— A Land Rover Defender X recall is necessary for a strange problem related to 2020-2022 Defender X vehicles equipped with smoked rear light assemblies.
Land Rover says if a bright light shines on the rear of the 2,622 Defender X SUVs, the turn signals, tail lights and brake lights can fail.
Land Rover says a bright light that shines on the rear of the SUV can cause a voltage spike, but only on SUVs equipped with smoked rear light covers.
The automaker calls the bright light problem a "photovoltaic over-voltage event," and in the case of turn signals and brake lights the condition resets without driver intervention and the turn signals and brake lights will start working again once the bright light is gone.
However, the tail lights will go out until the ignition switch is turned off and back on, or by turning the tail light switch off and back on.
Jaguar Land Rover opened an investigation in April 2021 after a report regarding tail lights that stopped working when bright light was angled toward the rear of a Defender X.
Electrical engineers determined the problem occurred only on Defender X SUVs equipped with smoked rear tail light assemblies. From that point Land Rover and the supplier had to track down why the problem occurred.
"The supplier reported an intense source of light in direct line with the smoked rear lamp vertical and horizontal axes would cause a reverse voltage condition created by photovoltaic behaviour within the light emitting diode (LED) components of the rear lamps. During an over-voltage event, the self-protection logic of the rear lamp system will turn off the rear lamp when over-voltage is detected in order to protect the electrical circuits from damage." — Land Rover
Although rear lights and signals that fail can cause of host of troubles, the automaker says there have been no crash or injury reports.
Land Rover dealers will replace the Defender X rear light assemblies once owner recall notices are mailed August 3, 2021.
Defender X owners can contact Land Rover at 800-637-6837. Land Rover's Defender X recall reference number is N598.
