NHTSA Complaint #11698430 — 2015 HYUNDAI SANTA FE

On 08/15/2025 I started the vehicle and heard a ticking noise that lasted for 3 seconds and stopped. The same noise happened when I would start the car in the mornings. It never lasted more than 3 seconds and I wasn't too sure what the noise was. There was no engine lights that came on so I wasnt too worried about it. On 8/21/2025 my husband went to the store and when he came back the car shut off while backing into the driveway. He said it made a weird noise and just shut off. We tested the battery but it was still charged. We brought it to our mechanic and he called us 15 mins later saying he found metal shavings on the oil filter and the engine had seized. He recommended going to the dealer, which is 90 miles away. Around the 15th we had received the warranty extension for 15 years/150,000 miles from Hyundai talking about a knocking sound that can lead to engine seizure. So I called the dealer and they said to bring it in. We got the car towed to the dealer on 8/26/2025. On 09/04/2025 they called to let us know that they ran the test on the engine but Hyundai was not going to help due to the car having 176,000 miles. They agreed the engine seized due to rod failure but wasn't going to offer Goodwill assistance, even with the service history we submitted from our carfax that showed regular scheduled maintenance recorda. We bought the car on 03/08/2025 when it was at 170,000 miles. I knew about the other open recalls and had them fixed on 06/12/2025 ( after being delayed from the dealer for 2 months because they couldn't get the parts for the auxiliary canister). Luckily the car died in the driveway and not in the middle of traffic. Hyundai has known about their Lambda engines having this issue and the KDSS recall was not available for this car which could have triggered a lifetime warranty on the engine. I barely had the car for 5 months.