NHTSA Complaint #11578968 — 2013 HYUNDAI VELOSTER

Purchased the vehicle and a few weeks late received a recall letter (23V651000) about their ABS issue. They never did send us the recall letter regarding the known engine issue. Months later the engine completely seized up. We took it to a mechanic who told us to call Hyudai since the engine was well beyond repair. We called the Hyudai dealership in town and they explicitly told us their were NO ACTIVE RECALLS for this car. After finding out a replacement engine would cost over $10k we had no other option but to salvage the vehicle. Fast forward about a month and we received recall letter (service campaign 966) about a recall active since MARCH 2021 regarding engine sensor malfunction that could result in total engine loss if not addressed. Hyundai is refusing to take responsibility for not informing us about this recall during few months we owned the car. They also are not taking responsibility at the dealership level for telling us there were no active recalls (there are TWO active recalls that were present when we called.) Is there anything that NHTSA will or can help with regarding this issue. Hyundai very clearly dropped the ball on this issue and are refusing to be helpful or take responsibility. This could have been a VERY dangerous situation if the car was driving at speed - luckily the engine broke down when pulling out of the driveway...