Genesis has become quite successful as an upstart luxury automaker, and much of that has to do with its beautiful designs. Its entire lineup of cars and SUVs shares a boldly attractive visual language that looks good from every angle and in every light. Its choice of paint colors, however, has proven to be a problem.
The Genesis G90 is being recalled over its Highway Drive Assist (HDA) system, which under normal operation allows for low-level autonomous driving. G90s that were painted in the brand’s Savile Silver exterior color, however, may experience phantom braking when their HDA is activated. This particular paint color contains aluminum, which can reflect radar signals coming from the G90’s front corner radar back into its sensor. This tricks the system into believing a car has entered the G90’s lane and activates the brakes to avoid a collision.
How Is Genesis Going To Fix This?
Fortunately, this recall is relatively small, affecting only 483 units. These include cars from the 2023–2026 model years and only those with the Savile Silver paint color. Being the brand’s largest, most expensive passenger car, the G90 doesn’t sell in high volumes; its Q3 sales figure for 2025 was just 320 units.
With only 483 individual cars being recalled, you might think Genesis would just go ahead and repaint every one to fix the problem. That would likely be prohibitively expensive, and it’s not what Genesis is going to do. Instead, the company will have one of its certified Genesis technicians seal the front bumper beam, so the radar signal won’t be transmitted through the body panel and hit the paint.
In the meantime, Genesis has stopped offering Savile Silver as a paint color option. It will return, however, once the sealed front bumper beam officially becomes part of the G90’s assembly process. Owners of vehicles affected by this recall are advised not to use their car’s HDA function until it’s fixed. They should be receiving a notification by snail mail with instructions on where to go get the remedy.
TopSpeed’s Take
This is a new one for us. We’ve never seen a recall in which a car’s paint color wreaked havoc on its electronic safety systems. Today’s automotive paints, however, use complicated technology themselves, which includes the incorporation of metal flakes for special reflective qualities. It’s not a new technique, but it’s not surprising to find it conflicting with the sensitive equipment used on cars today to keep us safe.
What’s more surprising is that this issue wasn’t caught before the color reached production, or even anticipated beforehand. Modern cars are tested endlessly to ensure their systems work in every situation imaginable. Somehow, this Savile Silver paint slipped through the cracks.
Source: NHTSA
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