On Wednesday April 3rd,  Hyundai and Kia announced a recall that affects nearly 1.7 million vehicles over issues with the stop lamp switch which can cause the brake lights to malfunction among other problems.

Aside from the brake lights not working when the brake pedal is depressed, a malfunctioning stop lamp switch can also cause the affected vehicles to keep their cruise control engaged when the brake pedal is used, intermittent operation of the push-button start, it can prevent the shifter from being moved out of park and can light up the electronic stability control warning light.

About 1 million Hyundai vehicles are affected, which are the 2007 to 2009 Accent and Tucson; the 2007 to 2010 Elantra; the 2007 to 2011 Santa Fe; the 2008 to 2009 Veracruz; the 2010 to 2011 Genesis Coupe; and the 2011 Sonata. On the other hand, 623,000 Kia vehicles were affected, which are the 2007 to 2010 Rondo and Sportage; the 2007 to 2011 Sorento; the 2007 Sedona; the 2010 to 2011 Soul; and the 2011 Optima.

This is the second recall of this kind, the first being in 2009 as Hyundai recalled about 500,000 vehicles for the same issue. Hyundai has made changes to the switch assembly to correct this issue since then, however, the affected vehicles were built before the changes were put in place.

The recall is scheduled to begin by June 2013, where Hyundai and Kia dealers will inspect the affected vehicles and replace the stop lamp switch free of charge. Customers can contact Hyundai at 1-800-633-5151, or Kia at 1-800-333-4542 for more information.