Broken high-level brake light lens - anyone else?

[andy_l]

Evening all,

The high-level brake light lens has cracked clean through on my 63 plate FR where the washer nozzle is. Booked it into the dealers who said that there was no evidence of a manufacturing defect and therefore must have occurred due to 'outside influence'. As a result the repair fee was £73 which I declined.

Before I send an email to UK customer services, has anyone else seen this? There's no visible damage to the surrounding boot spoiler or evidence of a stone chip, but the edges of the lens do appear to be crazed. Perhaps due to thermal expansion?

Cheers,


Andy

 

[andy_l]

A few pics of the lens

Cheers,


Andy

 

[chrisRibiza]

Have a search, someone else had this a while ago and warranty was refused I think from memory.

 

[jc_boc]

I think it's the guy in Mexico or Egypt or something like that. As above dealer did not cover under warranty.

 

[andy_l]

My bad, should have done a forum search first... http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=404203&highlight=brake+light

Seems to me that having the washer nozzle come through the lens creates a nice weak spot. Loathe to spend that much money to repair if its just going to happen again, but it bugs me every time I open the boot.

 

[scrich7]

If it bugs you enough I'd suggest just sourcing the part and fitting yourself, something like that should be fairly simple to do. I'd reckon that most of that £73 will be fitting, rather than parts?

 

[andy_l]

It's a complete unit with LED's and washer nozzle. Didn't get a part-only price from the dealer, but where I can find it online, prices seem to be in the region of €50.

Certainly an option though.

 

[JK1]

Have you raised it with Seat CS?

If it's a design fault it'll only get flagged of enough people complain.

I wonder if the washer jet nozzle expands in the heat faster than the break light and ends up splitting it.

 

[metomurti]

Welcome to broken additional brake light owners club

1) My first light was broken. But they did not change it under warranty. They said someone tried to steal it and broke it. And my car would be the first car that the lamp would be changed. They did not know how to change. So I bought and changed myself using elsawin. It is very easy.

2) Second light was broken again 2 months before. They did not changed it under warranty again. Because I changed ti myself not at service.

3) I bought the third lamp. I uninstalled the broken light and gave the third lamp to them. They installed. Now they know the continuum. They did it with registration. So if it happens again they will change in under warranty.

In Turkey it costs 30 pound including fitting in Seat authorized service.

 

[Seastormer]

Mine is still ok, but only had the car 3 weeks, suggest everyone keeps an eye on theirs, as if it's happening a lot then SEAT should be paying under warranty.

 

[metomurti]

Mine is still ok, but only had the car 3 weeks, suggest everyone keeps an eye on theirs, as if it's happening a lot then SEAT should be paying under warranty.

Your car has a completely different designed third brake light. I researched it from elsawin. I don't think it will break like this.

 

[Seastormer]

Looks the same to me, but I'll take your word for it, cheers.

 

[Jonesy72]

Mines broke in the same place.

 

[andy_l]

Update on this - after contacting SEAT UK customer services they further confirmed that this is not covered under warranty due to brake lights being subject to external influence.

However, as goodwill and due to the age/mileage of the vehicle they did agree to replace the high-level brake light, with SEAT UK and the dealer picking up the cost.

So a good result in the end.

Cheers,


Andy

 

[metomurti]

I have changed my additional brake light two times. I am using my third light. I changed it at the service 1 month before. From now on I have been using it everyday. Today I looked at it and saw that it began cracking again. There is only one result I think; faulty design and bad quality material. That is all.

 

[andy_l]

I have changed my additional brake light two times. I am using my third light. I changed it at the service 1 month before. From now on I have been using it everyday. Today I looked at it and saw that it began cracking again. There is only one result I think; faulty design and bad quality material. That is all.

I hope this time they replace it free of charge. 3 times is a joke!

 

[sootytorques]

Currently on holiday in menorca and Europcar have 8 Leons in the car park, none have this problem and its bloody hot here !!!

 

[metomurti]

Currently on holiday in menorca and Europcar have 8 Leons in the car park, none have this problem and its bloody hot here !!!

This situation is not related to hot. If the rear washer jet is used often (min two times in a day), it begin cracking inside at the washer jet part of the lamp.

 

[nljungstrand]

Skoda seems to have the same problem with the new Octavia, I´ve seen reports on briskoda.net about the same crack...

 

[sootytorques]

Seeing how dusty rear of car is after just a day and how clean rear screen is I reckon rear wash gets a fair bit of use, but an interesting thread...i know my mk2 Octavia used to pop the washer pipe all the time !!! Clearly rear wash a VAG weak spot.