Front Windscreen Glass Hard to Focus Through - Fish-Eye Lens/Rippled/Warped?

[dubnewbie]

Hi,

I'm wondering if anyone else has come across this issue with their Cupra Leon MK4 (2025)?

I've recently been given a new company car, this being a Cupra Leon Estate V2 204 (2025), which is a lovely car all round. However, there's a slight issue with the windscreen.

After a few minutes of driving my eyes start to strain, to the extent where I'm now no longer able to drive the vehicle and have reverted back to my older car for the time being. There seems to be a weird fish-eye 'zoomed' view within the screen, which isn't constant through the screen, meaning that as things change in your field of vision, you eyes are constantly having to battle with this weird screen effect whilst focusing on hazards and the ever changing surroundings etc.

I've reported the defect to the leasing company for investigation, but I'm curious if anyone else has come across this issue before?

The windscreen glass is 'VW AG Pilkington' (there's a code on their as well, but I'm not too sure if thats of any help).

To verify that I wasn't simply 'going crazy', when turning my head to look through the side glass panel in the passengers seat, my vision is perfectly fine (crystal clear). This is also the case in my older car, through all window panels (included the front windscreen). My older car (a VW) has Saint-Gobain Sekurit glass fitted.

For reference, I have 20/20 vision and do not wear prescription glasses.

If you have any thoughts or have had similar issues, please post!

 

[SRGTD]

It’s possible that even though it’s a new car, the screen might have had damage / imperfections (e.g. scratches) that were polished out with a product such as cerium oxide prior to you taking delivery of the car. Polishing windscreens to remove such damage can create a refracting zone which means the screen will then act like sight correction lenses in a pair of glasses. Alternatively, there might have been an issue with the screen manufacturing process. If you sit in the front passenger seat, do you get the same ‘fish-eye’ view?

IMHO the only solution would be to replace the screen.

 

[dubnewbie]

Thanks for your comment - I knew there must have been something wrong with the screen. With it being a new car, you would think they wouldn't need to polish/buff out the screen, but like you say if there were minor scratches etc, they may well have polished a bit too vigorously upon the screen creating the weird lens effect. The same fish-eye effect can be seen from the passenger side also. I'm taking the car back to the dealership this afternoon (after a short call I had with them earlier). Will post back what is found

 

[autofi]

Hi,

I'm wondering if anyone else has come across this issue with their Cupra Leon MK4 (2025)?

I've recently been given a new company car, this being a Cupra Leon Estate V2 204 (2025), which is a lovely car all round. However, there's a slight issue with the windscreen.

After a few minutes of driving my eyes start to strain, to the extent where I'm now no longer able to drive the vehicle and have reverted back to my older car for the time being. There seems to be a weird fish-eye 'zoomed' view within the screen, which isn't constant through the screen, meaning that as things change in your field of vision, you eyes are constantly having to battle with this weird screen effect whilst focusing on hazards and the ever changing surroundings etc.

I've reported the defect to the leasing company for investigation, but I'm curious if anyone else has come across this issue before?

The windscreen glass is 'VW AG Pilkington' (there's a code on their as well, but I'm not too sure if thats of any help).

To verify that I wasn't simply 'going crazy', when turning my head to look through the side glass panel in the passengers seat, my vision is perfectly fine (crystal clear). This is also the case in my older car, through all window panels (included the front windscreen). My older car (a VW) has Saint-Gobain Sekurit glass fitted.

For reference, I have 20/20 vision and do not wear prescription glasses.

If you have any thoughts or have had similar issues, please post!

 

[autofi]

Most likely the glass,owners of Golf R models experienced the same problem which requires replacement.You're not alone!

 

[dubnewbie]

Most likely the glass,owners of Golf R models experienced the same problem which requires replacement.You're not alone!

Thanks for joining the chat thread Autofi, its reassuring that other car brands/models suffer from the same defects! Visited the dealership at lunch, they said something wasn't quite right with the glass but hasn't got the correct kit on site to take a deeper dive into the issue, so looks as though a glass replacement company will have to step in now (its a leased company car, so I'll let them deal with the finer details).

One thing I had noticed was that whilst sitting in the passenger seat for a longer period of time, its considerable cleared and more tolerable than the drivers side, when looking through the windscreen for long periods of time (although not perfect, as the central part of the glass has weird distortions and fish-eye appearances too).