On 13/11/2019 at 16:23, MJ1 said:

Just had my car cleaned by the dealer, a small amount of condensation seen, a bit dark now but if I get a chance I will photo it, not worried about it as per comments above.

 

Mind you it is galling after handing over close to what I paid for a new house many moons ago... So I would be upset but I am sure there will be bigger issues...

 

😉

 

I handed over about fifteen times the price of my Karoq for my last house and I get misting on the Karoq, on the Octavia and on the house.

Edited 29 November, 20196 yr by Guest

Hi, I have just taken delivery of a new Karoq Sportline DSG 4x4 from a dealership in Berkshire. I have had it 4 days and have noticed that it has heavy condensation in both headlights and the lights below (?fog/side). I have raised this with the dealership who have told me this is normal.

Unfortunately I have to strongly disagree with this. Condensation in a light fitting is far from “normal”. As condensation increases, the water will then pool at the bottom of the sealed units. Over a period of time, that water will rise and splash around inside the unit. How on earth can that be normal?!

 

My previous Skoda never had this problem and neither did any of the other 50+ Skoda’s in my employer’s fleet. 

 

I took the opportunity to look at several other new Skoda’s yesterday, and none of them had this problem. If it was “normal”, all Skoda’s would have had water in the headlights. This effectively raises the question, “are those vehicles without condensation in the light fitting, deemed to be abnormal, or indeed faulty? 

 

I would welcome your comments before I take this much further.

Thank you.

9 minutes ago, stevehaire said:

 As condensation increases, the water will then pool at the bottom of the sealed units. Over a period of time, that water will rise and splash around inside the unit. How on earth can that be normal?!

 

My previous Skoda never had this problem and neither did any of the other 50+ Skoda’s in my employer’s fleet. 

 

I took the opportunity to look at several other new Skoda’s yesterday, and none of them had this problem. If it was “normal”, all Skoda’s would have had water in the headlights. This effectively raises the question, “are those vehicles without condensation in the light fitting, deemed to be abnormal, or indeed faulty? 

 

I would welcome your comments before I take this much further.

Thank you.

 

The light units are not sealed.

Did your previous Skoda have LED lights? This phenomenon is particular to LED lights as they do not run as hot as halogen or xenon lamps so it takes longer to drive the moisture out.

Have the other cars you inspected had the lights on, just been power washed, as yours probably was before you collected it, been driving around in the same conditions you have?

 

1 hour ago, stevehaire said:

Hi, I have just taken delivery of a new Karoq Sportline DSG 4x4 from a dealership in Berkshire. I have had it 4 days and have noticed that it has heavy condensation in both headlights and the lights below (?fog/side). I have raised this with the dealership who have told me this is normal.

Unfortunately I have to strongly disagree with this. Condensation in a light fitting is far from “normal”. As condensation increases, the water will then pool at the bottom of the sealed units. Over a period of time, that water will rise and splash around inside the unit. How on earth can that be normal?!

 

My previous Skoda never had this problem and neither did any of the other 50+ Skoda’s in my employer’s fleet. 

 

I took the opportunity to look at several other new Skoda’s yesterday, and none of them had this problem. If it was “normal”, all Skoda’s would have had water in the headlights. This effectively raises the question, “are those vehicles without condensation in the light fitting, deemed to be abnormal, or indeed faulty? 

 

I would welcome your comments before I take this much further.

Thank you.

 

You repeatedly say no other Skodas you have seen experience this yet there's a whole thread here about it and you'll find condensation reports on other Skoda model threads as well.

 

You also say water will pool at bottom of sealed units. That's not the case, it will evaporate.

 

Yes there will be those who have faulty headlights, as happens with every manufacturer, but the picture you have posted is norml condensation. It only occurs under certain climatic conditions. When I visted my dealer last week, the guy had just been out washing down all the cars on the forecourt and many of them were left with exactly the same condensation as your photo above.

 

Please read the owners manual, it says this is perfectly normal.

 

 

Edited 3 December, 20196 yr by Guest

I have had mine a month on Friday I get misting in the headlights and fog lights which comes and goes when using the lights which I can accept that as the norm to a certain extent but I also get exactly the same condensation at the bottom of the lamp but just in the O/S headlight, it never goes, I removed it with a hair dryer but it just came back which suggests to me that the lamp is faulty or they would both be the same.

