05 santa fe brake lights coming on with tail lights

thunderclucker

a friend of mine has an 05 santa fe. I was driving it one night and I noticed that the brake lights stayed on all the time. I messed with them and realized they come on with the tail lights. They come on normaly when the lights are off, but when you apply the brakes when lights are off the dash lights up.

Any suggestions would be appreciated,

denvertrakker

This is usually caused by a bad ground. Electricity will always follow the easiest path to ground or neutral. If the ground connection on the rear lights is corroded or disconnected, when the lights are turned on the current feeds back through any alternate path - i.e. the brake lights - and illuminates anything else on that circuit. That's why the dash lights up when you apply the brakes - somewhere along the way there's a bad ground, and it's most likely in the rear light assembly.

macdodd

I noticed the other day that other santa fe's had brake lights come on in the rear bumper. I pulled the light housing in the bumper and found that there were no bulb assemblies in the housing, nor any wiring going to them. I never noticed it before. Is this common? I have a '05 3.5 top of the line for that year. Thanks

oscar_gata

Maybe it was a Canadian or European model. US models just have bumper reflectors - this is true for both the 1st and 2nd generation models. Check out this site to retrofit them - http://www.hyundai-forums.com/t9368-santa-fe-bumper-lights.htm.

macdodd

Where is it located at,,,,,I need to change the oil,,,,,thanks

dingo1

I have a similar problem.
Where do I find the ground connection in the rear lights? Is it obvious or is it
hidden inside the light assembly itself.
Also would there be one ground for both lights, or a single per each.
The problem is driving me crazy, and I've been trying to stay out of the
dealerships where the fault would be "researched" hit and miss at $100/hour labour.

dingo1

espo35

I bet you have the wrong bulbs installed. They should be dual filament # 2057 or 1157 (2 contacts on base of bulbs). If you have single-contact bulbs #1156 or 2056 bulbs stuffed in there you will get a similar problem.