A New Jersey woman recently filed a class action lawsuit alleging that certain Hyundai Elantra models have a piston defect which can cause dangerous engine failures.
Plaintiff Elizabeth Brown filed the class action lawsuit against Hyundai Motor America and Hyundai Motor Company LTD, alleging that the car maker’s Elantra models posses a dangerous piston defect.
The Hyundai Elantra class action claims that Elantra models from 2011 through 2016, with “Nu” 1.8 liter engines, are affected by a piston defect.
Brown says the piston defect stems from 2011 changes to the piston manufacturing process.
The Hyundai class action lawsuit alleges that Brown purchased a 2013 Hyundai Elantra, containing a “Nu” 1.8 liter engine, from an authorized dealer near her home.
In late 2017, Brown reportedly began to notice a knocking, ticking noise from her vehicle. A week later, while her son was driving the car, a loud pop was heard from the engine before it failed.
The plaintiff says she attempted to file a warranty claim but was denied when the dealer allegedly found oil sludge, citing inadequate maintenance.
The Hyundai Elantra piston defect can allegedly cause engine failures. The symptoms of the related engine failure reportedly include a knocking noise upon start up, loss of engine power, loss of power steering, loss of break assistance, and sudden stalling.
The Hyundai Elantra class action lawsuit claims that once the engine fails, there is no way to fix it apart from completely replacing the engine, a $10,000 repair.
Brown argues that Hyundai Elantra engine failure can place consumers at serious risk for accident, injury, and death. If a Hyundai Elantra engine were to fail while a consumer was driving, they would reportedly be at serious risk for collision.
The Hyundai Elantra class action claims that the automaker knew about the defect but did not initiate a recall or repair action in the United States.
Brown says Canadian dealers were instructed to replace engines affected by engine knocking, a symptom of the problem, but no such order was initiated in the United States.
Instead of offering a fix for the dangerous problem, Hyundai Elantra dealers blame consumers for “inadequate maintenance” and deny warranty claims for a replacement engine, according to the Hyundai Elantra class action lawsuit.
“Defendants have not recalled and/or offered an adequate engine repair to the Class Vehicles, offered their customers suitable repairs or replacements free of charge, or offered to reimburse their customers who have incurred out-of-pocket expenses to repair the defect,” the Hyundai Elantra class action states.
Brown seeks to represent a Class of current and former owners and lessees of Hyundai Elantra vehicles affected by the alleged piston defect. She also seeks to represent a New Jersey subclass of the same consumers.
The Hyundai Elantra class action seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages, injunctive relief, court costs, and attorneys’ fees.
Brown is represented by Matthew D. Schelkopf and Joseph B. Kenney of Sauder Schelkopf LLC; Nicholas Migliaccio, Jason Rathod, and Esfand Y. Nafisi of Migliaccio & Rathod LLP; Daniel C. Levin of Levin Sedran & Berman.
The Hyundai Elantra Piston Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Brown v. Hyundai Motor America, et al., Case No. 2:18-cv-11249-JLL-JAD, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
UPDATE: On Jan. 22, 2019, Hyundai asked a federal judge to dismiss a class action lawsuit which alleges that the company concealed Elantra engine defects.
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163 thoughts onHyundai Elantra Class Action Lawsuit Alleges Piston Defect
I have a 2012 Hyundai Elantra and the knocking noise has started at 64,000 miles… This is unacceptable!! Seems like everyone who owns this car is having the same problem… People buy this car because it is supposed to be reliable. I hope this lawsuit goes through. I dont have an extra $4000-$10,000 laying around to fix their faulty engine
I own a 2013 Hyundai Elantra GT which experienced an engine malfunction followed by a ticking noise. The dealership is saying the car is not safe to drive and the engine needs replacing, and that I am responsible to pay for half: $3500 plus tax. I am looking to join a class action lawsuit.
My Hyundai elantra car 2015 model had just 35000 miles and started giving ticking noise. I esclated it to dealerships but they are not covering this in warranty bcz it Was purchased in the year of 2014.
Please guide how i can raise this further. Its too sad that I bought elantra model.
The case is still moving through the courts and has not yet reached a settlement. Claim forms are usually not made available to consumers until after a court approved settlement is reached. Setting up a free account with Top Class Actions will allow you to receive instant updates on ANY article that you ‘Follow’ on our website. A link to creating an account may be found here: https://topclassactions.com/signup/. You can then ‘Follow’ the article above, and get notified immediately when we post updates!
My 2013 started to tick at 101k. ☹️ Just paid it off. I am very sad to hear that I am out of luck! Thought Hyundai was a good company. Guess just like everyone else these days. Can’t be teusted
About 3-4yrs ago I bought a 2013 Elantra and just about 3 weeks ago my engine has started to make a ticking sound and my mechanic has confirmed it is lifter noise. I bought it with 2,000 miles on it and currently it only has 39,000 miles on it. I’m afraid this may be the start of the piston defect everyone is having issues with. I definitely don’t have the money for a new engine let alone a new car! I really hope this case goes through.
I brought a 2013 Hyundai Elantra September 2018 with around 80,000 miles on it. By October I was hearing ticking and knocking. I had to get my engine replaced. Luckily the dealership I brought it from replaced it for free. Something needs to be done about this. I would like to join the lawsuit.
I bought a 2014 Hyundai Elantra with 14,000 miles and it now has a serious ticking in the engine. The local dealership stated that because I was the second owner my warranty is (or was) to 60,000 miles. They won’t touch it. I have researched this and found that the Korean motor does not De-bur their motors and little pieces of metal is what is typically causing these serious issues. Unacceptable!
I have a 2013 Hyundai Elantra with 69,272 with ticking noise in engine. While my 17 yr old daughter was driving the car it seemed to not want to go while on gas and then just stalled out and would not start. i had to have towed to my house. We got car started and engine is making a loud ticking noise. If she were on the highway someone could have been KILLED. I had called Hyundai and they said since i was the 2nd owner that the warranty did not apply for me that we are over the millage. this was our first time buying a new vehicle as we bought with only 7000 miles on it. I had called the main office as our local office would not help and they said nothing they can do for me that we should have bought the extended warranty in which we were not offered as the sales man at Dickson city Hyundai in pa told us we had the 100,000 mile power train warranty. I had purchased the gap protection why wouldn’t i get the extended warranty ? They more than likely knew there was issues and that why it wasn’t offered. With being the first time buying a new car we didn’t know. I would definitely not recommend anyone buying a Hyundai!
I have a 2015 Hyundau Elantra my car failed after driving down the street the engine started to knock I had it towed to the delearship and delear claims i didnt have oil in the car. They will not even touch the car, After reading the exact same stories online I believe there is a defect with the engine. I am now stuck paying a note with no help from the warranty claim as I am under mileage of the contract.
Millennium Hyundai in Hempstead New York. They cleaned within 15 minutes by phone at my car had sludge in the engine. Not enough time to even put the car on the lift I called him back and rip them. At what point they put the car on the left and told me there was Metal shards in my motor oil at that point they told me I needed a new engine. I bought the all of my records .Oil changes every 3000 miles the car only had 30,000 miles 2014. I’m still arguing with them they tell me it could take weeks to get fixed. My wife may lose your job because of it