Outside plastic on my vehicle is melting

Tiny
GKOHLS
  • MEMBER
  • 2019 SUBARU FORESTER
  • 4 CYL
  • 4WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 50,000 MILES
No accidents. Appears to be heat related. Dealer says not covered.
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020 AT 10:04 AM

7 Replies

Tiny
KASEKENNY
  • MECHANIC
  • 18,907 POSTS
Can you get a picture of this? Normally melting plastic is not covered unless they know of an issue in the manufacturing process where the chemical make up of the plastic is not correct and it actually appears to melt. When this happens it doesn't actually melt, it is just a chemical reaction with water, soap, environmental elements that causes it to appear melted.

The other common cause of this is it actually melted as a result of parking to close to a camp fire, bonfire, or some other heat source. Have you been around any open fires lately?

I have seen a lot of melted panels so pictures will help because we may be able to help come up with other ideas based on what it looks like.
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Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020 AT 10:16 AM
Tiny
GKOHLS
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No, I have not been around any campfires. This happened to the back piece on my rear window. It was still the new car warranty and they replaced it free. Not now
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Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020 AT 11:35 AM
Tiny
KASEKENNY
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That is clearly as a result of heat. I can understand why they did not cover it because it spans a couple panels and what appears to be different material. So each of those panels are made independently from each other and possibly even by different suppliers. So for something to go wrong in the manufacturing process to cause this issue on each of these panels is impossible. So something happened to it recently for all those different panels to be affected.

If you are not aware of any exposure to heat, we would have to point at someone doing this to your vehicle. Maybe it was an accident but this would be contributed to a man made issue. Meaning it was not an issue with the parts on the car which is why it would not be covered. This would be something that your insurance would need to cover.
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Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020 AT 6:59 PM
Tiny
GKOHLS
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Thank you for your input.
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Wednesday, November 4th, 2020 AT 2:49 AM
Tiny
STEVE W.
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That looks like severe point heat damage. I have seen something similar on cars that were in sunny areas, the sunlight would get reflected off of windows in a focused beam and do paint and plastic damage on the vehicles it hit. There have been a couple buildings that were rebuilt because they caused similar issues to vehicle around them. In this case it could be that or someone used a heat gun or high power laser pointer to cause damage. Perhaps ask other people in the areas where you park if they have the same types of damage.
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Wednesday, November 4th, 2020 AT 5:40 AM
Tiny
GKOHLS
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Thank you. I will check
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Wednesday, November 4th, 2020 AT 7:03 AM
Tiny
STEVE W.
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If you find others with similar damage I would have them all notify the insurance companies and possibly the police. The latter because depending on where you were when the damage occurred there might be cameras around that could help ID the problem. Regardless though it isn't something covered under a warranty.
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Wednesday, November 4th, 2020 AT 8:56 AM

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