 

I am still monitoring it as I haven`t decided what to do about it yet as I am not really happy with it.

 

 

 

Just to add I can accept misting in some LED lamps but its certainly not affecting all makes as a friend has a new CX5 with LED`s and no sign of condensation, brother inlaw has a new Vauxhall Grandland no sign on that a neighbour has a new VW T Roc no sign on that either last night daughters fella turned up in a brand new Kuga nothing on that either.

11 minutes ago, Delanor said:

Just to add I can accept misting in some LED lamps but its certainly not affecting all makes as a friend has a new CX5 with LED`s and no sign of condensation, brother inlaw has a new Vauxhall Grandland no sign on that a neighbour has a new VW T Roc no sign on that either last night daughters fella turned up in a brand new Kuga nothing on that either.

They are lucky then as other owners of these models are suffering.

And I believe most T Rocs don’t have LED lights

https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123837192-CX-5-Driver-Headlight-Condensation

https://www.grandlandforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=235

https://www.kugaownersclub.co.uk/threads/condensation-in-lights.7927/

It should be noted that there have been some quality issues with the Karoq's LED headlights...

 

 

 

Check for cracks. These cracks may not be in view when looking at the car externally. A proper examination really needs to be done with the headlights removed.

 

Condensation or water ingress?

 

https://www.eaglelights.com/pages/led-headlight-condensation

 

.

This is in the Octavia owners Manual page 49

The headlights are misted up on the inside.  Inside the headlights, moisture may occur. This is not a defect. 

I can accept all of that when both fog lights and headlights develops misting that goes after the lights have been on but when it leaves condensation ie. water droplets permanently that is not right in my book!

 

At getting on for £1K a pair retail no wonder Skoda are not keen to replace.

1 hour ago, skoda1982 said:

This is in the Octavia owners Manual page 49

The headlights are misted up on the inside.  Inside the headlights, moisture may occur. This is not a defect. 

 

It is in the Karoq's manual too, as already mentioned earlier.

 

It is a defect if the word moisture is used to describe water ingress. Water ingress is indeed a defect.

 

On the left moisture, on the right water ingress...

 

 

Moisture and water ingress are effectively one and the same thing. But by mentioning the word 'moisture' in their owners manual does not absolve Skoda from rectifying faults.

 

As far as I am concerned the minute the moisture turns into water droplets and / or collects or can be seen to run down the inside of the headlight, then this is a genuine warranty concern.

 

I am sure there will be some extreme cases, as I listed earlier where the moisture levels are excessive but may not be directly attributable to a fault, such as...

 

- Not using the headlights for a prolonged period of time.

- Recent or regular washing.

- The use of a high power pressure washer.

- An under bonnet engine wash.

- Lengthy periods of time sat in storage, outside the factory, at the docks, on the train, on a ferry, in the dealers compound etc.

- No or limited exposure to direct sunlight, instead spending time in the shade.

- Slow speeds, or infrequent use, preventing the necessary air flow to allow the headlights to properly vent.

- Driving on wet roads, through deep puddles.

- Cold and damp weather conditions.

 

And the list goes on. If you're unfortunate to tick several of the boxes above then it is likely your headlights will contain more moisture than others, so trying to make comparisons with other LED headlight-equipped models is futile.

 

Be patient, come the summer time the headlights will get the chance to properly dry out. If after summer the issue returns then you're still within warranty and at least have some further evidence to support the replacement of the headlights under warranty.

 

Edited 4 December, 20196 yr by silver1011

4 hours ago, Delanor said:

I can accept all of that when both fog lights and headlights develops misting that goes after the lights have been on but when it leaves condensation ie. water droplets permanently that is not right in my book!

 

At getting on for £1K a pair retail no wonder Skoda are not keen to replace.

I’m with you all the way £1000!!!😳 RIP off! 
Although there seems to be a trend with a lot of people here, saying it’s “normal”, it still seems far from normal to me.

Thank you for your help though.

7 hours ago, Apprentice said:

Condensation or water ingress?

 

https://www.eaglelights.com/pages/led-headlight-condensation

 

.

