NHTSA Complaint #11539194 — 2014 HYUNDAI SANTA FE

While traveling 70mph on the expressway with my husband and 2 small children in the car, we experienced catastrophic engine failure in our 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe, which nearly resulted in an accident because of the sudden deceleration. There were no warnings indicating a problem beforehand (no lights illuminated on the dashboard or any other indications of a problem) until the car suddenly made a large knocking sound and stopped running. After being stranded on the side of a dangerous highway with our children for over 2 hours, we had to have the car towed to the nearest mechanic, 60 miles from our house, who diagnosed the problem as a failed engine due to a rod bearing failure. The rod was thrown through the engine, and the mechanic informed us it would be a minimum of $10,000 to replace the failed engine with a used one. We contacted Hyundai who told us our car was not part of the extended warranty or recalls that resulted from a previous lawsuit, and they offered us no assistance or solution. They also quoted us $8,000-$20,000 to replace the engine. In our research we have found that many other Hyundai's with a 3.3L engine have experienced this same catastrophic engine failure. We have maintained the car accordingly and even brought the car in to be serviced just weeks before we took this trip. There was absolutely no indication of a problem before this happened.