My 2005 Hyundai Accent headlights will not come on. I had recently replaced a bulb so I didn’t feel that both bulbs could be bad all of a sudden. I looked for a blown fuse but could not find a blown fuse and then looked for a headlight relay. Many vehicles have separate low and high beam relays but I could not find a relay on this Accent for the life of me. I played around with my lights and discovered that if I pulled back the light button the brights would come on but they wouldn’t stay on even if I switched them to bright only–that was puzzling. Finally I got my hands on a Haynes Service manual and looked at the schematic of the headlights and was essentially told that there in fact was not a relay in the engine compartment and the turn signal/headlight switch does all the work. I ended up having to take it in to a Hyundai dealership to only discover there was a headlight relay after all. I learned where it is located and now know how to repair this vehicle myself. My pain is your gain, read along so you can repair your Hyundai Accent yourself…
Hyundai Accent Headlights Will Not Come On
Vehicle:
Tools Needed:
Parts Needed:
Symptoms:
- Bulbs are good, fuses are good
- Low beams will not come on at all
- High beams will come on if I pull back the headlight switch but will not come on if I simply turn on the high beams
- Voltage on ALL 3 wires at both headlights when the lights are turned on are 12 volts (i.e. all are high)
Step 1: Check your headlight bulbs
The first thing you should check is your bulbs. It is highly unlikely that both bulbs would burn out simultaneously so if you only have one headlight out you just need to replace the bulb. I had recently replaced one of my headlight bulbs and you can read about how to do that here:
How to Change Hyundai Accent Headlight Bulb
Step 2: Check for a blown fuse or bad relay
If you do not have a headlight bulb out you should check your fuses. There are two fuse boxes on a 1999-2005 Hyundai Accent, one under the hood and one by the left foot of the driver.
Step 2a: Check the engine compartment fuse box.
There is a 50-amp Lamp fuse but there are NO headlight relays in the engine compartment fuse box:
It is easy to “visually” determine if this 50-amp fuse is good or bad because you will see that the plastic will be “clouded” and/or the copper tracing inside will be melted and the top and bottom solder joints will not be connected. I don’t have an example of a burnt out one to show you but you can look closely at the other 50-amp fuses and if this one looks radically different than the others then you likely have a bad fuse. You can see the location of the headlamp fuse below:
Step 2b: Check the cabin fuse box.
There are no headlight fuses in the interior fuse compartment but I’ve shown its location below:
There are no headlight fuses or relays in the interior fuse box:
Step 3: Replace the headlight relay.
Now I looked and looked and could not find a headlight relay on this car. I bought the shop manual at the local parts store and it did not have a relay shown on the headlight circuit. I even replaced the headlight switch. You can read that article here:
How to Replace Turn Signal Headlight Switch on Hyundai Accent
But replacing the headlight turn signal multi-switch did not fix it either. Ugh! Finally I took it to a dealer and they shared that a relay wasn’t on their repair manual either! Hyundai, I hope you have grown since 2005 and do not manufacture automobiles like this anymore because hiding relays up under the dash is bad practice! Leaving them undocumented is too!!! But thankfully for me the mechanic was able to find the relay up under the dash and that was the culprit. I didn’t want to move past this repair without understanding how to do it myself so I asked him where it was located and he said under the driver’s side dash. I found it and here is where you should look:
Once you look under the dash look between where the hood latch is and the side of the vehicle:
The part number of that relay is 95225-2D000
Install the new relay. There’s only one way to insert it–a piece of cake with my help!
It only cost me about $60 for the repair but I had to spend $50 for a rental car in the meantime because I had to leave it all day so they could troubleshoot it. BUT YOU DON’T NEED TO!! Replace this yourself!! You’ve now saved yourself close to $100!
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I already googld it,but i found nothing.,I will wait for the dealer response
I need your knowledge about my Accent 2017,my aircon suddenly stop working,the technician said it was an electrical issue,but he can’t find any AC relay in the fuse box. May be u can help me find it..
Sorry Nelwin, I don’t have a 2017. I’d probably try calling the dealer and asking them where the relay is located if you can’t find it by googling first.
