NHTSA Complaint #11528130 — 2016 HYUNDAI SANTA FE

On July 26, 2021, I purchased a 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe SE. I purchased the vehicle with 90,168 miles on it, a current inspection, and a 3,000 bumper-to-bumper warranty. It has a 6 cylinder 3.3L engine. Since then, I’ve put 38,266 miles on it, and it’s ran without a problem. I’ve done all preventative maintenance, made my oil changes mostly around when needed in accordance with mechanics, and overall maintained the car as per recommended. On March 25, 2023, I was driving to work, and I felt a sudden loss of acceleration. I heard a knocking that I hadn’t heard before, yet no lights came on. No check engine light, no oil pressure light. My dashboard was not indicative of any problem. I ended up getting it towed to my personal mechanic, who was able to tell me that although the engine hasn’t seized up yet, it was surely not far from it. I was also informed that it was nearly empty. Now, I’ve had oil changes before and at no point has any mechanic, including those at my Hyundai dealership ever told me that I was short on oil. I had no puddles anywhere, at home or at work. I’ve had no smoke emissions from the vehicle to indicate that it was burning oil. To this day…I don’t know where 5 quarts of oil went out of my engine in two weeks. It is my belief that the only way this amount of oil could just vanish out of thin air is a glaring engine defect leading to near-catastrophic engine failure.