Condensation and water droplets inside headlight

[roybosh]

Yesterday I noticed the nearside (Matrix) headlight was very misted up, the offside one was fine. I drove with lights on to a friends house 22 miles away and the condensation was just as bad when I checked it upon arrival. I know these headlights don't emit much in the way of heat.
I had parked up at my friends house facing his garage door. The NS light was certainly dimmer and the beam pattern was a little less defined.

I contacted VW UK to see how I should go about getting it replaced under warranty, they sent a message to my dealer who contacted me this morning to arrange an inspection on the 22nd January 2024. I thought that was a pretty fast response.
I'll keep an eye on how the condensation looks until the inspection comes around.

[mulacs]

Hello, merry Xmas everyone.
New owner of an ID3 here, 1yo ex demonstrator.
Very happy so far, however have the same condensation issue in the passenger side headlight.
How did everyone else get on with warranty replacements?
I’ve messaged the dealer and am yet to hear back.
Thanks!

[roybosh]

I took the car to the dealers this morning for the condensation in the nearside headlight issue, I got a call back from them a couple of hours later.
"We notice that your nearside rear tyre has 2.75mm tread left on it, the other side has 6mm. Do you want us to change it while the car is with us, £179.00 fitted."
I had a non repairable puncture on the rear offside tyre a few weeks ago at £143.00 fitted, at my local tyre shop. I'm heading to London in a few weeks and was going to have my local shop fit a new tyre.
According to the dealer a visual inspection of the condensation is not the only check they need to perform.
They will also run a full diagnostic check on the Matrix light command modules just in case the water ingress has affected the functionality of the headlight wiring to the headlight.
Heavy wear on the tyre is quite a well known thing, lots of torque and horsepower. I do, on occasion, drive it with gusto. 12k miles or a year and new tyres are required. I suspect 24k and two years for the fronts.
I digress, I'm waiting for the dealer to update me on the results of the diagnostics and whether it is a warranty replacement. I think the Matrix headlight unit will be pretty expensive, used lights are around £400-£600 on e-bay

[Scratch]

I took the car to the dealers this morning for the condensation in the nearside headlight issue, I got a call back from them a couple of hours later.
"We notice that your nearside rear tyre has 2.75mm tread left on it, the other side has 6mm. Do you want us to change it while the car is with us, £179.00 fitted."
I had a non repairable puncture on the rear offside tyre a few weeks ago at £143.00 fitted, at my local tyre shop. I'm heading to London in a few weeks and was going to have my local shop fit a new tyre.
According to the dealer a visual inspection of the condensation is not the only check they need to perform.
They will also run a full diagnostic check on the Matrix light command modules just in case the water ingress has affected the functionality of the headlight wiring to the headlight.
Heavy wear on the tyre is quite a well known thing, lots of torque and horsepower. I do, on occasion, drive it with gusto. 12k miles or a year and new tyres are required. I suspect 24k and two years for the fronts.
I digress, I'm waiting for the dealer to update me on the results of the diagnostics and whether it is a warranty replacement. I think the Matrix headlight unit will be pretty expensive, used lights are around £400-£600 on e-bay

Each time my ID3 has been with the dealer (too many times), they tell me I need new tyres. I guess they want to make as much dosh from everything they can as the servicing should be minimal.

[roybosh]

I took the car to the dealers this morning for the condensation in the nearside headlight issue, I got a call back from them a couple of hours later.
"We notice that your nearside rear tyre has 2.75mm tread left on it, the other side has 6mm. Do you want us to change it while the car is with us, £179.00 fitted."
I had a non repairable puncture on the rear offside tyre a few weeks ago at £143.00 fitted, at my local tyre shop. I'm heading to London in a few weeks and was going to have my local shop fit a new tyre.
According to the dealer a visual inspection of the condensation is not the only check they need to perform.
They will also run a full diagnostic check on the Matrix light command modules just in case the water ingress has affected the functionality of the headlight wiring to the headlight.
Heavy wear on the tyre is quite a well known thing, lots of torque and horsepower. I do, on occasion, drive it with gusto. 12k miles or a year and new tyres are required. I suspect 24k and two years for the fronts.
I digress, I'm waiting for the dealer to update me on the results of the diagnostics and whether it is a warranty replacement. I think the Matrix headlight unit will be pretty expensive, used lights are around £400-£600 on e-bay

I had a call from the dealer today, VW UK have approved the warranty claim and will fit the new unit tomorrow, as soon as it arrives.
All in all, happy with the outcome.