Thank you very much for your help with this irritating issue.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_World_problem

Back in the early 90s I had a petrol Passat estate. When it was old (I run cars into the ground and throw them away) it started to get condensation in one headlight. I drilled a hole in one side at the bottom of the glass, that cured it!

I eventually threw that one away at 196,000 miles. 

 

Tom

1 minute ago, Sanqhar said:

Back in the early 90s I had a petrol Passat estate. When it was old (I run cars into the ground and throw them away) it started to get condensation in one headlight. I drilled a hole in one side at the bottom of the glass, that cured it!

I eventually threw that one away at 196,000 miles. 

 

Tom

I'm currently running a Golf I bought new 10 years ago and it too has a small hole I drilled in the off-side fog to relieve the persistent condensation, despite the halogen bulb.

 

I shan't be drilling any holes in the Karoq for at least a couple of years.

There appears to be conflicting advice on the subject,  Hellas take on the subject of "Fogging in lamps" https://www.hella.com/techworld/uk/Technical/Automotive-lighting/Condensation-in-headlight-836/

 

This is the Nissan view in a service bulletin https://www.nissan-techinfo.com/asistgc_1/diskdocs/1/R/F/1RF31.PDF

We're going around in circles. The link you posted from Hella has already been posted back on page 1.

 

The bulletin from Nissan makes mention of droplets of water larger than 3mm. None of the pictures posted on this thread show any droplets that size.

 

All of the evidence provided so far suggests what you're experiencing is perfectly normal.

5 hours ago, Berisford said:

I'm currently running a Golf I bought new 10 years ago and it too has a small hole I drilled in the off-side fog to relieve the persistent condensation, despite the halogen bulb.

 

I shan't be drilling any holes in the Karoq for at least a couple of years.

 

They have already got holes 

2 hours ago, silver1011 said:

We're going around in circles. The link you posted from Hella has already been posted back on page 1.

 

You are entitled to your opinion that you are going around in circles and IMO placing 2 appropriate links together makes for an easier comparison than having to search back 28 posts to your original pointer to the Hella website.

Maybe other new Karoq owners wish to investigate the issue further if it is of no interest just don`t post on it.

 

The original Hella link was a direct reply to one of your earlier posts.

 

I'm not sure what posting it again has achieved?

 

Either way, what are you doing about it? Have you approached your dealer, have you made contact with Skoda UK customer services?

 

The responses you've had on here are that its normal. If you don't agree or aren't happy then you need to approach your dealer.

 

Finding out what they think and then reporting back here would be more useful to fellow Karoq owners.

 

Edited 5 December, 20196 yr by silver1011

As someone who successfully who took on Mazda UK due to their false description of all leather trim in a new car that I bought after I discovered it to be 50% man made I was awarded £1K compensation, and two other new cars I bought one at £25K+ one at £28K+ that were poor quality I successfully rejected and received full refunds on both.

 

So funnily enough thanks but I do not need any advice on how to deal with dealers and customer services due to a problem with what appears to be condensation in a headlight!

 

When I have decided an appropriate course of action that is what may happen.

You sound like a car dealers worst nightmare, perhaps your expectations are too high.

 

I wish you the very best of luck.

A car dealers "worst nightmare" you had better believe it after some of the shocking dealings I have had over the years, any car dealer can be absolutely brilliant before and during the sale but it is only afterwards when something goes wrong do you get to see how good/bad they really are.

 

Like another Mazda dealer that replaced a set of alloys under warranty due to  corrosion, they damaged the new replacement set fitting the tyres they were most apologetic and agreed to supply  a further new set, they thought they would save a few quid (£2k actually) by respraying the front of my old alloys and fitted those claiming they were more new alloys from Mazda!

 

In the process they had badly damaged a new  £125 tyre they had tried to glue it the rim with rubber solution to stop it losing air.

After all that Mazda UK would not admit that their dealer had done this on a 150 mph sports car.

 

Like the Land Rover dealer that after their 165 point mechanical, electrical and safety check on an 18 month old Freelander they failed to notice that the front brake pads were virtually down to the metal they preferred to let me find this out myself whilst doing an emergency brake @ 70 mph on the M6.

 

I haven`t a lot of time for any car dealer I`m afraid, whether Skoda goes on my list remains to be seen.