The front plastic mounting tab is broken and snapped off my driver side headlight assembly

[Tiempo de Fiesta]

Being a happy new Fiesta owner for a little less than a month now I decided to shine up the car recently and after the wash I noticed some moisture had accumulated in the driver side headlight.

I looked it up in the owners manual and it said that this may be a normal occurrence so I didn't think anything of it until it got worse. Upon further inspection I noticed that the front mounting tab for the headlight is broken.

I am almost certain that I must have overlooked it when I took delivery because it was like this the first time I personally popped the hood and up to this point I haven't actually touched anything under it.

I found one past post on this forum mentioning a broken headlight:
http://www.fiestastforum.com/forum/archive/index.php?t-220.html

And a couple posts on other forums that mentioned this occurring for other owners as well. So the question is, has anyone else here encountered this particular issue?

I called the dealership where I purchased the car and they recommended stopping by a local dealership to have it looked into. I made an appointment here in town and I am hoping that it's something that's going to be covered under warranty as a new car (well new to me anyway).

The good news is that the sales representative who sold me the vehicle asked that I call them back before I potentially pay for anything and/or ask the dealership in town to call their service department to see if they can work something out for me so I am hoping this doesn't end up costing me anything out of pocket.

 

[D1JL]

I had a similar problem.
I you must repair it, 3M a tow part epoxy that works, #04240.

Good luck.




Dave

 

[me32]

Warrenty?

 

[Tiempo de Fiesta]

Warrenty?

Hopefully! I guess I will see how it goes at the dealership on Tuesday!

 

[Crzyworm623]

I had the same issue thought it may have happened when a hit a bag of garbage but I was more skeptical of that being the cause. Guess it's a factory issue. A little glue fixed it for me

 

[Tiempo de Fiesta]

Alright so here is the status (and be forewarned - a bit of a rant):

The dealership in town made it pretty clear right off the bat that they weren't even going to entertain this as a warranty claim.

It's been incredibly hot here lately so the condensation had evaporated out of the headlight assembly by the time I brought it in. I certainly understand they need proof but it's almost as if they were reluctant to believe me without it and this was the first indication, to me, that they were going to try and shake it off as a non issue. However, luckily I had taken the pic above of the excessive condensation so that quelled the first wave of dealership resistance to helping me.

Then the service writer completely overlooked the actual broken tab and continued on to show me that the seal around the headlight appeared to be inconsistent in places (I agreed just to see where she was taking it) and she said that was likely a cause for the condensation and I agreed that could be a possibility but regardless it still seemed like an excessive amount according to the owner's manual which states,

"Examples of acceptable condensation are:
? The presence of a fine mist (no streaks, drip marks or large droplets).
? A fine mist covers less than 50% of the lens.

Examples of unacceptable condensation are:
? A water puddle inside the lamp.
? Streaks, drip marks or large droplets present on the interior of the lens. If you see any unacceptable condensation, have your vehicle checked by an authorized dealer."

Then in almost the same breath she was very quick to point out that the material inside the headlight assembly at the very tip top within the housing was chipped and most likely caused by an impact which probably in turn resulted in the seal issue and impact damage is not something that they can cover or submit as a warranty claim on for me.

Here are pics of what she was talking about on the driver side headlight:

Knowing that I had in no way shape or form hit something or caused an impact to the headlight since I took delivery of the vehicle, I walked over to the passenger side headlight (which does not have a broken tab and is perfectly fine) and pointed out that the same "chipping inside the headlight and likely caused by impact damage" was also present there.

She agreed that was peculiar and that maybe it wasn't necessarily a sign of impact damage after all so that took care of, to some degree, the second attempt of her unwillingness to help me out with this as a potential warranty issue.

Here are pictures of the same "chips" she pointed out inside of the headlight casing but on the passenger side where the headlight is perfectly fine:

I then pointed out the broken bracket that left a hole for water to enter the headlight and for which I originally made the appointment (and she completely overlooked) and as soon as she saw the broken tab she was right back onto the "oh well that was definitely caused by an impact" line and that's not something we can warranty.

