2015 was the beginning of Kia and Hyundai engine issues with the 2011 and 2012 Sonata. The Theta and Theta II engines were defective and the Sonata owners endured no reprieve from the manufacturer. In May of 2015, a class action lawsuit was filed, but this was just the oil to grease the wheels…
Later the same year, Hyundai recalled nearly 470,000 vehicles from the 2011 and 2012 models of the Sonata with faulty manufacturing issues. What’s surprising is that Hyundai stated the issues were from metal debris being left around the crankshaft of the engine which in turn caused “oil flow issues”. In laypersons terms… the metal was mixing with the oil which caused corruption which led to failure of the connecting rod bearings.
Court cases claimed the restriction of oil flow caused issues during the warranty period or shortly after its expiration. The oil starvation caused chronic stalling and/or engine failure. The cases also claimed Kia and Hyundai knew about the engine issue, reported from various sources within the manufacturer as well as from dealerships and consumers, but they refused to do a recall. The final oil spill was when Kia and Hyundai refused to reimburse owners who funded their own repairs – all due to defective oil passage design that promoted sludge buildup.
Almost a decade later, Kia and Hyundia are still plagued with prolonged legal struggles in the form of owner lawsuits, recalls and class action suits. Still not admitting to the fact there has been a major problem with their engines. Thousands of lawsuits have been filed every year since 2015 and now with Class Action suits covering their models from 2009 to 2021 for almost every type of vehicle manufactured by Kia and Hyundai during the 12 year time frame. The suit claims that the manufacturers did not honor their warranties to their consumers.
Both Kia and Hyundai issued another engine recall on December 22, 2022 in which the stated the engines are flawed and would offer a free lifetime engine replacement warranty, but these companies must have slipped a cog, because they will only honor this if the owner completed the KSDS a/k/a/ Knock Sensor Detection System upgrade. Guess what folks? You’re not getting that new engine!
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