NHTSA Complaint #11451662 — 2016 HYUNDAI SANTA FE

I was driving on I-64 (eastbound), east of Richmond, VA heading home to Virginia Beach, VA. I noticed a knocking sound, intermittent at first, but becoming more prevalent and much louder. By the time I got home, the engine knocking was horrible. I looked under the car, and saw some oil around the oil pan, but there was still sufficient oil in the engine (halfway between the MIN/MAX marks on the dipstick. At no time, before during, or since was there any warning lamps lit on the dash, nor were there any codes that could be pulled indicating an issue. We had the car towed to Hall Hyundai in Chesapeake, VA (that's where we bought it), and they said the engine was full of metal and needed to be replaced. They did not say exactly what failed in the engine, but my suspicion is one of the pistons had a catastrophic failure. That was on 11 DEC. The engine has since been replaced with a remanufactured engine, but we still do not have our car back. After the initial repair, we noticed a puddle of oil on our garage floor. The car is back at the dealership and they've found 3 separate leaks so far. In reading of similar engine failures with our year range of Hyundai Santa Fe, we were fortunate. Our failure could have led to an immediate engine failure, engine fire, or worse that could have caused a serious accident since I was travelling on the highway. My concern is that Hyundai to date has dismissed this as nothing more than a fluke, and since we're beyond the terms of the warranty, not their problem. That couldn't be further from the truth. This is a BIG problem since the component that failed in our 3.3L V6 is the same component that forced a recall of their 2.4L 4-cyclinder that is common in their Santa Fe Sport model. I guarantee you that they use the same process, materials, etc. in the pistons for both, and this warrants a recall for our model/engine type just like the 2.4L recall.