Lucky for me the dealership I bought the car from is legit and stands behind what they sell unlike the one in town, I guess, which is too bad and disappointing really!

So I kindly told her that the dealership I purchased the vehicle from (as a certified pre-owned Ford) less than a month ago asked that I have you call their service department to see if they can't help and work something out on my behalf with you. Now I didn't say this but what I thought to myself was, "because obviously you aren't going to try."

She took the contact details down for the dealership and asked me to wait in their lounge while she called them. After about a half hour or so she called me back into the service area and said, "You're all set!"

I was a little baffled so I asked for clarification and she told me that the dealership who sold me the car is going to cover the cost of replacing the headlight which was great news!

So walking out to the car relieved that this would be covered, I re-iterated to her that I definitely did not hit anything or cause an impact to the headlight that would have resulted in the mounting tab breaking. I told her I understand it is a used car so maybe it was that way when I purchased it, but since I know I didn't cause the damage, nor was there any evidence of a headlight impact, that I didn't think it was fair that I should have to pay to fix it.

I asked about her phone call with the other dealership and what transpired to have them cover it and she told me that they had asked if there was any sign or evidence of impact on the headlight itself that would clearly demonstrate that it broke due to an impact and she said she took another look at it and despite the "chipped" bits inside both headlight assemblies (which I think she may have realized later on was weak evidence) there wasn't even a scratch or scuff on the headlights themselves so I guess overall she agreed there wasn't any obvious evidence of impact that would cause the headlight mounting tab to break.

I guess that simple "no, there aren't any visible signs of impact" was all the other dealership needed to hear in order to actually help me out and agree to covering a new headlight! So despite the dealership in town's attempts to right this off as a non-warranty issue based on what I feel was a stretch to prove evidence of an impact to the headlight that caused the mounting tab to break, I am glad to report that someone stepped up to the plate to help!

She told me that they would call me when the part came in... but needless to say, I think I'll take the car to one of the other Ford dealerships in town when it requires service based on this experience. If they're going to be sticklers about a headlight I can't imagine what kind of objections and scrutiny I might be up against when trying to fix something major under warranty.

I really hope this is not characteristic of other people's experiences and that my other headlight's mounting tabs don't break off the headlight assembly because of some phantom impact that leaves no trace but makes them not covered under warranty. </Rant>

 

[Tiempo de Fiesta]

[MENTION=582]FordService[/MENTION]

I am curious to know how many people it might take to report their headlight mounting tabs breaking unexpectedly like this before Ford would potentially recognize this a known warranty-able issue that could be covered?

I know this may only be circumstantial evidence and each occurrence would be claim by claim but I have seen several reports of this same issue occurring for other Fiesta ST owners not only in this thread above but also in other forums I've searched through, here is another good example:
http://fiestast.net/threads/cracked-headlight.1449/


Thanks in advance for any details you might be able to share!

 

[FordService]

[MENTION=582]FordService[/MENTION]

I am curious to know how many people it might take to report their headlight mounting tabs breaking unexpectedly like this before Ford would potentially recognize this a known warranty-able issue that could be covered?

I know this may only be circumstantial evidence and each occurrence would be claim by claim but I have seen several reports of this same issue occurring for other Fiesta ST owners not only in this thread above but also in other forums I've searched through, here is another good example:
http://fiestast.net/threads/cracked-headlight.1449/


Thanks in advance for any details you might be able to share!

Glad to read this is being taken care of for you, Tiempo de Fiesta! I'm not a trained technician, so I'm unable to comment on this. I do know that each concern is looked at on a case-by-case basis. If you, or anyone else, are ever experiencing concerns in the future, please don't hesitate to reach out - I'll be more than happy to take a look and see how I can assist.

Nick

 

[Tiempo de Fiesta]

Thanks Nick, I appreciate your willingness to help us owners out with this issue! Especially others who may be in a tight spot trying to get it fixed through their dealership!

 

[FordService]

Thanks Nick, I appreciate your willingness to help us owners out with this issue! Especially others who may be in a tight spot trying to get it fixed through their dealership!

My pleasure!

Nick