Model Year 24/25 Weird cracks on my tail light

[creixcka]

First of all hello, when i was closing my trunk i noticed some weird cracks in my light bar and left side light. my car is only 3 month old.

 

[East Yorkshire Retrofits]

Stress cracks. The light bar on my A8 has done the same, irritating as hell

 

[tomek_olo]

Ooof, it's a facelift and they still did not sort those bars out. Bummer

 

[creixcka]

It saddens me that these vehicles are becoming more weak day by day.

 

[Cvpra]

Surely a warranty fix?

 

[DaveSmith]

Surely a warranty fix?

You'd hope so. However, it might not be that clear cut.
I had condensation in my headlights (both sides). They refused the claim as it "wasn't actually pooling in the light".
The dealer advised me to jet wash the car to try and make it worse so they'd be more convinced.

I hasten to add, this sort of behaviour is not exclusive to Cupra.
BMW tried similar tactics. I had some light paint bubbling starting on one rear wheel arch at 8 years old.
The paintwork is warranted for 10 years. I tried to claim. They measured the pain thickness and said that it was too thin and had therefore been painted so the claim was refused. The car had never been repainted at any point. They disagreed and I had to get it done myself.
If they were telling the truth about the paint, I suspect that it was painted pre PDI as I know that they can suffer damage in transportation as I have a mate who works at DFDS and he unloads imported cars and has seen damage. They also stored them outside in standing water awaiting pickup. Go figure.

 

[SRGTD]

You'd hope so. However, it might not be that clear cut.
I had condensation in my headlights (both sides). They refused the claim as it "wasn't actually pooling in the light".
The dealer advised me to jet wash the car to try and make it worse so they'd be more convinced.

I hasten to add, this sort of behaviour is not exclusive to Cupra.
BMW tried similar tactics. I had some light paint bubbling starting on one rear wheel arch at 8 years old.
The paintwork is warranted for 10 years. I tried to claim. They measured the pain thickness and said that it was too thin and had therefore been painted so the claim was refused. The car had never been repainted at any point. They disagreed and I had to get it done myself.
If they were telling the truth about the paint, I suspect that it was painted pre PDI as I know that they can suffer damage in transportation as I have a mate who works at DFDS and he unloads imported cars and has seen damage. They also stored them outside in standing water awaiting pickup. Go figure.

The small print in car manufacturer’s warranties is often their ‘get out of jail free’ card and can significantly limit the value of the warranty to the consumer and paintwork and corrosion warranties seem to be the worst for this. Additionally, there seems to be inconsistency of approach by the car manufacturer to warranty claims; as an example, in the mk5 Golf era VW fitted sponge support blocks between the inner and outer front wings at the 12 o’clock position above the wheel arch in some (all?) models of their cars. Being sponge, these blocks absorbed and retained water which over time caused the top of the wheel arch area of the wing to corrode from the inside out. VW‘s (inconsistent) three pronged approach to warranty claims was to;

• replace the front wings on some cars
• repair the affected area(s) on some others
• outright decline of the warranty claim on the remainder

I think with paintwork and bodywork warranty issues I’d rather have repairs carried out by a specialist body shop than a dealership paint shop. It might void the paintwork / corrosion warranties, but the standard of work is likely to be better than if done by the dealership paint shop and as said, the warranty may be worth very little because of the small print or the dealers / car manufacturers opinion of warranty coverage.

Apologies to @creixcka for going off topic. Hope you get your light bar replaced under warranty without issue .

 

[creixcka]

Surely a warranty fix?

I spoke with the service consultant. He said that the vehicle would be inspected and that it would need to stay for a few days. When I first got the vehicle, I had a Headlight Height Adjustment error. The headlight was changed under warranty. I think the vehicle was manufactured with a fault.

 

[creixcka]

UPDATE
I made an appointment and went to the service. The service advisor stated that the vehicle needed to be left for inspection, I requested a replacement vehicle as my right. He said that they did not have a replacement vehicle, that they had to talk to the head office and see if it could be replaced under warranty.

I told them that I needed a vehicle and they said that they would talk to the head office and that I could pick up the vehicle today.

It was 11.30 when I left the vehicle, I waited until 17.00 (the service closes at 18.00) and finally I could not stand it anymore and called the service advisor again. They said that they could not deal with the vehicle due to the intensity (only a photo will be taken and sent to the head office), they quickly completed the process and did not touch the vehicle in any way.

I found the vehicle left under the sun for a long time and the cracks in the rear lights had increased even more.

My car is only 3 months old, its loan has not even expired and it had to go to the service twice, and what's more, the service has made me suffer a lot.

 

[Seriously?]

The small print in car manufacturer’s warranties is often their ‘get out of jail free’ card and can significantly limit the value of the warranty to the consumer and paintwork and corrosion warranties seem to be the worst for this. Additionally, there seems to be inconsistency of approach by the car manufacturer to warranty claims; as an example, in the mk5 Golf era VW fitted sponge support blocks between the inner and outer front wings at the 12 o’clock position above the wheel arch in some (all?) models of their cars. Being sponge, these blocks absorbed and retained water which over time caused the top of the wheel arch area of the wing to corrode from the inside out. VW‘s (inconsistent) three pronged approach to warranty claims was to;

• replace the front wings on some cars
• repair the affected area(s) on some others
• outright decline of the warranty claim on the remainder

I think with paintwork and bodywork warranty issues I’d rather have repairs carried out by a specialist body shop than a dealership paint shop. It might void the paintwork / corrosion warranties, but the standard of work is likely to be better than if done by the dealership paint shop and as said, the warranty may be worth very little because of the small print or the dealers / car manufacturers opinion of warranty coverage.

Apologies to @creixcka for going off topic. Hope you get your light bar replaced under warranty without issue .

Not just Golf's. My B5.5 Passat had the same issue with the front wings. VW didn't want to know..." caused by stone chip damage".
Yeah, right. Nothing to do with the great lumps of water and debris trapping foam you thought was a good idea to fit.
Back almost on topic, I've noticed on our 2018 Leon ST the main rear lights are showing internal stress cracks in regular spots around the lamp units: I'm guessing it's the points where they are fixed into the body shell.

 

[Deeno59]

I have seen cracks like this before if used an alcohol based cleaner in the sun , for some reason the quick evaporation of the fluid causes the plastic to splinter. Not saying this is what’s happened to yours just what I’ve experienced

 

[ikhn]

First of all hello, when i was closing my trunk i noticed some weird cracks in my light bar and left side light. my car is only 3 month old. View attachment 49029

Hi, had the same issue with mine, small cracks all along the tail light, took it to the dealership today and they have ordered me a new tail light and booked me in for a replacement under warranty.