Vehicle
2019 HYUNDAI SANTA FE
Manufacturer
Hyundai Motor America
Components
ENGINE
Dates
Incident: 12/21/2025
Filed: 01/13/2026
Owner complaint summary
On my 2019 Sante Fe 2.0T, I started having oil consumption/engine issues after 85, 000 miles. Under warranty, I had several minor repairs made over the last year (since 87,000 miles) at the dealership. In September 2025, at 97, 500 miles, I had it into the dealership complaining of burning oil and excessive consumptions in between oil changes. They AGAIN made a few minor repairs, I signed a one-owner warranty form since it was prior to 100,000, and they said come back if I experience further issues. On December 21, at 9pm at night, I broke down on the side of the PA turnpike. My engine light came on after my car started shaking vigorously, and wouldn't accelerate beyond 30mph. Being a Sunday night, I called the dealership in the morning- I was told no appointments for 3 weeks. Took it to a mechanic- where they diagnosed engine failure- hole in intake vale and floating valve not seated. Towed to dealership where it was INITIALLY diagnosed spark plugs and engine coil. Once a mentioned I had a prior diagnosis and pictures, Hyundai did bioscope- found burnt valve and now need all new intake values and part of the engine rebuilt. Hyundai wants me to pay for repairs. I don't think I should have to pay a dime- I've been complaining for over 15,000 miles BEFORE my warranty expired. And now, at 102, 000 miles, the engines blown?? This is a known manufacturer defect with the Theta II engines, and the pistons. I would expect Hyundai at the VERY LEAST to cover the cost of the repairs. Quite frankly, they should replace my engine with a new one, since replacing valves wont solve the pistons and burning excessive oil anyways. I have all documentation of repairs at the dealerships, email correspondence sent between the dealership's service advisors and myself, as well as my routine oil changes.
Official record ID (ODI): 11710660. This page is the human-readable source link used across afterwarranty. The raw JSON link proxies NHTSA's public API for machine verification; prefer this page when reading the complaint.