All, I wanted to highlight the very first issue I've had with my 2020 Defender 110 at just under 15,000 miles. A couple months ago, the roof blind (as its called in the manual) first made a crackling noises when it retracted. Then a month ago I started noticing some of the fabric accumulating at the rear where it retracted to along with intermittent hesitation when doing so (see link below). I went to the dealership and had to schedule an appointment for them to look at it but they basically pointed out that fabric and motor are one piece that needs to be replaced if there’s an issue. Then a couple days ago the roof blind got stuck in retracted position, then after a few engine cycles it eventually became unstuck and the fabric must have been caught on the passenger side track/motor internally because it ripped the enter roof blind fabric when it finally opened up and now I have a rip that goes from the front all the way to the rear of the fabric the passenger side. So it seems that if you hear a crackling noise initially when the roof blind retracts its only a matter of time the problem will get worse. Note that since I've owned the Defender since new for about 8 months and most of that time I've had it set to where it opens automatically when I start the car. When the dealer fixes this I probably won't have it automatically set to open when the engine is started because I believe that this piece wears out pretty quickly. I hope I'm wrong though and maybe it’s a one-off defect. I’ll have more updates after my service appointment in mid-January. I hope this is helpful to others.




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Thanks for your post. Most interesting…

…I suspected the sun blind was a little bit cheap and nasty. I don’t get any noise when the blind is opening/closing but it rattles around when the blind is fully open. When fully closed, it’s quiet. Btw, I have the blind auto-close when locking the car.

If there is some wear and tear issue, I think I’d rather the blind fail before warranty has expired so I will keep the auto-close option on. 🙂

 

Here's a follow up video of my roof blind ripped up after it became unstuck. I'm taking it into the dealer tomorrow to see if they can repair right away or if they need to wait for a part to come in.

 

Well that's comically awful of the roof blind. I'm pretty sure it's a similar mechanism to the Range Rovers and Range Rover Sports that have been running around since 2013/2014 and those don't seem to have tons of troubles... so hopefully for the rest of us you just got a bad one.

You make clear and interesting videos though -- so, thanks for sharing and the efforts in doing so.

 

Wow.

Definitely looks like a defect. Haven’t had any issues with mine.

One your first video you can see some odd deformations every inch or two which looks like it’s been binding for a while inside a roller (I assume), that takes up the fabric.

Hope it gets sorted out by the dealer. It’s under warranty.

 

Update: So I took it in today and the first thing the LR rep said was "good thing it broke under warranty." Also, good news for everyone....from our chat, it didn't appear to be a common issue for the Defender. The dealer said they'd have to order only one part, # LR161902 (sun blind) and once it comes in they'll need to schedule an appointment, hold the car for two days, and remove the headliner to install it. I couldn't' locate more details on this part number on the internet, but still searching; I'm curious if the motor assembly is part of the blind as one part or not. I'll try to provide another update around the beginning of February.

 

You better make sure that when you get it back and before you drive off, it is AS YOU WANT IT. Check for anything that doesn't seem to fit correctly or anything that may be out of place. After all, the dealership is doing the job. Good luck.

 

Where do you guys find the option to turn off the roof blind auto-close? Can’t seem to find this anywhere in the settings and no mention of this option in the manual.

 

Are you looking to keep the roof blind in the open "rolled up" position at all times so you always see skylight, no matter what and never closes even when the car is locked? I don't think there's a switch for that and if you pull the fuse to it, it'll likely make the pano glass roof inoperable too (I'm not certain it uses the same or a different motor/relay). Might be interesting to research this to prepare when the warranty expires.

 

Correct, but in a broader context, I just want it to stay in the position I leave it in, whether it's half way or all the way open. I didn't realize it auto-closed until my 2nd day of ownership when I started the vehicle and it auto-opened to the previous position.
Not a big deal though since there appears to be no option, I just wanted to avoid wear from the constant open and close.