Recall info and updates about engine replacement for certain Hyundai & Kia vehicles

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At a breakfast get together today, one of my friends related that he recently got a new engine for his 6-year old Hyundai provided and installed for free by a nearby Hyundai dealership. As the original owner he did not receive any recall notices from Hyundai. What happened recently was that someone tried to steal his two parked cars on his residential street and damaged the driver side front door locks. His outdoor security camera recording showed at 2 a.m. a vehicle driving slowly by his two parked vehicles (Honda and Hyundai) and returned and stopped when two occupants jumped out and tried but failed force entry into both cars. When he took his car for a repair cost estimate, the Hyundai dealership noticed his vehicle’s old engine, ran the VIN number and told my friend that his model qualified for a free new engine. When he brought the car in for a new engine, the dealership provided him a loaner car for free - a late model Hyundai electric vehicle which he immensely enjoyed driving, but was turned off by the $50 K plus price tag. Also liked me, he does not believe that California’s currently woefully deficient electrical grid system will not be upgraded in time to fully service the California Air Resources Board’s aggressive Advanced Clean Cars II rule that sets California on a path to rapidly growing the zero-emission car, pickup truck and SUV market and deliver cleaner air and massive reductions in climate-warming pollution. The rule establishes a year-by-year roadmap so that by 2035 100% of new cars and light trucks sold in California will be zero-emission vehicles, including plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

For those unaware like my friend, here are recent Hyundai and Kia recall info and updates.

New Hyundai, Kia Engine Failure Settlement Covers 2.1M Additional Vehicles [UPDATE]
Published on February 13, 2023/Last Updated on June 23, 2023

While the previous settlement covered vehicles equipped with Theta II gasoline direct injection (GDI) engines, the more recent deal aims to resolve several cases that claimed the automakers’ Theta II 2.4-liter multipoint fuel injection (MPI), 1.6-liter Gamma GDI and 2.0-liter Nu GDI engines are plagued by the same defect, which can allegedly cause engine seizures, failures and even fires.
Certain Hyundai Santa Fe, Sonata Hybrid, Tucson, Elantra and Veloster vehicles and Kia Forte, Optima Hybrid, Sorento, Soul and Sportage vehicles with these engines will be covered.
The sprawling 143-page settlement, which received preliminary approval on February 8, will provide nine categories of relief for consumers, including an extended warranty, reimbursement for repairs and out-of-pocket expenses, goodwill payments, a rebate and even compensation for vehicles that were destroyed by fire or sold or traded in because of an engine failure.

And if you’re a second owner of eligible Hyundai and Kia vehicle models, you should read this heads up article:

If you drive a Kia or Hyundai you may be one of the thousands of drivers eligible for a limited lifetime warranty for a free engine replacement on your car, but there’s a catch.
A little-known loophole is preventing many second owners from cashing in on the warranty and it could cost you thousands.

Regards,
Ray

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It might be that those timetables will need to be adjusted, but if there is a third rail of politics it isn’t Social Security, it’s turning off the electricity to people’s homes, especially in sweltering August as happened a few years ago with the rolling blackouts.

I suspect it will work out OK, especially short term. The over-wet winter has put enough water in depleted reservoirs to let them turn on some mothballed hydroelectric plants, the governor has said he may extend the service life of some nuke plants that are scheduled to close, and they’ve added lots of gas, solar, and wind capacity in the last couple years. (Also battery load balancing backup has increased something like 2000%, though it’s still too small to do much except instant dispatch for balance.)

Anyway, a hybrid would be a good way to cut down; I just looked at a used Hyundai plug-in hybrid Ionic: 59mpg! Better for gas, pretty good with electrons too, apparently.

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The issue is not really about CA politics.

Currently the biggest most important thing in DC are the negotiations over a grid bill.

We can have a government shutdown in October but that will end and the damage get repaired eventually. Wont happen anyway.

We can have all sorts of things, some budget cuts etc…new taxes.

The thing that really sticks is this bill giving the executive power to work on national “parts” of a smart grid.

As we have a factory buildout we need the grid. The state governments can not be the measure of how we get there. That is far too unreliable.

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States lack the ability to handle anything “interstate”. By definition, the “new and improved” grid will be significantly more efficient than the current system.

More importantly, the recent creation (discovery???) of room-temp superconductor material means the R&D behind it will get a HUGE boost ASAP. If it works (to be determined), then the build-out of a new grid suddenly becomes far simpler and able to handle significantly higher capacity in far fewer wires (so it speak). So the taking down of old transmission/distribution towers and replacement with (buried?) new (wiring?) solves multiple problems with a single solution.