[roybosh]

I took the car to the dealers this morning for the condensation in the nearside headlight issue, I got a call back from them a couple of hours later.
"We notice that your nearside rear tyre has 2.75mm tread left on it, the other side has 6mm. Do you want us to change it while the car is with us, £179.00 fitted."
I had a non repairable puncture on the rear offside tyre a few weeks ago at £143.00 fitted, at my local tyre shop. I'm heading to London in a few weeks and was going to have my local shop fit a new tyre.
According to the dealer a visual inspection of the condensation is not the only check they need to perform.
They will also run a full diagnostic check on the Matrix light command modules just in case the water ingress has affected the functionality of the headlight wiring to the headlight.
Heavy wear on the tyre is quite a well known thing, lots of torque and horsepower. I do, on occasion, drive it with gusto. 12k miles or a year and new tyres are required. I suspect 24k and two years for the fronts.
I digress, I'm waiting for the dealer to update me on the results of the diagnostics and whether it is a warranty replacement. I think the Matrix headlight unit will be pretty expensive, used lights are around £400-£600 on e-bay

I had a call from the dealer today, VW UK have approved the warranty claim and will fit the new unit tomorrow, as soon as it arrives.
All in all, happy with the outcome.

I picked up my car, new headlight fitted, covered by warranty and it was washed and hoovered.
Well done Barnetts, Dundee.

[TheJimster]

Well this is bonkers.

My second passenger side replacement headlight has misted up now.

Booked in for an inspection at the dealers in a couple of weeks.

[Knotcross]

Like many of the previous posters, I am also having issues with my N/S matrix headlight. The O/S light is fine. This is my second N/S light unit. I had the first replaced in Dec 2023 with the same issue. I was due to have an MOT and was told it would fail so the garage agreed to replace it under warranty. Within 2 months I am back to the same situation. This is clearly not a one off fault with a particular light unit but a design flaw. Surely VW are able to produce a light unit that can cope with a bit of british rain!? I was told the matrix light unit costs £1750 to replace! VW clearly need to sort out their design and then do a full recall! I would be interested to know if it's just the matrix light unit that's affected or if standard lights are suffering the same issue?

[Crishev]

I seem to be the only one with this issue on the offside headlamp! Local dealer not interested as I didn't purchase the car from them but thankfully Johnsons VW Tamworth have been brilliant about it and are changing the complete unit. I've been told these headlights are on backorder but should arrive within 7 working days, fitted and recalibrated within 10.

[Scratch]

I seem to be the only one with this issue on the offside headlamp! Local dealer not interested as I didn't purchase the car from them but thankfully Johnsons VW Tamworth have been brilliant about it and are changing the complete unit. I've been told these headlights are on backorder but should arrive within 7 working days, fitted and recalibrated within 10.

Are you saying “local VW dealer not interested”?

[Crishev]

Certainly am. The first question I got was " did you buy the car from us?" which I feel is irrelevant. From that point on the negativity from the dealer grew. I was told that its normal due to heating and cooling to it's common with ID.3's nothing to worry about.

[Scratch]

Certainly am. The first question I got was " did you buy the car from us?" which I feel is irrelevant. From that point on the negativity from the dealer grew. I was told that its normal due to heating and cooling to it's common with ID.3's nothing to worry about.

Best let us know who they are, so we can avoid them.

[Crishev]

Sure, Listers Nuneaton.

[TheJimster]

Well this is bonkers.

My second passenger side replacement headlight has misted up now.

Booked in for an inspection at the dealers in a couple of weeks.

So, replacement headlight number three got approved at the dealers today. Which is obviously good, and they say the part is readily available, but I don't have much confidence that VW have actually tackled the problem here. There's clearly something substandard about these headlights.

I drove into a car park at the weekend, spotted an ID3 charging, oh look, it's also got the standard issue misted up passenger side headlight!

[TheJimster]

Headlight number three has now been fitted. Let's see if it lasts any longer than its predecessors...

[JohnEG]

I get that problem from time to time but the condensation always clears when temeratures get above 10 degrees or so.
Can't say it bothers me.