2022 Hyundai Kona

My daughter left our house in our 2022 Hyundai Kona on Friday, 1/13/23, to head back to college which is 5 hours from home. A little more than an hour down the road after leaving our house, she said that the car started sounding strange, so she called her mother. At this time, she was on a two lane country road with no safe options or areas to pull over. My wife advised my daughter to continue driving until she found a safe place to pull over. As she continued onwards, she came to a stop sign in the countryside and the car died on her. She restarted it and was able to continue her trip. Several miles later a light came on, but she was still not to a safe area. By the time she got to a safe place, other lights had come on, and the car died in the parking lot. The car would not restart so we called a tow truck to take the Kona to the nearest Hyundai dealership which is where it sits today. Upon inspection, the Hyundai dealership discovered that the drain plug was missing from the oil pan which caused the oil to drain and ultimately led to catastrophic engine failure. The engine needs to be replaced at a quote of $9753.08. The Kona’s last oil change was on 10/19/22 at 8,630 miles and was done a third party oil change facility. The mileage on the Kona when delivered to the repairing Hyundai dealership is 13,775. No engine lights or oil change needed indicators were on before our daughter began her trip on 1/13/23. I contend that this is a known issue with Hyundai engines based off of internet research that indicates that the NHTSA is actively investigating this exact issue of the drain plug falling out and causing catastrophic engine failure. This situation is a safety issue because the engine could have seized while in motion on a two-lane country road causing a wreck.

Emergency braking system stopped the car suddenly. There weren't any cars in front of me or next to me. Thankfully I was driving slow through a road in our parking lot and there were no cars behind me. It has only happened once so far. Obviously it startled me and made me wonder how safe the car is to drive. I haven't said anything to the dealer, but plan to when I go in for yearly maintenance in a week. There were no warning lights or symptoms prior to this happening.

Around 8,000 miles, mid-drive my check engine light came on and immediately the ability to speed up became very shotty. I have a 2022 kona n-line. I could put my foot on the floor and it would take forever to get up to speed if at all. It was very here and there and seemed to have a mind of its own when it would do this. I’ve had it into the shop 5-6 different times since then to have it addressed and I’m still having issues with it. They replaced some valance, the solanoid, and just recently completely replaced the entire turbo system to try and fix the problem. It seems to have helped, but I still have this ongoing clicking sound since this started when the car downshifts it seems like, that has yet to be diagnosed. It’s not a normal car sound at all and nobody seems to even notice this sound I mention every time I take it in. I’ve read similar stories with this same model of car, yet there’s no active recall on it. I’ve been dealing with this for months and it’s aggravating the amount of time I’ve put in to trying to fix this. I travel for work which only makes things so much more frustrating to work around.

The contact owns a 2022 Hyundai Kona. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the contact was informed that there was bad fuel in the vehicle. The failure reoccurred and the vehicle was taken back to the same dealer who reset the codes. The failure persisted. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and diagnosed with a cylinder misfire. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The approximate failure mileage was 5,500.

22’ Kona N DCT Base US spec. 5,600 miles est (2nd Kona) Fuel used: Shell Premium Outside Temp: 76F/Dry-Clear Sky. This is my 2nd Kona N, this is the 4th experience I’ve had with my Kona N’s. Towed the first on Vin# [XXX] to dealer, engine stalled after refueling during a road trip. 6/7k miles. Misfire. No replaced parts, car started acting normal. Then I traded it in for another Kona N in June 22’. The vehicle in normal mode is fine. I believe. Switching from N Mode is where the engine starts misfiring and runs on 3,2cyl puffing out white smoke. Leaving me stranded. The codes all show via car touch screen, and OBD reader/history. All electronics perform properly, including active safety features. I am Hyundai affiliated but I do not know how to relay the message. All of the Kona N/Elantra N/Veloster N DCT. Need software updates. It’s a bug, I honestly think. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

While on the highway the transmission completely stopped shifting and stayed in first gear and would only rev up the engine when the accelerator was applied. I was able to get up to 50mph and slowly make my way to the dealership where I bought it 2 months ago. I turned the vehicle off went inside to talk to the service center where I was told that it'd take 2 to 3 days to even get my car in to get looked at and they did not have any loaners to give me. I still had to work and couldn't take time off so I went back to my car and restarted it after a few minutes and it drove regularly.

This is my 2nd report on the same issue. There is another report from me on the first and I will be discussing this with my Hyundai dealer today. On a 250 mile road trip, on the expressway, two separate times, the car suddenly braked hard and the emergency warning flashed on the speedometer. Each time it was about 3-5 seconds. On the second incident, my passenger thinks she noticed it happening in conjunction with a car appearing on my side. She said the side mirror warning lit up at the same time the car started braking. It could just be a coincidence though. Thankfully, neither time did the brakes fully stop the car, but DAMN, it is very scary when it happens on the expressway and I am very nervous to drive with the feature on.