Headlight crack leading to complete power loss

[chrisck]

Hi everyone,

My 1 year old Model Y developed a front headlight failure, and on closer inspection there is a long horizontal crack across the bottom of the plastic headlight shell. Unclear how this happened - there was no impact that I have been aware of.

The car then developed complete power failure 2 days later - i.e. unable to open doors, not able to communicate via app, key card not working etc. Tesla had to take the car away on a truck to investigate.

Their conclusion is that the headlamp has become damaged, and an important circuit runs through this headlamp that is responsible for communication with the low voltage support system. This has therefore caused the car to lose complete power. This isn't covered by warranty.

Does this make sense to you Tesla experts? It seems a bit of a design flaw if a damaged headlight can cause the entire car to fail? I'm sure they're right, but it does seem a bit odd...

 

[EVRider-FL]

How much do they want to charge you to fix the issue? I guess you can hope that their fix doesn’t actually work and rules out the headlight as a cause, in which case the repair might be covered under warranty (other than fixing the headlight crack).

 

[shahryaran]

Do you have a picture?

 

[jkdman123]

Hi everyone,

My 1 year old Model Y developed a front headlight failure, and on closer inspection there is a long horizontal crack across the bottom of the plastic headlight shell. Unclear how this happened - there was no impact that I have been aware of.

The car then developed complete power failure 2 days later - i.e. unable to open doors, not able to communicate via app, key card not working etc. Tesla had to take the car away on a truck to investigate.

Their conclusion is that the headlamp has become damaged, and an important circuit runs through this headlamp that is responsible for communication with the low voltage support system. This has therefore caused the car to lose complete power. This isn't covered by warranty.

Does this make sense to you Tesla experts? It seems a bit of a design flaw if a damaged headlight can cause the entire car to fail? I'm sure they're right, but it does seem a bit odd...

You need to complain. Hard. Unless there is SOLID evidence of external damage to the headlight causing the crack, it should be covered under warranty. Period.

 

[EVRider-FL]

You need to complain. Hard. Unless there is SOLID evidence of external damage to the headlight causing the crack, it should be covered under warranty. Period.

I don’t agree. What would constitute “solid evidence”? This isn’t really any different from dealing with windshield cracks — very difficult to prove those were caused by a manufacturing defect, and that’s rarely the case. The OP said the car is a year old, but a manufacturing issue would most likely have manifested itself sooner.

 

[robjg63]

You aren't the only person that has had this issue.
I saw this video recently:

£1,300 to fix my Tesla after a stone destroyed the headlight. Eek!​

A painful lesson in random chance. I thought that my Tesla Model Y was turning into a lemon. First the lefthand headlight fails, then the car won't drive at all.

Tesla mobile service come quickly and take the front of the car apart. We quickly find out that it wasn't a faulty headlight or a faulty battery. And the car wasn't broken, it was protecting itself from further damage.

Tesla service was brilliant. But why are LED headlights so massively expensive?

 

[chrisck]

Thanks everyone. In the end, it’s pretty hard to prove that there’s no impact (photo). So I paid up and have a working car again. Not sure that’s the best design for a headlight failure to cause the entire car to lose power… so interesting that others have had the same issue!

 

[jkdman123]

I don’t agree. What would constitute “solid evidence”? This isn’t really any different from dealing with windshield cracks — very difficult to prove those were caused by a manufacturing defect, and that’s rarely the case. The OP said the car is a year old, but a manufacturing issue would most likely have manifested itself sooner.

Why in the world would you let them off the hook when there's no evidence of damage?? Any impact that would crack the light or glass would show definitive evidence. If there's no evidence of impact, it's completely reasonable to assume it's a manufacturing defect, regardless of when it manifests itself. If you're inside the warranty period, then it should be covered under warranty.

 

[Big Earl]

Hi everyone,

My 1 year old Model Y developed a front headlight failure, and on closer inspection there is a long horizontal crack across the bottom of the plastic headlight shell. Unclear how this happened - there was no impact that I have been aware of.

The car then developed complete power failure 2 days later - i.e. unable to open doors, not able to communicate via app, key card not working etc. Tesla had to take the car away on a truck to investigate.

Their conclusion is that the headlamp has become damaged, and an important circuit runs through this headlamp that is responsible for communication with the low voltage support system. This has therefore caused the car to lose complete power. This isn't covered by warranty.

Does this make sense to you Tesla experts? It seems a bit of a design flaw if a damaged headlight can cause the entire car to fail? I'm sure they're right, but it does seem a bit odd...

It's plausible that water made its way into the headlight wiring harness and then migrated into one of the body control modules. Or the body control module saw the short in the headlight and shut down the low voltage system for protection.

This can happen on any car - we had a similar issue with a 1999 VW Jetta where a bad connector on the coolant tank cause coolant to migrate into the instrument cluster.

 

[Eto Demerzel]

This can happen on any car - we had a similar issue with a 1999 VW Jetta where a bad connector on the coolant tank cause coolant to migrate into the instrument cluster.

A damaged headlight or bad connector won't completely shut down your car though.

This is a a serious flaw in the design. More cost cutting I guess...
To the OP, this is good to know in case it happens or to simply inspect the headlights time to time.

Why no in line resettable fuse for the headlights if it's to protect the low voltage battery from spikes? Bricking the car is a better option?
Maybe something to look forward to for Juniper