MK7.5 Headlight Housing Crack

[acoustic_]

Been a while since I’ve been on the forums. Just been enjoying my 2018 R for the past year!

Ran into my first snag, though. Car still has its 6yr/72K mile bumper-2-bumper warranty. I noticed a few days ago my driver side headlight has a long crack in the housing; not micro-cracks, almost looks like a stress-fracture. I assumed, at first, that a rock must have been kicked up on the road, but after wiping the headlight down, there is no burr or impact mark indicating the headlight was struck by anything.

Called two dealers, and they swear up and down the car must have been hit in a parking lot, or rock hit it. Car is garage kept, and I park in the back of the lot at work; with that said, I did give the front-end a very deep look over and there are *no* new marks, scratches, or indications I took a love tap from someone, besides the fact I would see a spot where they impacted the headlight.

Any idea how I can get this taken more seriously? I get that the dealers don’t want to get stuck with the bill if VWOA doesn’t agree it was a warranty case, but I also shouldn’t have to fight tooth and nail to have the headlight looked at. Both dealers kept talking over me and cutting me off.. started pissing me the fuck off, honestly. It’s an ~$1100 headlight, least they can do is hear me out and take a look, but it seems no one wants to take the risk.

Pics below. It almost seems like the crack started on the inside, at the very bottom of the housing, and then splintered out, then up.

Does this look like a crack caused by an impact/hit? The crack is extremely smooth, and as said before, no burrs or rough marks on the housing to indicate it was contacted. I’d expect a spidering or punch mark if it was hit by something..

Thanks for your time guys!

 

[krs]

Not that I track these, but that's the worst I've seen.

My headlights were replaced under warranty, and the cracks weren't that big. This was something the dealer brought up to me, not the other way around.

You could try calling VWOA and going that route.

 

[acoustic_]

Not that I track these, but that's the worst I've seen.

My headlights were replaced under warranty, and the cracks weren't that big. This was something the dealer brought up to me, not the other way around.

You could try calling VWOA and going that route.

Thank you! Both dealers, without even seeing it, cut me off immediately on the phone and that the car must have been hit by road debris or another vehicle.

I think I needed some validation here. I asked both dealers if they’re familiar with any cracking issues with the MK7.5 headlights and, of course, both said they’d never heard of an issue with them.

Good to hear you’ve seen it before. I’m going to schedule an appointment with the dealer closest to me and try to get someone to actually look at it. If they don’t want to go forward with it, I’ll call VWOA.

 

[HalfGerman]

Stuff like that go in person, people are less likely to be rude to you in person vs over the phone. I have about 5 dealers in a 50 mile radius from me and I would have no problem going to every one of them to plead my case.

 

[The Fed]

Take it to the dealer you usually go to for service. Ask them to have a tech and the service manager look at it.

 

[Al_in_Philly]

Which dealers have you gone to?

 

[acoustic_]

Just an update. I ended up taking it to one dealer (VW of Burlington, in NJ), and the service manager said the bottom of the crack looks like it was the impact location. Again, based off the photos, I still don't understand how it looks like an impact.. but wasn't going to get into an argument with him over it. He was an older gentleman and it wouldn't have gone anywhere going back-and-forth. He mentioned that "if you took a ballpoint pen and ran it through the crack, I guarantee it would get rough at the bottom of the crack" .. of course he didn't actually do that, but he said it. Unfortunately with me being military and traveling a lot for work, I haven't had much time to push for this as much as I'd like, hence the time gap between updates.

I'm trying to find some contact info for VWOA, to try and go over their head. Does anyone have that kind of info? I found a number, 1-800-822-8987, but haven't tried it yet.

 

[The Fed]

That's the number. Ask them to open a case and send a field rep to a dealer to look at it.