NHTSA Complaint #11563261 — 2017 HYUNDAI SANTA FE

The motor locked up with no warning and we lost all vehicle power and left us stranded. All maintenance and oil changes have been kept up with regularly. I have been reading up and Hyundai did a voluntary recall for only a few motors that were manufactured over about a 3-week period that were having this same issue. Apparently, our vehicle was not covered under that recall even though it is having the same problem. We had it towed to a dealership and they said that this is a known problem and they see this very often. We spoke to Hyundai and they told us that it was not a known problem and they were not going to warranty it because we were the second owners. Upon conducting some additional research, we found that this issue is known to occur in these vehicles. The internal bearings wear out between 80 and 120 thousand miles, resulting in the motor locking up without any warning signs, such as a check engine light. Our vehicle had only reached 92,000 miles. We had the vehicle towed to our mechanic and he opened the motor to confirm that the bearings did go out prematurely and caused this issue. This is a huge safety concern. If we were on a highway when this happened, it would have been catastrophic and deadly especially when it happens without any warning. The vehicle is available for inspection if needed.