I'll second Chief65's comment:

Insider - any chance you're watching this thread? It appears that the a-pillar crackling is the only real achilles heel of this fine vehicle - a proper fix will silence all the naysayers for good!

 

ok, update time.

I just had the dealer up here in the Northeast U.S. replace the driver's side (US) A pillar, using the newly designed parts noted previously.

The good news is the paint shop did a great job -- matched the color perfectly.

The bad(?) news is that side is not secure as the passenger one and I thinking it might come lose, again. Pulling on it a bit does not bring a feeling of firmness.

We shall see ... enjoy !

 

Mine does the crackling noise, but is not loose at all (car is 16,000 miles many of which have been highway 70+ MPH). I debated about having the TSB done when I brought it in to the dealer a couple weeks ago, to take care of the seat rail recall (D90). Ultimately I decided not to mention it as I have little confidence on the dealer and figured the fix might actually be worse than the issue. The fact that I have had to go back to the dealer once already after the seat rails recall was taken care of, because the seat would not work properly after the fix, and that I will be back next week again, as it has stopped working properly again, seems to vindicate my decision not to get the A pillar TSB done. Unfortunately, at least with my dealer, it’s not rare for them to do more bad than good in those types of situations…

 

Two days back from the dealer -- flying down the road !

I disassembled the three pieces WITHOUT BREAKING ANY TABS and found the mechanic had installed the base piece tabs so that 3 of 5 were not attached to the vehicle (squashed them, basically).


I reinstalled the base piece properly -- WILL DRIVE IT FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS AND SEE IF IT CAN STAY CONNECTED

I think the base piece should be rivnuted into the five mounting holes. The little clips and a couple of pieces of double sided tab is not worthy !!!

Enjoy !!

 

deleted

 

Cover piece before sliding (in two directions) back on

The outer cover does not snap on -- it slides twice:

1st.: make sure all the hooks on the back are parallel to the inside (not pounded or bent down)
2nd: place the piece above its final location and concentrate on sliding on the aft portion (nearest the door) by pushing the cover downward with the door open.
3rd: to wit, carefully slide down the cover so it is below its final position (based on the location of the bolt hole).
4th: now concentrate on sliding up the cover while pressing the part nearest the glass into place for the inner hooks
5th. Then screw in the bolt to lock the up and down motion of the cover in place.

If done properly, the cover assembly will not move, as the THE OUTER COVER WILL BE PLACING FIRM PRESSURE ON THE BASE PLASTIC -- AND VICE VERSA.

(So, much pressure that I fear the base piece will come off from the metal vehicle in time !!! If this is the case, I will need to go to some more permanent mechanical connection between the base plastic and the vehicle.)

Then you may SNAP ON the lower, bolt cover. This is accomplished by hooking on the lip nearest the windshield and snapping on the piece nearest the door.

Now, I am off to drive the vehicle and see how it performs and how long the base plastic/vehicle joining stays intact.

Really a poor, non-robust, intolerant design IMO.

Enjoy!

 

Tested the A pillar fix at highway speeds and off-road and I think it is now better than it was when it came out of the factory.

I read the A pillar install instructions on the service notice and they do not IMO adequately describe the non-intuitive approach necessary to install the outer cover, nor the sensitive geometry of the base piece of plastic.

I suspect much of the recurrence of failures is from the JLR mechanics (sorry, I will not call them technicians -- and Pluto is a planet !) being insufficiently trained on the installation logic designed into the covers.

The next time my glass cracks, I will remove and reinstall the outer covers myself -- and will make sure that NO sealant rises above the level of the glass (another reason our A pillar covers are failing repeatedly).

Enjoy!









Glass and A pillar as good as new (possibly) ... and just back from an off-road drive (wonderful).

 

I just got the A-pillar fix done by my dealer. I haven't had time to inspect it much yet, but appears to be properly installed. I'm getting ready to go on a road trip, so will have plenty of opportunities to test the fix at speed (75+ mph roads in Texas).

I'll report back here afterwards with an update and more details after I've put it through the paces.

 

Link to pdf

 

FYI: a couple things here to watch out for. My experience:

#1 -- Before my 2020 was delivered new in Dec 2020, I suspect the selling dealer did the TSB before delivery because the car had never been into a dealership otherwise (I could confirm this thru dealer records). And I bought the car used thereafter. But -- What I believe the dealer did at initial delivery was, per the TSB in 2020-early 2021, was remove the A-pillars, and put little bits of felt tape / foam tape underneath as per instructions, and remount the original parts. However in my case the dealer botched it. See #3 below.

#2 -- I bought the car in 2021. Upon receipt, I noticed the lower A pillar bolt cover moldings (painted Eiger Grey) were loose. Then one flew off. The A pillars are 3 pieces. Two outer trim pieces (one long one, one small bolt cover at the bottom, and an underneath piece that it all mounts to).

#3 -- When the bottom rectangular bolt covers were off, I noticed 2 things: 1 -- that both of my external( long piece) A pillars were cracked in a radiating pattern at the bottom around the bolt mounting point. Cracked so much the upper a pillar (long piece) was a bit wiggly. I haven't heard anyone else having mentioned this yet so figured I'd post it up. So the dealer that did #1 had over tightened the bolt into the plastic. Watch out for this. They still mounted and it's covered up with the bolt cover trim, but.. it's an issue. 2 -- Then the bottom mounting bolt cover pieces also had cracked tabs, so would no longer mount up either without 3m tape. Since I was not the original owner they tried to blame me and I nipped that in the bud saying clearly it was the main dealer that delivered the car and must have performed the TSB -- why on earth would I or the previous owner have been in there? (Note: I have original windshield so it wasn't a hamfisted windshield replacement either)

#4 -- The dealer then tried to just replace the lower bolt cover trim piece (which had to be painted Eiger grey by body shop) , but the upper a pillar molding didn't match the new bolt cover. They've changed the way it attaches to be able to be removed instead of what was initially there, essentially "one time clip in only" unless you were ridiculously careful. There is a way to modify it but the parts should be replaced as a matching set.

#5 -- Finally, they replaced the exterior upper A-pillar trim and the lower bolt cover with a new matching set, as there is a new style attachment on both. BOTH parts need to get replaced. AND they also replaced the underlayment mounting bracket/plinth.

To recap: The totally proper fix for this is replacement of all 3 parts: 1 - The underlayment / mounting plinth. 2 - The long piece on the exterior. 3 - The short piece that is between the top of the fender and the A-pillar molding which is called a bolt cover. If that is done properly with latest part revisions, the tapping issue is no longer an issue and the pillars are rock solid and you will never have to think about this again hopefully, until you smash a windshield. (or a gnat hits you as someone else hilariously said in a windshield thread).

This nonsense of dealers in there with felt strips, re-gluing with adhesive... is all nonsense. New parts required for all 3 pieces for a proper fix ! And two of those parts need painting unless you have all black a-pillars in which case only the bolt cover is painted body color.