NHTSA Complaint #11576874 — 2018 HYUNDAI SANTA FE

About a week ago the engine started making a strange sound when accelerating at low/mid speed through 2nd and 3rd gear. Best I could describe the sound was "a leaf in a fan blade". About 3 days after that sound started I just happened to be driving with the windows down around 10mph and heard a slight ticking sound. I returned home and immediately checked the oil. Upon opening the hood of the car I saw oil sprayed all over the left side of the engine compartment. When I checked the oil level it was completely empty, but there was standing oil on the skid plate underneath. There were never any warning lights of any kind. Both of the sounds were quiet enough that when the radio was on I couldn't hear them - thankfully I drive with it off most of the time! I parked the car for the weekend, put 4quarts of oil in it Monday morning and drove it to the dealership to drop off. They inspected it and (according to them) found a snapped cam shaft and a cracked timing cover which is where the oil was leaking from while driving. There was also a high amount of metal shavings found when they did a contamination check. This is the primary family car. We use it to go out of town almost every weekend and had just returned home the night before I found the oil leak. With how the oil was spraying across the entire engine compartment and all over the belts this could have very easily resulted in an engine fire at worse or have left us stranded on the side of a busy interstate with a bricked engine along with two adopted foster children with severe PTSD, anxiety, ADHD and extreme behavioral issues when confronted with stressful situations.