NHTSA Complaint #11460516 — 2022 HYUNDAI PALISADE

Started to notice an oil spot under the vehicle at around 4500 miles. Since the car is brand new and hadn't even had its first oil change, we immediately scheduled a service appointment. We were finally able to get it into the dealership 2 weeks later and received a diagnosis shortly after drop off. Turns out the oil leak was coming from the head gasket on the right bank of the engine and requires replacement of both head gaskets. The engine oil level was low and the service technician recommended the car not be driven until it could be repaired as simply adding oil would continue to contribute to the leak. Parts have been ordered and requested via next day delivery however they currently do not have an ETA as to when the parts will arrive. The repair job is estimated at 10-12 hours so it will be out of service for 2 days just for repairs once parts do come in. Plus Hyundai would not reimburse car rental fees even though the dealer was out of service loaners however after a day, they were able to provide one. Of greater concern however is why would the head gaskets be leaking oil while the car is still basically being broken in from new. I've had cars of multiple brands with well over 100K miles that never leaked from the head gaskets. If these engines are assembly line built, I'm concerned that the torque specs were off when assembling the heads to the block causing the leak. If that's the case, this issue could begin to pop up on many other vehicles built at the same time. Hyundai is covering under warranty at no cost but now I'm concerned over our investment that we've only had now for 3 months and future reliability. The vehicle is currently out of service for an undetermined amount of time. If not caught, this could have resulted in a full engine failure as the low oil warning never came on.