Door bubbles…again

[geoffbland]

There's loads of posts on this already - worth you scouring the forum to gen up on all this.

But just to recap to save you some time. The issue is with the manufacturing process for the doors, rear quarter and engine cover panels (those made by Teijin not Lotus Composites). The issue is just as likely to come back on the replacement panels - some of use are on our 3rd or 4th set of panels. The panels are covered under a 8 (or 12) year warranty. The issue is not the same as the "osmosis" issue that affected some early Elise and Evora cars.

Typically the process is; report to dealership, inspected by dealership, approved by Lotus, wait 4+ months for new panels, leave at approved bodyshop (no courtesy car included), collect a week later.

 

[Ralph2025]

Car companies do safety recalls all the time under warranty and they still require you to drop the car off even though those are safety critical issues that could reasonably lead to warm. Demanding transport for irritating cosmetic issues is probably not the hill to die on given that's not the industry norm and is explicitly excluded in the warranty terms.

 

[EricF]

There's loads of posts on this already - worth you scouring the forum to gen up on all this.

But just to recap to save you some time. The issue is with the manufacturing process for the doors, rear quarter and engine cover panels (those made by Teijin not Lotus Composites). The issue is just as likely to come back on the replacement panels - some of use are on our 3rd or 4th set of panels. The panels are covered under a 8 (or 12) year warranty. The issue is not the same as the "osmosis" issue that affected some early Elise and Evora cars.

Typically the process is; report to dealership, inspected by dealership, approved by Lotus, wait 4+ months for new panels, leave at approved bodyshop (no courtesy car included), collect a week later.

I understand, and agree, that this is a panel issue and not a paint issue, but has Lotus ever stated that this paint bubbling falls under the 8 (or 12) year warranty? I could see them taking the position that there is not any structural issue with the panels, only a cosmetic issue with the paint, and replacing the panels is how they choose to fix the paint problem.

 

[geoffbland]

I understand, and agree, that this is a panel issue and not a paint issue, but has Lotus ever stated that this paint bubbling falls under the 8 (or 12) year warranty? I could see them taking the position that there is not any structural issue with the panels, only a cosmetic issue with the paint, and replacing the panels is how they choose to fix the paint problem.

Lotus have said nothing official about the issue as far as I know. But we have cars in the UK older than 3 years being done under warranty. Replacing the panel and then respraying the panels would be a strange way to fix any issue just with the paint. I'm not sure anyone would believe that this is how Lotus choose to fix paint issue.

 

[OliverB]

I understand, and agree, that this is a panel issue and not a paint issue, but has Lotus ever stated that this paint bubbling falls under the 8 (or 12) year warranty? I could see them taking the position that there is not any structural issue with the panels, only a cosmetic issue with the paint, and replacing the panels is how they choose to fix the paint problem.

If the issue existed prior to the car being out of warranty, they need to replace the door regardless. The following repairs do have a warranty of their own.

My car is out of warranty (36k miles) and will be inspected by my dealership at the end of the month. I'll make sure to report back here regarding the 8/12 year warranty on the panels since my passenger door needs to be replaced.

 

[Rayjoedef]

I can't believe a class action hasn't been filed as of yet....

 

[Lew]

Similar but slightly different issues with older sailboats (including mine) but manufacturers solved it several decades ago. Perhaps Lotus could learn from the marine industry.

 

[geoffbland]

Similar but slightly different issues with older sailboats (including mine) but manufacturers solved it several decades ago. Perhaps Lotus could learn from the marine industry.

It's not Lotus. It's also a completely different manufacturing process to sailboats. It's a completely unrelated problem.

 

[Beachbum]

To save you looking:
Warranty on body panels for cars pre Aug 2024, is 12yrs, after that its 8yrs. Thats from date of First purchase, not manufacture.

 

[byronlewis]

Car companies do safety recalls all the time under warranty and they still require you to drop the car off even though those are safety critical issues that could reasonably lead to warm. Demanding transport for irritating cosmetic issues is probably not the hill to die on given that's not the industry norm and is explicitly excluded in the warranty terms.

I don't have a problem dropping the car off, just wondering how they'd like me to get back and fore to work for the 3 weeks it will take to fix the problem.

Oh yes and the 40 mile each way trip to the garage. They won't offer a courtesy car. I have asked. So we have 3 weeks of car hire - at my cost, 3 weeks PCP rental, with no car - £450 at my cost.

And over a week with no reply to my email

Not good enough

 

[Ralph2025]

I don't have a problem dropping the car off, just wondering how they'd like me to get back and fore to work for the 3 weeks it will take to fix the problem.

Oh yes and the 40 mile each way trip to the garage. They won't offer a courtesy car. I have asked. So we have 3 weeks of car hire - at my cost, 3 weeks PCP rental, with no car - £450 at my cost.

And over a week with no reply to my email

Not good enough

If you bought your car on PCP I believe that's different as you have a different contract with that company who owns the car. I believe you contact them and demand forbearance which means you don't need to pay the pcp whilst your car is unavailable. You'd need to deal with the finance company and not the dealer or lotus for that.