Burned-in headlight "etching"? Does anyone else have this?
#52
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Drove the car for the first time at night since the new headlights were installed and I'll be darned if there isn't a V in both headlights! I might have driven for 15 minutes.
I took a soft cloth with some windex and to see if it was just dust or something and it appears to be etched in the plastic like before. Just seems strange that it would come back so quickly.
Do you think there is a chance the dealer just told me they were replaced and cleaned them instead?
I took a soft cloth with some windex and to see if it was just dust or something and it appears to be etched in the plastic like before. Just seems strange that it would come back so quickly.
Do you think there is a chance the dealer just told me they were replaced and cleaned them instead?
My dealer replaced mine under warranty, but the pattern is still visible when the lights are on, and I'm sure it will appear permanently again once enough photons have reacted with the plastic. I'm not sure if I'll have them replaced again since I think it's just cosmetic and don't see any improvment in the function with the new headlights ($4000+ in parts and several hours of labor covered under warranty).
Just got a call from my service adviser at the dealership and he stated that the headlights are not covered under warranty and not even the cleaning would be covered, let alone replacing them. The question I plan on asking the manager when I pick my car up today is that... Did Mercedes design the headlamps to make this etching appear, and since I have made no adjustments to the voltage of the lights, how is this not covered? I have a CPO and extended warranty, and this seems to be a manufacturer defect! Wear and Tear items I understand are not covered, but headlights?! They had no problem taking my money for the warranties, but God forbid I use it! This is my first Mercedes and I have had more little things go wrong, than any other car I have ever owned.
You can only get them replaced under the original factory warranty, not the CPO or extended; same goes for faded wood trim. I think they categorize them as cosmetic defects.
#53
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2011 Mercedes-Benz E350 Wagon (Sport)
Cosmetic Defect
You are correct sir. I had a long discussion with my service adviser about this very issue. I don't see it as fully cosmetic since it is a result of a the lights burning too hot, but whatever. My odometer is at 51k by the way. Damn!
#54
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Just for clarification, those are my photos and my car is Steel Blue, but yes that is metal flake in the paint.
#55
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2014 E550-sold 😩
I remember the days when car warranties were 1 year and that was it. For MB or any manufacturer to cover cosmetic defects like this after 4 years is actually pretty amazing to me. It really isn't a safety issue and you have to be pretty **** about your car to even notice this.
#56
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ELW “possibly”, but I disagree with CPO denial referencing “32 point appearance inspection” certification as explained here: http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/cpo#!l...t=cpo-warranty
#57
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2011 Mercedes-Benz E350 Wagon (Sport)
I remember the days when car warranties were 1 year and that was it. For MB or any manufacturer to cover cosmetic defects like this after 4 years is actually pretty amazing to me. It really isn't a safety issue and you have to be pretty **** about your car to even notice this.
#58
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I remember the days when car warranties were 1 year and that was it. For MB or any manufacturer to cover cosmetic defects like this after 4 years is actually pretty amazing to me. It really isn't a safety issue and you have to be pretty **** about your car to even notice this.
#59
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Are you sure the "shadows in the light pattern" are caused by the etched Vs, or are they the result of the light bulb's actual pattern that causes the etching?
IOW, chicken or egg???
IOW, chicken or egg???
#60
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.
Last edited by KEY08; 08-19-2015 at 03:46 PM.
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Previous: 2011 e550 Current 2014 E350
Heard back from my dealer, I am the first customer that has reported this to them! They has ordered the new kit to clean the highlights. The kit needs to be shipped from Germany and will take 2 weeks to arrive. They will call me when the kit gets here. From the feedback from others in this thread, this appears to be a temporary solution, let see how it goes.
#63
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I just had my car serviced at MB and I spoked to the service rep and he took some pics and sent it off to MB Canada and they said it is not covered under warranty. What's my next best step if I want to raise this issue to another level??
Anyone else have same issue with MB Canada??
Anyone else have same issue with MB Canada??
#64
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Did you reference MB bulletin LI82.10-P-061580
#67
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My 2012 W212 is a CPO car with remaining factory warranty. I've got the mysterious V on my bi-xenon headlights. The SA at my local stealer knew about the marks and said if they were "bad enough," they'd replace the lights. Once they started working on my car I suppose, the technician or someone else told him about the cleaning kit and it appears to have worked rather nicely on my lights (no-charge, warranty work). No more V. For how long, nobody knows! My guess is they'll re-appear sooner than later. Argh.
#68
These are my photos and yes the v haze in my headlights are causing the shadowing. Look the same with factory bulbs and osram cbi's. They actually look worse now since the "V" got more opaque. To add to it, my projector bowls are burnt and instead of white light and uniform beam pattern, I get yellow light with some green flares and crap beam. Have gone to dealership twice and called MB USA twice and they won't do anything since I'm out of warranty. It's obviously a design flaw... too small housing and too much heat generates. They have had at least 2 new revisions to the 2010 headlamps on my car... even adding vents. We need to start a petition or something.
Last edited by greekstyle; 02-06-2016 at 11:49 PM.
#69
And here is a pic from the C class loaner they gave me while I was waiting to see what dealer would do about headlights. What a freaking tease. And this is not even the lighting package... just stock option.
#70
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My 2012 W212 is a CPO car with remaining factory warranty. I've got the mysterious V on my bi-xenon headlights. The SA at my local stealer knew about the marks and said if they were "bad enough," they'd replace the lights. Once they started working on my car I suppose, the technician or someone else told him about the cleaning kit and it appears to have worked rather nicely on my lights (no-charge, warranty work). No more V. For how long, nobody knows! My guess is they'll re-appear sooner than later. Argh.
From what I've read here and seen on my car, I anticipate the V becoming increasingly more visible as time passes. Even though they'll likely reappear, here's why I want them replaced in the future before my warranty expires. The V appears to reduce the lights' output thereby reducing their effectiveness. There will come a point where the reduction in output will be significant and by then I'll likely be responsible for paying for a replacement. I'd like to move that date further out on the calendar. Hope that makes sense!
#71
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Opinions?
#73
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Explain to the customer that in situations where only one bulb is replaced:
• There is a perceptible color difference for the first 100 hours when comparing new bulbs with those that have been in service for some time.
• Once this "breaking-in period" has passed, the color becomes bluer and resembles that of the older bulb.
Yup, that's exactly what my SA shared so I'm giving it the 100hrs he requested. Fingers crossed it'll match by then, but the recent comment about "burnt bowl" caught my attention.
• There is a perceptible color difference for the first 100 hours when comparing new bulbs with those that have been in service for some time.
• Once this "breaking-in period" has passed, the color becomes bluer and resembles that of the older bulb.
Yup, that's exactly what my SA shared so I'm giving it the 100hrs he requested. Fingers crossed it'll match by then, but the recent comment about "burnt bowl" caught my attention.
#74
Tell me more about the "burnt projector bowl." I just had one of my xenon / hid bulbs replaced under warranty and it's yellow - not bluish white like my other headlight. I'm half wondering if the bulb just needs more hours to "burn-in" OR the projector bowl was damaged when they attempted to clean off the V from the inside of the lens. SA says the bulb needs ~100hrs to settle-in, which has never been my experience with xenon / hid bulb.
Opinions?
Opinions?