rtyagi2

I own a 2013 Audi Q5 and offlately i have started seeing Internal stress Cracks in both my headlights . I went to the dealership and the dealership is saying Audi of America will look into this and make the decision if this is covered under the warranty . They came back and said since its an external part, they would not cover it as part of the warranty . Here are some pictures for the same .






I went to 5 other independent Auto Shops and they all told me that these are Internal Stress Cracks . I am not sure why the hell they are not covering it under warranty .

If the situation does not gets resolved I am planning to file a complaint with FTC.

Any thoughts, experience, suggestions ?

Bob Petruska

I, and others, have the same thing. Turn your lights on and then look at the mess! I have a 2014. My dealer sent photos of my headlight lenses to the district rep for a warranty judgment, but I'm not expecting that they be replaced under warranty seeing that the pair go for approximately $3200!!! Plus the labor costs which includes removing the front bumper. grill, and may other parts. Audi needs to get back their $15B that they lost on dieselgate. The light output doesn't seem too affected at night, and I'm not thrilled about the bumper, grill, etc. removal as they never seem to get those things back properly. My warranty ends on June 25th, I'm looking at getting some other non-Audi vehicle.

Redd, who posts here had them changed under warranty. My dealer would have changed mine the day I showed them, they just didn't want to be stuck for the cost if Audi disapproved the claim after the replacement. They said that Audi recently has been very picky about what is covered under warranty and a lot of things now need approval.

Many other German car (BMW, MB) owners have the same lens issue, looks like a bad product from the Euro lens supplier.

BarryT

Both of my 2014's look similar to yours.

Bob Petruska

https://www.audiworld.com/forums/q7-...ights-2852868/

Redd

I have no grounds for rashly guessing. But that won't stop me.

I'm guessing Audi had a *few* reports of this problem and covered them under warranty, as the headlights are mandatory safety equipment and the failure is pretty certainly an intrinsic defect.

Then Audi decided, this is getting too common and too expensive, let's stonewall on it and deny any further claims. (Unless someone else has had recent luck, since mine was back in October-ish 2016?)

The Magic8Ball says "FILE AN NHTSA SAFETY CLAIM" along with your local consumer affairs agencies. Be nice to the dealer, who is stuck in the middle, and let AoA know "PAPA SPANK!" when the NHTSA decides to recall a quarter million vehicles over an inherent safety defect, warranty or not. VWG doesn't need any more publicity about recalls and class action suits but hey, if they want it, we should all be kind enough to pitch in and make sure they get it.

DennisMitchell

My dealer replaced my right headlamp module because I asked about a spider web inside the side reflector area.

The question is when is something a manufacturing defect vs normal wear and tear.

Bob Petruska

Now I can see where it is going to get fun! Audi won't replace the headlights under warranty as they will just state that this is normal wear and tear, and don't worry about it affecting light output intensity. Then if you trade in the Q5 a month or so later, the dealer will tell you that they need knock off $3500 (headlights - $3200, $300 - labor) on the trade in value as they need to replace the headlights to sell it!!!!

Redd

Dennis-
You could read a spider web [sic] two ways.
The simple way, that bugs or squirrels or whatever get into your car, are not a "defect", they're your problem.

Or, from an engineering point of view: These are expectable and predictable issues, and that reflector assembly should have been sealed to prevent bugs from coming in. Propane barbeque burners are infamous for becoming clogged by spiders over the off season, there's not much that can be done in that case. But for headlight vents, simply adding a Gore-Tex or other breathable barrier across the vent in a trivial design issue. (This is done on hard drives all the time.) So, one can easily argue that having the open vent, and allowing spider access to an otherwise inaccessible area, is very much a matter of inherently flawed design. Which might not be under the warranty in the book, but sure is covered by warranty laws.

Either way your dealer did a good thing. And somehow, I think AoA paid for that one.

rtyagi2

Hi Guys,

I wrote an E-mail to the Executive Level Management i.e. President ( CEO in this case ) and Head of After Sales and I immediately got a call the very next stating that they are in receipt of my concern and someone was assigned to me ... He is a "Executive Case Specialist" . I am working with him and he is working on my case let's see what happens .

rtyagi2

Few more pictures to show bad it is .