Hi Guys,

We recently got a 2021 Defender X90 First Edition, its been about a month since we got the car and our experience thus-far has been quite disappointing/nightmarish - we started experiencing issues witht he car starting from day 1. Here's a quick recap -
1. Day 1: Started hearing loud whirring noises from the rear of the car - this is after driving the car for about 50 miles.
Turned out to be some issue with the mild-hybrid power-train - as per the service guys, an air duct feeding the mild-hybrid power-train came out loose and started to rub against the fan working with the power-train. It took a couple of days to get it fixed, but we aren't sure how big of a damage this has caused internally.
2. Day 5 - By this point we started seeing multiple issues -
- Dashboard top material started coming out and the dashboard felt a bit loose.
- Heavy rattling noises from the rear of the car and A pillars.
- Auto engine start/stop wont work.
- Issues with alignment.

So, we dropped the car at service center and after three days we got a callback saying that the car is ready for pickup. We picked-up the car from the service center and drove around for an hours time - all the rattling issues were back again.
We went back to the dealership and returned the car back to the service guys, this time around the service guy mentions that there is some sort of manufacturing issue with the car - the rear sheet-metals being out of place/shape (overlapping) and thereby making contact with each other.
They tried hacking a fix by putting some felt material between the sheets and that dint work. This time around they also told us that they would have to drop the car at a body shop and then take a look at it.
Its been about two weeks since the cars been sent to the body shop and the most recent update was that all the rear panels needed to be removed and they needed to weld the sheet metals to fix the issue. The service guys did acknowledge that this was indeed a manufacturing issues.

At this point, the car has been in repair-shop for a total of three weeks and we are disappointed to see structural issues with a brand new car. We also tried following up about the issue with JLR Corporate and tried to negotiate for a repurchase, but they bluntly keep turning down our request with no actual feedback.
At this point, we are very concerned with the reliability of this car and hence reaching out here to see what options we have going forward.

 

I see you are in California - California has the toughest Lemon-Law legislation in the USA - it would be worth consulting with one of the many Lemon-Law attorneys in the area - sometimes a letter written from the attorney to JLR Corporate will get action fast

Good luck

In a side note - my girl friend of many moons ago (1980's) sister was the first person to ever file/win a lemon law lawsuit in the country - it was on a Pontiac Fiero - the car had an engineering flaw where the oil filter set too high in the engine - it was in Pasadena CA

 

We drove ours from the dealer to the house, about 5-6 miles and in that short amount of time the air conditioning stopped working, and got worse from there, all sorts of things started shutting down. It went back the next morning and spent 12 days in the shop and the only explanation we got was that the AC was overcharged!? We pick it up and finally get to try to enjoy it, especially the Meridian sound system that we have had in multiple vehicles that was always flawless at any listening level except it sounded like the whole back end was going to fall off!!! So over the next 16 days it was being torn apart and supposedly being fixed just for us to make wasted trip after trip to the dealer and find out it was no better, they also lined everything with the sheets of what looked like insulation, but it didn’t work…we called them back before we got 2 miles from the shop to let them know it wasn’t fixed…our service advisor basically told us that they had done everything they could do, and they were opening a ticket with JLR corporate…we called for a update and he said that JLR was aware of the issue but it would take some time for them to come up with a fix and we would have to just be patient…The auto Start/Stop has never worked, Spotify comes and goes when it wants to, several trim pieces need help, one of the headliner seams is unraveling, looks like it was cut to short to me and is pulling loose, and to think I waited over a year for it…I know all vehicles have issues, but this is a mid $90K vehicle…I asked if they could have a outside specialty person come and potentially help them with the rattling but was quickly told no that JLR would not do that, we were just told that it was the plastic panels that were rattling, but I always felt like it was something structural to it…May I ask what dealer you used and did you ever get it in writing from them? I love the vehicle, but there’s just one thing after another…it’s now been in the shop 28 days and the only thing that was fixed is the ac..! Luckily here in Florida it states that if your vehicle is in the shop for 30 days in a 24 month period you can persue the lemon law…would you please keep in touch with me about what your service people find out, because if it is structural and welding issues that need to be done, I may need to start perusing my options…my email …bonairediver73@yahoo.com

Thanks, and good luck!
Greg.

 

Call JLR back and ask them when and where you can drop the vehicle off for repurchase. Do not negotiate with them. California state law is very clear in this situation. Overlapping body panels are absurd... The vehicle easily qualifies as a lemon.

JLR has two options here, and two options only:

-They can facilitate a repurchase.

-They can facilitate a repurchase after what is sure to be a quickly decided lawsuit, leaving them on the hook for all attorney fees at the very least, and most probably, additional judgments for the time and energy you expended forcing them to obey clearly outlined state law.

California judges tend to take a dim view of large corporations willfully wasting the court’s time. Good luck.

 

Here is the e-mail for the CEO of LR- Jaguar: tbollore@jaguarlandrover.com

might as well start at the top...good luck!

You have a lemon for sure....

 

I had a major mechanical issue with less than 200 miles on my car that took a month in the shop to get sorted….they didn’t take any action for the first 10 days because corporate was dragging their feet…. until I told the service director that I was going to launch a social media war about the new defender. That got corporate’s attention.

 

Hello guys,

Here's further follow-up - we got in touch with the service department last Friday to check if they have any further update. They once again confirmed that they are doing some sort of welding to fix the sheet metal issues. So during my initial conversations with the service guys (when we dropped the car twice for same issue), they did acknowledge that it was a manufacturing issue and hence they were gonna drop it at the body-shop. I tried to get a verbal/written acknowledgement about the issue from the service guys, but now they have changed their story stating that `they cannot make such a judgement`. This just feels like being lied to, adding salt on top of a wound. I've got in touch with California Better Bureau Autoline and I have filed a case - have to submit additional paperwork though. As you know, California has one of the toughest lemon-law arbitrations. I'm not sure if we will qualify for arbitration/re-purchase as the service guys now seem to have gone back on their original version. Would appreciate it if we can get some sort of guidance on how to prove that this is actually a manufacturing defect. Here's a picture of current condition -

 

We got our vehicle from JLR San Francisco. Yeah, i tried getting a verbal/writen acknowledgement of the issues, but they have now gone back on what they stated initially. They've now changed the narrative to - `we cannot make such a judgement`. From what I understand about your case, you might qualify for lemon-law arbitration - try getting in touch with your local arbitration program. Good luck.

 

I believe Jaguar Land Rover might require arbitration over a lawsuit from what I read in the handbook. Gawd. they dedicated a ton of pages just to the legal aspects to cover their corporate *****, quoting just about every state in the union.

I had two arbitration's in the past with a US maker, one I won quickly and the manufacturer was so glad to have it completed I never even had to appear at the BBB. The other the arbitrator had zero car knowledge and didn't think the car swerving into the opposite lane of traffic when the brakes were applied was a problem. The dealer had tried to fix it about a dozen times, yet I found a local guy who found the issue and fixed it in an hour. Go figure. The outcome obviously depends on the arbitrator.

 

This seems to be only the 90's that are having structural issues? Any 110's involved? All 2021's or?