[Fog] Front fog lamp - smashed

[gray52]

i have 7 pairs of fog light covers, pm me if interested

[surferjr1999]

Just posted picture and details of broken fog light glass discovered this morning/something I have been dreading. Nearly all the pictures posted are the same with what appears to me to be a stress break on the inside corner particularly.

Phoned Honda customer services who told me to take to dealer and if they confirmed that they thought it wasn't caused by a strike they would replace under warranty. Not a problem they were aware of apparently! I said the usual and that there seemed a growing number of owners experiencing this as evidenced on this site.

Went to dealer (Horizon Honda Poole) and two opinions obtained - both being sure it was caused by a strike. Told this is the first fog light glass they are aware of that they have been asked to replace. Cost £172 to replace ! So no joy and I am really annoyed that this problem is being pushed under the carpet by Honda. Perhaps I may contact Which magazine ( I am member)
Damianscott71 - if you see this - have you contacted Which?

[Kremmen]

If there are a lot of single foglight units being ordered by dealers then Honda must know they are replacements as opposed to complete fitting kits?

Talking of Which? , I am a fully paid up member of their legal service. Hopefully I won't need them.

[Topcat]

Originally Posted by gray52

i have 7 pairs of fog light covers, pm me if interested

The covers wont help if its a stress fracture, dont see how you can crack a fog light and not feel youself hit something, I think it is another fault with the car.

[Bungle]

You'll never feel/hear a small stone striking the lamp at motorway speeds. I lost a flog light on my old Clio like that.

[damianscott71]

Originally Posted by Nigelh

I have a Honda Civic ex - 5 months old - Guess what - a cracked fog light which cost me £150.00 to repair.It happened after i started using the fog lights for the first time in December.
I have been in contact with Customer services at Honda - who say this is a problem they are unaware of.
CAN I SUGGEST WE ALL GIVE EM A RING ON 01753 590760 IF WE HAVE EXPERIENCED A FOG LIGHT BREAKAGE.LET EM KNOW WE ARE A FORCE. ITS NOT JUST THE ODD LIGHT BEING BROKEN.

There has to be a design fault - but Honda refuse to accept that.

I have spoken with the local dealership in Chippenham who suggest we all contact Honda - The more complaints they get the more they might listen.


SO COME ON GUYS GET RINGING NOW

CHEERS
NIGEL

Had my 2 fogs paid for by Honda Customer Services as the warranty dept refused my warranty claim. Can I suggest that anyone in the UK with the same problem speaks to Kiran (female) at Honda, on the number shown above. By repeatedly highlighting the issue to the same customer services rep, I expect that you'll get a more favourable end result.

[damianscott71]

Originally Posted by surferjr1999

Went to dealer (Horizon Honda Poole) and two opinions obtained - both being sure it was caused by a strike. Told this is the first fog light glass they are aware of that they have been asked to replace. Cost £172 to replace ! So no joy and I am really annoyed that this problem is being pushed under the carpet by Honda. Perhaps I may contact Which magazine ( I am member)
Damianscott71 - if you see this - have you contacted Which?

Hi Surfer,

I had my warranty claim rejected by Honda warranty, but Honda customer services paid for the replacement foglights (x2) as a goodwill gesture (they're also paying for my next service too!)

Can I suggest that any issues with foglights are directed to Kiran (female) in Honda customer services. She is well aware of the issue and in my opinion, if correspondence is made to the same person within Honda, they won't be able to say that they're not aware of a problem! Make sure that you talk to her nicely, we don't want to be hacking off the people who can help us get problems sorted!

I'm sure that the shape of the lens is what's causing the cracks. Also, having taken a brief look at the new lamps, they're bonded to the reflectors quite a way from the edge of the glass. This might allow more flex in the foglight, causing the distinctive circumferencial cracks that seem to blow out towards the corners.

[surferjr1999]

Thanks Damianscott I phoned as suggested. Kiran was off sick spoke to a Chris who has agreed to look at it as a warranty claim. He is phoning the dealers who will be instructed to take pictures and decision will be made by warranty dept idc. Car booke din for next Tue. Watch this space!!!!
If it wasn't for this great site we would have no idea we were not alone with these problems !!

[db9]

At first my local Honda dealer (Stratstone) said that the fog lights were broken because of me hitting something. I just kept on at them and told them that there were so many other Civic owners with the same problem that it couldn't just be stone chips (etc) that had caused the damage. Eventually they relented and replaced the fog lights under warranty.
However, this may have been because it's been back so many times with other things that they felt sorry for me!

[PTR]

Originally Posted by damianscott71

I'm sure that the shape of the lens is what's causing the cracks. Also, having taken a brief look at the new lamps, they're bonded to the reflectors quite a way from the edge of the glass. This might allow more flex in the foglight, causing the distinctive circumferencial cracks that seem to blow out towards the corners.

does anybody have pics about the "old" and the "new" version??

