the process, without relaying this information on the nature of the Hyundai engines in question. Required independent testing and validation.
2019 Hyundai Tuscon started burning oil excessively this year, called dealer and was no help
I have a 2018 Hyundai Sonata with 128,000 kms. I heard some rumors about these engines burning up oil so i decided to check my oil and sure enough, almost no oil left. It only had 3000kms on it since last oil change. Since then, i’ve spent 2 days trying to reach someone here in Winnipeg at the dealership. Finally got back to me just to tell me there is nothing they can do for me other than charge me for a diagnostic, to see whats going on. Pile of BULL@#$%. They know whats going on, so i will just go to my mechanic and be done with Hyundai. Never buying another Hyundai again. So many issues. My car has seen more shop time than driving time in the last 3 months.
I just added 5 quarts of oil to my 2020 Hyundai Tucson . There no visible leaks and I am not due for my 3000K oil change. In doing some research I see that this is an ongoing issue with Hyundai. Any advice on how to handle this with Hyundai is appreciated.
Please add me to the list .
Ugh. We have a 2019 Santa Fe and a 2019 Elantra. My hubs checks the Santa Fe’s oil EVERY WEEK! If it goes more than two weeks without a refill, the oil light comes on. We will not be buying another hyundai. The oil expense alone is not worth it.
I can’t believe this was dismissed! My husband and I had so many grievances with our f*****g Sonata. We purchased it from a used car dealership and when we went to get the first oil change there was oil randomly missing from the vehicle… but no oil leaks. We were baffled. So then we started keeping an eye on it. Before long we were having to add oil every few days!! We drive a LOT so it was very frustrating. We even took it an hour away to a Hyundai dealership to do an oil consumption test. It found that there was I think 3.5 quarts missing from the engine after 1000 miles. Even with that conclusion Hyundai wanted US to pay over $500 out of pocket for a engine cleaning of some sort AND another oil consumption test after the cleaning (the first one they paid for but we were told we had to pay for the second even with it consuming oil) before they would even consider replacing our engine. I think not even a month later we started having issues with stalling, rough driving, and it was no longer safe to drive. So then we had to go buy a new vehicle. We barely had that thing a year and now we are obligated for the loan on a vehicle that was obviously defective! How can companies do this to people and get away with it?! Why would anyone want to?? It’s horrible! I wouldn’t sleep very well at night if I were hurting people this way… then again with the debt we’re now drowning in thanks to Hyundai I can’t sleep very well anyways. Thanks a lot Hyundai.
They know what they problem is, it’s nothing they can fix. It’s a fault of the design so they play dumb and the run around, playing you for a fool.
I own a meticulously maintained 2017 Hyundai Sonata Sport with only a little over 40,000 miles on the engine. The last time I had my oil changed at the dealership, I was told there was no oil left in the reservoir. I had only driven it approximately 1000 miles in 6 months since the last synthetic oil change at the dealership. I was told by the Hyundai Service Department Rep that I was most likely burning oil and I should keep my eye on it and check the oil every few weeks. After about 6 weeks and less than 700 additional miles driven, I needed to add a full quart of oil. Another 6 weeks and another 500 or so miles, I checked it again and it is down another quart. After contacting my Hyundai Service Department rep, I was advised to bring it in for a test to see what’s going on. I will be bringing it back in for this after they complete the repainting of the defective white paint that I have been inconvenienced with for the third bloody time on my garage kept Sonata. One would think that with all the inconvenience put upon me at no fault of my own, Hyundai would admit fault on both points rather than make me, the consumer, jump through hoops for their defective paint and engines. I will be selling this lemon of a vehicle, which I truly love, because I have concluded that Hyundai may offer a great warranty yet they refuse to honor it with ease to their consumers who are not in any way at fault for the defective manufacturing issues. What a horrible business practice and with all the complaints and forums and class action law suits filed, I hope anyone looking to purchase a Hyundai does their research and opts not to purchase a Hyundai vehicle. They should save themselves the headache of Hyundais downright refusal to correct their massive mistakes and buy elsewhere.
We have a 2017 Tucson Sport and the engine just died. It’s at the dealership now and hoping the rep will be able to help us get a new engine.