Any insight or anticipation on actions JKR is taking towards the LED headlight failures? I saw three Defenders today, two of which had the driver’s side halo out. Not only is this an inexcusable failure on a vehicle this expensive, but it presents a legitimate safety issue for those impacted. And, in some localities, you are left with a vehicle you are unable to legally drive for the 2+ months it reportedly takes to get these replacement units in.

This seems to be a rising problem for those of us with some miles on our vehicles, and I’m sure I’m not alone in being nervous a $4,000+ repair bill will come my way as I approach the end of factory warranty. I have read numerous reports on Facebook groups of JLR refusing coverage applications on these headlights and this has me concerned.

I feel other widely shared issues, such as the windshields, are more a product of the vehicles geometry - however the headlights inarguably represent an engineering failure. As cases continue to show up, what is the likelihood we will see a recall in any official capacity?

Tagging @The Insider in hopes of some insight or color here.

 

NHTSA is where you would report it if you want them to take it seriously.

 

Good Luck with what you are trying to accomplish. JLR has a very long history of expensive vehicles, part failures and legitimate safety issues after the parts fail and oh ya wait times for replacement of said 4000+ $ parts during and after warranty expires. This is not a laughing matter in my eyes. What is laughable is that we keep buying JLR with the hopes of less failures than the other guy driving the same vehicle. I do love my new defender and yes I hope it has less part failures than the rest of you all but I do not have much faith.. Just hope. This will be my 3rd JLR vehicle and my fingers are permanently taped together in a cross formation. Fingers work great like that when pushing the working start button.

 

Am I the only one who thinks that perhaps offering 17 different variants of the Defender in the US is a bit crazy? I would think that narrowing their offerings would allow them to focus a bit more on quality. Having said that, I am anxiously awaiting a 2024 Defender X-Dynamic. Apparently I refuse to learn from others

 

Kinda funny. I guess I missed the heavy forcing me to buy our Defender a few weeks ago. Not my first LR product, and more than likely will not be my last. If you want a good, safe bet, trust your subscriptions to Motor Trend and Consumer Reports and look elsewhere. If you want to live a little and experience a Land Rover product, have at it. They are not for everyone.

 

Oh, I'm not an LR virgin. My first product, a '93 Range Rover purchased new, left my wife and small children (at the time) stranded three times. After the third, she called me when it was getting towed in and told me she never wanted to see that car again. They towed it to the dealership and I bought another new one on the spot (which tells you something about my common sense). After that one had its entire air suspension replaced after three months, I went several years before buying another new RR Sport in 2013. That car was trouble free, as was a fourth RR I bought a few years later. I haven't owned one in about six or seven years, and never a Defender.

 

I think the real question to ask would be….”are the replacement lights free from the same defect that the original lights had?”

Anyone have any info on that?

we just had our passenger light replaced.

 

here's a stupid question that might not belong here; I preface this admitting that I'll run headlights in the daytime on my CJ7 because I think they work given certain types of vehicles, and for some reason early jeeps seem to fall in this category (I'm not alone in this observation). That being said, the halos are part of DRL function, which I personally have never really dug on. LED's have a finite life. It would seem a reasonable thing to be able to toggle the function on or off, thereby extending the halo life. I'm speaking for the US, since DRL aren't mandated here, and data on accident prevention is mixed at best, soooo for the stupid question; is there a way to toggle or turn off the function, or is a feature we're stuck with?

 

I think we all wish we could toggle them off : )

especially when one side goes out and for the next 3-4 months while you wait for the replacement every person you see says “hey you know one of your lights is out?” Lol…

 

there will be little to no action, similar to discovery windshield leak fiasco.