Tail light, brake light or signal failure on the 2005 Hyundai Santa FE
Only 3 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When tail light, brake light or signal failure gets reported
There are 3 reports of tail light, brake light or signal failure on the 2005 Hyundai Santa FE, 3 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 22nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 81,000 miles | — | — |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $100–$900 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 10 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2017, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2011 at 130,000 miles.
By volume the 2007 carries the most reports, with 26; the 2005 has 3. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Tl*the contact owns a 2005 hyundai santa fe. In november of 2008, the contact noticed that the turn signal indicators were not working while driving 40 MPH. She took the vehicle to the dealer three times and they replaced the turn signal fuse, but this did not correct the failure. A diagnostic was unable to locate the failure code. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer. The contact will notify the manufacturer. The failure mileage was 47,000 and current mileage was 50,700.
This has been a repeated problem for a long time. Early on I would have a brake lamp light that I would be told was out. We would take the light bulb out and reinsert and it would fix the problem. We assumed it jiggled loose. Then, at a later time, I would be told that the other brake light was out, and we would repeat the process and take it apart and it would amazingly start working again. Beginning in november 2014, taking the light apart no longer fixed it, so we checked and replaced fuses and lightbulbs, but it didn't fix it. Up until this time, the right brake light would go out and then it would be the left one intermittently. Then, as of december 2014, neither brake light works and the third brake light in the rear window has five small bulbs that stay lit at all times, but currently the third light in the rear window is the only light that comes on while applying the brake.since it is apparently not the lamp or the fuse, I'm wondering if my vehicle is included in the hyundai recall no. 092, a stop lamp switch recall, or any other recall pertaining to this issue, since I am reading a lot of complaints on this same issue? I…
This has been a repeated problem for a long time. Early on I would have a brake lamp light that I would be told was out. We would take the light bulb out and reinsert and it would fix the problem. We assumed it jiggled loose. Then, at a later time, I would be told that the other brake light was out, and we would repeat the process and take it apart and it would amazingly start working again. Beginning in november 2014, taking the light apart no longer fixed it, so we checked and replaced fuses and lightbulbs, but it didn't fix it. Up until this time, the right brake light would go out and then it would be the left one intermittently. Then, as of december 2014, neither brake light works and the third brake light in the rear window has five small bulbs that stay lit at all times, but currently the third light in the rear window is the only light that comes on while applying the brake.since it is apparently not the lamp or the fuse, I'm wondering if my vehicle is included in the hyundai recall no. 092, a stop lamp switch recall, or any other recall pertaining to this issue, since I am reading a lot of complaints on this same issue? I…
Also reported on the 2005 Hyundai Santa FE
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Other speed control problem
Seat belt or retractor failure
Other engine problem
Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure
Other brake problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 3 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 3 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does tail light, brake light or signal failure happen on the 2005 Hyundai Santa FE?
Across 3 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 80,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is tail light, brake light or signal failure on the 2005 Hyundai Santa FE?
3 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed