2014 Hyundai Equus

Headlight provides inadequate lighting, car not in compliance with FMVSS 108. Caused by the reflector bowl in the low beam HID projector losing its reflective coating. Heat/UV emitted by the bulbs burns it off. Visibility reduced to 38 feet. Happens on all years/trims. No known repair. Replacement headlight assemblies also affected.

Which vehicles this affects: 2011-2016 Hyundai Equus. All trim levels. This affects every Hyundai Equus, as all headlights are identical throughout all model years and trims. I am the administrator for the Facebook group of this car, and am part of the automotive lighting industry. I can confirm that everyone I’ve asked (several hundred people) have experienced this issue. I have owned 3 of these vehicles, all different model years, and can also confirm each vehicle had this issue. What happened: I came within inches of hitting a pedestrian crossing the road because the distance vision my headlights are supposed to offer has effectively been eliminated. My reaction time is now greatly reduced as I can no longer identify hazards beyond 38ft in front of my car using low beams. Why did this happen: The reflective coating on the bowl of the HID low beam projector is incapable of handling the UV/heat emitted by the stock HID bulb, and burns off. Complaints similar to this that resulted in recall: This is identical to what happened with the Acura RLX LED headlights, in which they had to issue a recall. Things I’d like to add: This is not a normal “wear and tear” item. The reflective coating of the headlight is THE most important part of the headlight, as without it the light can not be formed into a beam whatsoever. It is not a user serviceable item, nor is it accessible for repair. The entire headlight must be replaced, and the brand new headlight has the same issue. My headlights now only provide enough light to show me things up to 38 feet away, even while being aimed properly. This is a critical failure that has no viable solution without NHTSA’s intervention. Image of the problem: I have attached an image of the reflector bowl to show how the critical reflective coating has nearly entirely burnt off. For reference, the bowl shown in the photo SHOULD have a completely mirror finish. I have also attached their response to my report.

Car is equipped with an air bag suspension system. There was a failure with the airbags around 18 months ( in 2016) of the car being put in service. I was driving on a hway at 70 mph w/grandkids in the car when the airgbags failed and the nose of the car immediately went down and the car started to veer. Luckily there was no other cars around me and I was able to slow down and pull off the hway. Coincidentally, I was just a mile from the dealership and immediately took the car to them and they gave me loaner car and took it in to repair under warranty. Approximately 18 months later, the air bags failed again and the car was just past warranty so I paid for the repair but contacted Hyundai and they reimbursed me.Hyundai told me they had problems with the design of the airbags and redesigned it which is what my car was then equipped with. The air bag system has failed twice more since then. The most recent incident caused many problems with the car. The air bag system had a leak and caused the compressor to keep filling them. I don't believe this compressor was built to be in use so much and caused my battery and alternator to fail, then the compressor itself finally failed. All this took place because of the faulty suspension air bag system. I believe Hyundai was negligent in not issuing a recall when the airbags originally failed back in 2016 as it could have led to a bad accident. I went on line and found many chat rooms with people having had the same or similar experiences to me. Hyundai is well aware of the problems with the system yet has chosen to ignore it and hope the problem goes away. Because of all the problems with this suspension, they have since done away with it and gone to a standard suspension system on all the newer cars that are similar to mine ( now Genisis). They need to do something for all the older cars still on the road with this old suspension. The date listed below is for the last incident mentioned in this document.

MY HYUNDAI EQUUS HAS AIR SHOCK ISSUES NOT RAISING AN LOWERING TO PROPER HEIGHT HYUNDAI FORUMS ONLINE HAS MULTIPLE COMPLAINTS ON THIS ISSUE. ISSUES 2 SUBPAR PAINT USED ON VEHICLE PAINT HAS FADED AWAY ON HOOD AND TRUNK AREA HAVE ANOTHER OLDER 2007 HYUNDAI AZERA WHERE THE PAINT LUSTER STILL SHINES ALL OVER VEHICLE. THERE ARE MULTIPLE COMPLAINTS LIST GONE HYUNDAI FORUM FOR PAINT ISSUES TO.

THE STRUTS WENT OUT WHILE I WAS DRIVING. AFTER IT WENT OUT THE, TIRES WOULD TOUCH THE FENDER OF THE CAR. IT DAMAGED THE PASSENGER SIDE AND DRIVER SIDE OF MY FRONT FENDER. IT ALSO RUBBED THE TREAD AWAY FROM THE TIRE DUE TO RUBBING AGAINST THE FENDER. IT WAS NOT SAFE TO DRIVE BECAUSE IT WAS SO LOW TO THE GROUND THAT I ALMOST TORE THE FRONT FENDER OFF.

