NHTSA Complaint #11547083 — 2011 HYUNDAI SONATA

We bought this 2011 Hyundai Sonata from a local dealer in August 2021. The engine failed in March of 2022 (smoking and then died while my daughter was driving the car). We paid a local mechanic to replace the engine with another used engine, not knowing the engine issues associated with Hyundai Sonata models, specifically the 2011 year. The replaced engine died in July 2023, about 5 months later. The warranty we had on the replaced engine was denied to due to a heat tab melting. The first engine (to us, we do not know if was replaced during the 2016 recall) and now the replaced GDI engine have both died. The engine should not be on the market and we contacted the local Hyundai dealer to see if they could help us out. They denied service because we replaced the engine ourselves with another mechanic. This is a critical safety issue and Hyundai should be held responsible to get these engines off the market and reimburse customers for all expenses related to the repair or replacement of the engines regardless of where it was fixed. Now there is a new recall related to these engines https://apnews.com/article/hyundai-kia-engine-fire-recall-park-outside-93d012a52e7b884889cdaf2e6c22a458, where customers are being told to not park in structures due to fire hazard/risk. And I read recently that Hyundai has been slow to recall cars and fined by NHTSA for this very reason. Our model is not currently in an open recall, but it doesn't make sense that both engines failed...both GDI engines. This should be addressed by Hyundai and we should be reimbursed for the expenses paid by us to fix their poor engine design and the safety issues associated with this make/model/year.