I’m having the same problem on a 2005 accent. Headlights don’t work. Running lights and high beams work fine. First checked the bulbs. They’re fine. Using this article I checked the relay by swapping out a with another relay of the same spec in the car. No change again. Tried swapping the switch out and no change. I’m out of ideas… anyone?
Your article is about a 2005 accent. According to wiki, the third generation accent spans 2005 – 2011. I suspect that your vehicle is actually a second generation accent. At any rate, I have a 2010 accent and the underdash does not look anything like the picture you show. There are two relays, both identical to your picture (20/10 amp) and a third larger blue relay. I removed the two gray 20/10 relays and the low and high beams continued to work. I’m not sure what those two relays control but car started fine without them. I am beginning to think that there is no headlamp relay for the third generation as Tim suggests. Very strange that this information can’t be easily found on the internet.
thanks for this article, i search everywhere for my problem, checked lamps, wiring….this is my problem….if the headlightswitch, that is the handle…. is off, my headlights are on, if the handle pushed forward wich means headlights on, there off and when I flash by pulling it towards me, it shortcicuit……witch means headlights go off instesd of on. its like the handle/switch is opposite installed. I tink ita the relay that doesnt have ground and doesnt go back off……thats why when switch is off, lights are on. with this article, more to puzzle…..thanks for this great article, takes me a step further
Thanks for sharing Peter. You have a different issue than I did but I think you are on the right track. I’d replace the under-dash relay first and then go from there.
my 2001 had a bad pass side headlight plug and one of the two 30 amp fuses were blown.
relay was still good.
then i did a sanding/ clear spray for plastics and a waxing on the headlights to make them transparent.
pit marks are still there but they are transparent.
I have a 2010 Accent. I had the same problem where the low beams would not come on. High beams only came on while holding the switch towards me. I replaced the headlight switch on the steering column. It is a large assembly for a switch, so I assume the relay is inside it. $50 Canadian from RockAuto.com. 2 days delivery and a 10 minute change out time. Hope this helps a future Accent owner some grief.
Jonathan, the relay is NOT in the headlight switch. This entire article is about replacing the actual headlight relay, which will solve your problem, and it’s under the dash. Please review this article again carefully.
My daughter has a 2008 Hyundai Accent which was having the same problem. Parking lights worked but no headlights. You could flash the high beams if you pulled the blinker arm on the steering column but that’s it. There was a headlight fuse in the cabin fuse panel but it was fine. I replaced both headlights (one of the old ones was cloudy), but they still didn’t work. I was relieved when I came across this article because I thought it would be a easy fix. My daughter went to a dealership & purchased the relay for $16. That’s when I got my head under the dashboard & started searching for the old relay. There was nothing. I took apart the dash & steering column & still nothing. My Daughter then took the car to the dealership to have them find & replace it. She was told the car had no headlight relay & the problem was the multi function switch. They ordered & installed it & the headlights are now working. I was really hoping it was just a relay that I could do myself but in this case it wasn’t.
I was told there was no relay too, but there is. I’m glad you got your Accent fixed. Btw, I wrote an article on how to replace that headlight switch, which was only about a $35 part when I bought mine: How To Replace Turn Signal Headlight Switch On Hyundai Accent. The headlight switch was what I tried first, but in my case it was the relay, which I show you how to replace in this article. The 2008 may be different though. Thanks for leaving a comment.
Well for what it is worth here are a couple of mechanics who say that there is no headlamp relay on a 2010 accent
https://www.justanswer.com/hyundai/b8ikg-2010-accent-door-hatchback-headlights-not-working-flash.html
Very good but I have a 2008 Hyundai accent with the same symptoms and they also told me it
Didn’t have a headlight rely will this work for me
This model runs from 2005-2010 so it should be the same. Look up under your dash and see if you can see the relay. You can look at the part number of the relay to compare. Check back in and comment whether you were able to fix your car.
This is so crazy that there isn’t any resources for this problem! I think i am having a similar issue, my driver side highs and low work fine but my passenger light is just dim. well at first the passenger was dim on low and the high would work but now it is just all around dim! I have 2 off the 95225-2d000 units in the back of my interior fuse panel and i bet one of them is the culprit! Brand spanking new headlights on my 2009 Hyundai Accent GLS. Thank you!
Thanks for checking in Shawn. If you learn anything to add to this article please check back in and share.