2016 HYUNDAI SANTA FE — Problems, Recalls & Safety Data

The motor began to making a knocking noise and started smoking like a fire was starting. We immediately turned off the vehicle preventing from a full fledge fire. We had children in the car as well which posed a safety concern for them. We had no prior warning lights or issues. It has yet to be inspected by anyone.

The contact owns a 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that while driving 60 MPH and attempting to depress the accelerator pedal, the vehicle decelerated and failed to respond as intended. The contact coasted to the right side of the road, turned off the vehicle, and the vehicle failed to start. Neither an independent mechanic nor a dealer was contacted. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed. The contact was informed that the vehicle was scheduled to be diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the failure had occurred on four occasions. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 150,000.

My engine failed at 113,000 miles. It just sounded like a diesel truck when I started it one day. There were no warning messages at all. It did not have any power above 45 mph. I took it to a Hyundai dealer and showed him the extended warranty letter I received from Hyundai. The letter said my specific engine should qualify for an extended warranty. However, the dealer (Castle Hyundai of Downers Grove, IL) said because my engine failed due to timing chain failure and not connecting rod failure, Hyundai would not honor the extended warranty. That infuriates me! Hyundai should honor the extended warranty because their engine failed and it wasn't my fault. They know they have an engine problem but because my engine didn't fail exactly the way they projected it would fail, I'm [XXX] of using my car. It also meant I had to purchase a new car which obviously wasn't a Hyundai. I hope you can push Hyundai to provide me financial relief or at least expand the engine warranty for others. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

My 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe lost all power, shutting off and stopping abruptly in the middle of the road with no warning lights or “limp mode” being set off requiring my partner and I to push it into someone’s driveway with our two children in the car to get them to safety. We took the vehicle to a mechanic shop where we were told that to engine was seized and needed to be fully replaced with an initial quote starting at 8 thousand dollars for a replacement engine. I contacted my local Hyundai dealership and was told over the phone that the vehicle would be covered under Hyundai service bulletin TXX8 that was issued last year due to ongoing issues with this engine (3.3l V6 Lambda II). We paid to have the vehicle towed to this dealership only to be told that the warranty would not be honored due to a lack of maintenance records. I was able to provide Hyundai with all maintenance records from my ownership as well as records on the CarFax report. They rejected the claim again stating that due to a lack of records not from my ownership they won’t cover it. After looking at the records I had access to again in critical detail I was able to find records that Hyundai missed, but they are unwilling to reevaluate the claim without me providing what they call additional records. I have contacted Hyundai, to try and resolve the issue and have gotten no resolution. The Prior Authorization team has stated that I have “adequate records” but still insist on denying the claim. The dealer has quoted me $12,000 for the repair that the warranty should be covering due to the engine not being manufactured in full anymore due to the issues that have come from it. The dealership (and private mechanic) would have to order individual pieces of the engine to build it themselves on site. If this engine is a big enough problem that Hyundai cannot provide a full engine replacement at market value then it should not be operating on the road at all.

The contact owns a 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the contact stated that the brake pedal was inoperable. The contact stated that the vehicle vibrated while depressing the brake pedal. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was restarted. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed and determined that the ABS module had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The dealer was contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 119,000.