[damianscott71]

There is no new version. The replacement new ones are the same design as the previous set. Sorry if the wording of my post caused confusion.

I expect that the new ones will break at some stage!

[richierich]

So, they keep coming, is it just coincidence, or do you think theres a problem, I hope Honda are getting all this feedback from dealers, not just thinking they've got a great spares business on fog lamps.

[PTR]

Has anybody had problems with the fogs so that the covers (by gray52) were mounted?

(I hope not!)

[TheBull]

My dealer took pictures and spoke to the technical department at Honda who decided that they don't have an issue with faulty/badly designed fog lenses. I accepted that from the dealer but will contact Honda CS myself.

[Egelundsvej]

Originally Posted by PTR

Has anybody had problems with the fogs so that the covers (by gray52) were mounted?

(I hope not!)

Have mounted gray52's covers and have had no problems, but then I had not had problems before they were mounted, either! Having followed discussion in this thread for some time, I have arrived at the conclusion that there are 2 possible causes: first, that the roads in the UK are so poor, that the surface in many places must be disintegrating and chippings are smashing UK based fog lamps (since most smashed lamps, if not all, originate from the UK) OR, second, that members with smashed fog lamps have them switched on permanently - for whatever obscure reason - which is leading to overheating and, finally, stress fractures. Whichever of these may be the case (and I know it may be neither), if one or other is the cause, then I can fully understand that Honda say that it is not a Honda problem - it is either a Highways problem or a user problem. In any event, Gray52's covers work a treat - they even stay on in the car wash to no ill effect!!!

[PTR]

Originally Posted by Egelundsvej

OR, second, that members with smashed fog lamps have them switched on permanently - for whatever obscure reason - which is leading to overheating and, finally, stress fractures.

I don't think that the light could overheat that easy... if you are driving the wind cools them anyway..
I used them constantly for almost 2hours without any problems

What I think the main reasons could be:
1. glass is very thin
2. the surface of the lights are relatively big and they are in the corners of the car wich is a pretty unprotected place
so they can be chipped easier than we would think
if really this is the case, the protectors of gray52 should sort that problem!

(there are some fogs here on the pics wich were def. chipped)

[gray52]

i never had any problems with my fog lights, but with the amount getting smashed i didnt want to join that club. hence do something about it and get some made. prevention is better than a new fog light at £100. as ive said before, ive made these for previous cars and ive never had a smashed fog light.

i couldnt see the sense in getting some fog light covers after you find a smashed one, bit to late then!

i asked my dealer if they have had a few smashed ones and he said yes, they will be prone to this due to there position, so i dont think they replace them under warrenty.

[taa]

Originally Posted by Egelundsvej

first, that the roads in the UK are so poor, that the surface in many places must be disintegrating and chippings are smashing UK based fog lamps (since most smashed lamps, if not all, originate from the UK)

i am driving the same roads as you sir... had one of my fog lamps smashed. don't know how it happened, never noticed any sounds of impact or anything. and, hardly ever had them on - maybe 3 times for 2 minutes, just to play with them. but i think either reason for them to break you suggest should not be valid for well designed lights. i think they should be designed so they would withstand minor stone hits or being on for as long as it takes. my husband who is an engineer agrees with one of the above posts arguing that corners are weak points if there is any kind of stress or tension applied. well, 20 or 30 posts here, out of 2000+ forum participants is perhaps not so much, perhaps not enough to be absolutely sure there is a design fault... however, noone here complains about their headlights being broken... so why should not the fog lights be made to the same standart??? or better, considering they are closer to the road surface...

[TTDegs]

whilst I've yet (fingers crossed, as this is now the kiss of death!) to have a smashed fog light, it does seem rather odd to me that of all those pics posted, none of them (that I noticed) had any stone chips anywhere near the smashed fog.

Given the (lack of) thickness / strength of the paint on our Civs, if the area around the fog was prone to stones being thrown up, I would have expected to see at least a few with impact marks.

Either that or everyone has been very unlucky with where the stones are hitting!

[PTR]

Originally Posted by TTDegs

Either that or everyone has been very unlucky with where the stones are hitting!

My dad has a MY2004 Civ 1.6 Sport you know on that car how small the fogs are, and they are not on the side of the car (better almost on the middle). So on this relatively safe position with a small lens it was also chiped.. Lens hasn't complete broken just damaged a bit... how unlucky is that!

Compared to that fog size, position the fog of the MY06 Civ is in an every day danger.

(It would be good to have the fog lenses made from plastic -like on the headlights- instead of glass... we would have way less problems! but I'm pretty sure that production costs would be higher)