$760M
Hyundai/Kia Theta II engine defect
Knock, seizure, and complete failure. Affected ~2.4M vehicles built 2011–2019. Multi-billion-dollar class settlement.
Citation
In re Hyundai & Kia Engine Litigation · 2023
Vol. 01 · Issue 01An independent registry of defective American carsUpdated hourly
The car you bought may be defective.
The manufacturer probably already knows.
We track every active automotive class action, every NHTSA recall, and every documented manufacturer defect in America. Run your car against the registry — in sixty seconds — and see if you qualify to be matched with an attorney who’s already won cases like yours.
Today on the wire
The numbers nobody’s asking you to look at.
Live · NHTSA + court records
Sources: api.nhtsa.gov · pacer.uscourts.gov
0
consumer complaints
filed with NHTSA in the last 7 days
0
active investigations
manufacturer-defect probes opened YTD
$0M
largest 2023 settlement
Hyundai/Kia Theta II engine defect
0
registry entries
manually-curated documented defects
Every one of these numbers is something an automaker would rather you not see. We collect them so you don’t have to.
Watch it work
Form to verdict. Sixty seconds.
- 01You tell us what you drive and what's wrong.
- 02We cross-check NHTSA, class actions, and known defects.
- 03You get an honest verdict — strong, moderate, or worth-reviewing.
- 04If you want, we connect you to a vetted attorney. Free, contingency.
defectfiles.com/check
Step 01 / Vehicle
Tell us what you drive.
Year
Make
Model
What's wrong?
The winners’ ledger
Real cases. Real money. Real owners just like you.
A few of the consumer-side wins on file in our registry. Settlements are public-record; we link to the case where available.
$35M
Ford PowerShift DPS6 transmission
Shudder, slip, total transmission failure. California court documents revealed Ford internally acknowledged the defect.
Citation
Vargas v. Ford Motor Co. · 2017–2020
$1B+
Subaru oil consumption settlement
Defective piston rings caused excessive oil consumption — extended powertrain warranty to 8 years/100k miles.
Citation
Yaeger v. Subaru of America · D.N.J. 2016
$200M
Kia/Hyundai theft vulnerability
Lack of immobilizers made vehicles trivially easy to steal — owner compensation, software fix, anti-theft hardware.
Citation
In re Kia Hyundai Theft Litigation · 2023
Method
How a stranger’s car becomes a lemon-law claim.
- 01
Tell us about your car
Year, make, model, the symptom, how many times the dealer has tried to fix it, and your state. Sixty seconds.
- 02
We cross-check the records
Your vehicle is run against NHTSA recall and complaint data, federal class-action filings, and our manually-curated registry of known defects.
- 03
You get an honest verdict
Strong, moderate, or worth-reviewing — with the named defect, complaint counts, and historical recovery range, in plain English.
- 04
Connected to an attorney who's already won cases like yours
If you want it, we route your case file to a vetted lemon-law attorney with a documented track record on your specific defect. They work on contingency — manufacturer pays attorney fees if you win, so you pay nothing.
Open files
Some of the cars we’re watching.
A few of the 51 defects currently in our registry — sourced from NHTSA, federal court filings, and settled class-action records.
File · HYUNDAI-KIA-THETA-II
Theta II engine knock & seizure
Hyundai/Kia · 2011–2019
Recovery range$4k–$25k
File · HYUNDAI-KIA-NU-ENGINE
Nu 1.8L / 2.0L engine oil consumption
Hyundai/Kia · 2011–2016
Recovery range$3k–$15k
File · KIA-HYUNDAI-THEFT
Anti-theft / keyless ignition vulnerability
Kia/Hyundai · 2011–2022
Recovery range$1k–$6k
File · HYUNDAI-TUCSON-1-6T
1.6L Gamma turbo connecting-rod failure
Hyundai/Kia · 2014–2021
Recovery range$4k–$18k
File · FORD-POWERSHIFT-DPS6
PowerShift DPS6 dual-clutch transmission
Ford · 2011–2016
Recovery range$5k–$20k
File · FORD-10R80
10R80 10-speed transmission harsh shifts
Ford · 2017–2022
Recovery range$3k–$16k
File · FORD-BRONCO-ENGINE
2.7L EcoBoost valve failure
Ford · 2021–2022
Recovery range$4k–$22k
File · FORD-5-4-TRITON
5.4L Triton 3-valve spark plug ejection
Ford · 2004–2008
Recovery range$2k–$10k
Honest answers
The questions every reasonable person asks before leaving an email.
If you want to verify any claim on this page, every data source is publicly checkable — the NHTSA APIs are free, court records are on PACER, settlements are in the public record.
Is this a scam?+
No. We’re an independent registry that cross-checks public NHTSA data and known class actions against your car. The check is free, the case review is free, and lemon-law cases are typically taken on contingency — you pay nothing unless you win, and the manufacturer pays the attorney fees. We don’t bill you for anything, ever.
How do you make money, then?+
Lemon-law firms pay us a flat referral fee when we send them a qualified case file. They make money by winning cases against manufacturers (the manufacturer pays the attorney fees under federal Magnuson-Moss and state lemon laws). Your settlement is unaffected — referral fees come out of the firm’s margin, not your recovery.
Are you a law firm?+
No, and we never claim to be. We’re a registry and a matchmaker. We don’t give legal advice. The verdict you see is based on public data; an attorney makes the actual call on whether your case is viable.
Will I get spammed if I leave my email?+
Your case file goes to one vetted attorney in your state. Not a directory. Not a marketplace. One. They’ll reach out within a business day to schedule the free 15-minute review. We don’t resell your data and we don’t add you to a marketing list — every email you check the consent box for is the only email we’ll send.
What if my car isn't in the registry?+
You may still have a case under federal warranty law (Magnuson-Moss) or your state’s lemon law — even without a known class-action match, three or more failed repair attempts often qualifies. The registry is just one signal among many; that’s why even ‘no match’ cases come back as ‘Worth reviewing’ instead of ‘No case’.
Why does this exist?+
American consumers leave billions of dollars on the table every year because they don’t know their warranty rights or how to find a lawyer. NHTSA publishes thousands of complaints; courts publish thousands of settlement records. Almost nobody connects them to individual owners. We do.
Why do you ask for my VIN?+
Optional, not required. If you provide it, we auto-decode it through NHTSA’s public vPIC service (no commercial database, no fee) so the year/make/model fields fill themselves and we can match against engine/trim-specific defects. We never store the full VIN unless you submit a case file.
Last word
If your car is in the registry, somebody owes you money.
Run your vehicle. The check is free. Most lemon-law cases are taken on contingency, so the case is too — manufacturer pays the attorney fees if you win.
Check my car →