CAR STARTS ACCELERATING ON ITS OWN AFTER LONG HIGHWAY DRIVES ONCE CRUISE CONTROL IS DISENGAGED. MESSAGE APPEARS 'SERVICE ENGINE IMMEDIATELY. VEHICLE SPEED LIMITED DUE TO MALFUNCTION' WHEN IN FACT VEHICLE CONTINUES TO ACCELERATE. PLACING CAR IN 'PARK' CAUSES ENGINE TO REV OUT OF CONTROL. RESTARTING THE CAR DOES NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM. THIS HAS HAPPENED TO ME FOUR TIMES IN THE PAST SIX MONTHS, ONLY AFTER DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 3 1/2 HOURS. I'VE READ NEARLY IDENTICAL DESCRIPTIONS ONLINE. DEALER HAS TO 'REPRODUCE' THE PROBLEM, DOES NOT ACCEPT VIDEOS, AND YET THIS IS ONLY HAPPENED AFTER A LONG DRIVES.

TAKATA RECALL. THE CAR HAS ABOUT 48000 MILES. 1) WHEN DRIVING AT HIGHWAY SPEED, BRAKE SELF APPLIES FORCEFULLY AT TIMES WHEN PASSING OR BEING PASSED BY OTHER VEHICLES ON THE ADJACENT LANES ON BOTH SIDES, ALMOST CREATING REAR-END COLLISIONS ON A FEW OCCASIONS. 2) WHEN RESETTING THE CRUISE CONTROL TO THE PREVIOUS SETTING, IT CONTINUES TO ACCELERATE PAST PREVIOUS SETTING (OVER 100 MPH) UNTIL BEING MANUALLY DISENGAGED. 3) AT TIMES, AT HIGHWAY OR LOCAL SPEED, THE ENGINE WOULD CUT OFF BRIEFLY WHILE SHOWING A QUICKLY FLASHED MESSAGE, THEN ENGINE WOULD POWER-UP AGAIN A FEW SECONDS LATER FOR NORMAL DRIVING. 4) TOOK THE CAR TO THE DEALERSHIP AND ADVISED THAT MOISTURE INSIDE THE RIGHT REAR TAIL LIGHT HOUSING WAS THE CAUSE FOR THE ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS. THIS VEHICLE HAS NEVER BEEN IN AN ACCIDENT OR DAMAGED AND ACCORDING TO MANY MECHANICS I HAVE CONSULTED, THE FISSURE ON TAIL LIGHT HOUSING IS PROBABLY DUE TO POOR WORKMANSHIP FROM THE FACTORY. DEALER COST FOR THIS REPAIR, $1800.00. THE DASHBOARD COVER IS LIFTING OFF (GETTING UNGLUED) FROM ITS BASE DUE TO THE FLORIDA HEAT. COST FOR REPAIR, MORE THAN $4,000. DUE TO THE INCESSANT NUMBER OF DAILY ROBOCALLS, PLEASE CONTACT BY PHONE TEXT OR EMAIL. THANK YOU

SPORADICALLY IN WET OR DAMP CONDITIONS THE CAR ON STARTUP MY REV PAST 5000 RPM AND WILL NOT STOP. TOUCH ACCELERATOR WITH NOT CHANGE, MUST TURN OFF AND RESTART SEVERAL TIMES. CAR WILL ALSO WHILE IN MOTION DISPLAY "SERVICE ENGINE IMMEDIATELY VEHICLE SPEED LIMITED DUE TO MALFUNCTION. SPEED IS NOT LIMITED THE CAR WILL ACCELERATE ON IT'S OWN. HIT BRAKES AND RELEASE AND ACCELERATION WILL REOCCUR. CAN SET CRUISE CONTROL IN THIS SITUATION AND CAR WILL ACCELERATE PAST SETTINGS UNTIL AND ERROR APPEARS DISABLING CRUISE CONTROL AND CAR WILL KEEP ACCELERATING UNTIL I HIT THE BRAKES ONCE RELEASED CAR WILL SPEED UP AGAIN. ONLY WAY TO STOP IS TURN THE CAR OFF AND ON SEVERAL TIMES. THE HAVE BEEN MULTIPLE TIMES, HAS HAPPENED DURING RUSH HOUR ON HIGHWAY, SIDE STREETS ETC. I HAVE HAD THE VEHICLE IN 2 TIMES AND DEALERS STATES THERE ARE NO CODES IN THE ONBOARD COMPUTER. THE DEALER HAS HAD THE VEHICLE BUT CODE NOT RECREATE. DEALER HAD THE VEHICLE IN A SNOW BUT DID NOT WANT TO DRIVE IT SINCE BAD ROAD CONDITIONS BUT THIS IS WHEN IT USUALLY HAPPENS AND HAD SAFETY CONCERNS. CONTACTED HYUNDAI AND CUSTOMER SERVICE STATED THEY WILL NOT HELP ME UNLESS TECH CAN RECREATE THE EXACT ISSUE EVEN THOUGH I HAVE VIDEO AND IMAGES. DEALERSHIP TECHS HAD A REAL CONCERN ESPECIALLY AFTER I SHARED MY VIDEOS.