Cracks in rear light plastic - internal

[MattyS]

Hi folks,

I was just about to plug my car in ready for a journey tomorrow, and I noticed two parts of the left rear brake plastic were damaged. The damage itself almost looks like a stone has come up and hit the light cluster but upon inspection the damage is internal and not external. See the picture attached, will be contacting the dealer to discuss options.

Has anyone with similar had repairs done under warranty or should I brace for monetary impact?

 

[ReintjeWA]

That is indeed strange, hope they'll fix it for you under warranty mate

 

[Yandards]

Hi folks,

I was just about to plug my car in ready for a journey tomorrow, and I noticed two parts of the left rear brake plastic were damaged. The damage itself almost looks like a stone has come up and hit the light cluster but upon inspection the damage is internal and not external. See the picture attached, will be contacting the dealer to discuss options.

Has anyone with similar had repairs done under warranty or should I brace for monetary impact?


View attachment 36056

Got exactly the same issue that I've just spotted today when washing it - both sides, all internal cracks on a car that's 1 year and 10 months old.
No doubt they will argue it's impact damage which is utter rubbish.
Cracks all propagating from an edge, edge is very difficult to hit with the bodywork profile and no signs of any external chips through impact etc. Plus both sides in similar locations and combined with the type of polymer says crap design failure.

 

[Diggsy]

Those almost look like stress cracks - possibly caused by poor positioning of the fittings, not enough padding, and/or over-tightening.

 

[MattyS]

Yeah not good at all. Minor, but certainly worth getting sorted before they escalate. Interestingly, when driving I heard a loud crack noise from the rear of the car. I thought it could have been a stone, but clearly not. I thought maybe got weather might be the cause.

 

[Yandards]

Yeah not good at all. Minor, but certainly worth getting sorted before they escalate. Interestingly, when driving I heard a loud crack noise from the rear of the car. I thought it could have been a stone, but clearly not. I thought maybe got weather might be the cause.

Suspect they will keep cracking over time and the origin point does look like it starts where the plastic is joined to the rear housing for the cluster.
Could be condensation freezing a little and stressing the assembly - wouldn't be at all surprised if others were like this but folks haven't noticed yet.

 

[MattyS]

Suspect they will keep cracking over time and the origin point does look like it starts where the plastic is joined to the rear housing for the cluster.
Could be condensation freezing a little and stressing the assembly - wouldn't be at all surprised if others were like this but folks haven't noticed yet.

I've been doing some googling and there is an Audi forum where people had the same (although this was back in 2014 from what I can see)

 

[Yandards]

The type of plastic they've selected for the outer, transparent section is very brittle, gives good clarity and fairly scratch resistant as the trade off.
Lot of these cars are probably on company car or lease schemes and many folks don't wash their cars opting for the car wash services that seem to be everywhere these days. TLR of that would be it's not obvious until the cracks get fairly large.

 

[MattyS]

I've just sent the dealership my picture of damage so will update when I get a response re warranty etc

Edit: Took into the dealer so their staff can take photos, and I'm glad I did because he spotted more similar damage all across the left side light cluster. Now we wait for the warranty response.

 

[iqon]

There is a few more of us that noticed cracks last year noticed mine after hand wash. Dealer so far not being helpfull.

 

[Michiel]

Stress cracks due to bad installation. The dealer replaced mine under warranty after approval from MG.

 

[Matt x power]

Same here, my rear driver's side light lense had cracked internally, Which the dealer replaced under warranty.

 

[MattyS]

I've had a look at the warranty but I couldn't quite figure out how long the lights etc are covered for. Hopefully its beyond 2 years (mine is 3 years old in Dec 25)

 

[Tuareg]

I would think that the casings are classed as bodywork as they have no moving parts or electrical functionality.

 

[derek31a]

I need to check for possible cracks, my problem is condensation in the light bar near the centre. I haven't seen any cracks but I'll have a closer look. I have made the dealer aware and they said keep an eye on it and if it persists in dry weather then take it back. 23 plate Trophy.

 

[anthony1967]

Yes have the same issue too

 

[anthony1967]

Yes have same issue too, inferior materials

 

[htwill]

Had the rear plastic unit replaced under warranty by the dealer without any hesitation from MG. Appears to be a common issue.

 

[Paul99]

Yeah not good at all. Minor, but certainly worth getting sorted before they escalate. Interestingly, when driving I heard a loud crack noise from the rear of the car. I thought it could have been a stone, but clearly not. I thought maybe got weather might be the cause.

I get the crack noise, I think it's expansion / contraction of the lightbar.

 

[derek31a]

I'm thinking that it may have been a dodgy batch. I've checked mine on a 23 plate, and no sign of chipping or cracking inside or out!