Three plaintiffs who have been named in a lawsuit against Tata Group owned Jaguar-Land-Rover have alleged that the windscreens on Defenders are prone to, well, exploding. Because of course, why should the windscreens on top-of-the-line off roaders be able to handle a pebble — how ludicrous. And I say “handle a pebble”, but examples have been given wherein the windshields on these model Defenders just — explode. The lawsuit which is currently doing the rounds in the USA district courts of New Jersey begins with the fact that a number of complaints have been submitted at the NHTSA offices. The NHTSA is the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration, and a staggering percentage of all Land Rover Defender complaints have been about the windscreens. A plaintiff named S. Seiber says that he took ownership of his Defender in 2020, and it was hit by a tiny rock and developed cracks. The cracks quickly spread through normal use, way faster than they should have and the cherry on top was that when he contacted LR Boise to get a replacement — they shrugged and said they didn’t have one. It took Land Rover more than a month to change the windscreen, alleges the lawsuit — only for the replacement to crack in under a year. Seiber needed to replace the replacement at a personal cost of more than 2,000 U.S. dollars — for it to spontaneously disintegrate in eight months, which necessitated another 2,500 U.S. dollars to repair. Then, another one of the plaintiffs in the suit, C. Robinson is not exactly having a better time with his Defender. This gentleman has seen his Defender through no less than five new windshields. Can I remind you that this is a car meant to be an out-of-the-packaging overlanding vehicle. For one that claims to be a rugged off-roader, evidently even the pavement is an extinction-level threat. The lawsuit documents state that the problem is either with the Defender’s structure itself, or that poor materials have been used in the making. The suit also alleges that Jaguar Land Rover has apparently (allegedly) known about this issue since 2019, and continued to push production of the 2020 model. Most worryingly for NA owners, JLR has set a precedent and refused to replace the shields under the cars’ warranty. The plaintiffs are looking for a full jury trial, compensation, and legal fees. Now, the problem seems isolated to North America, as there the dealers have pretty much carte blanche to charge what they want. In the U.K., for example, a windshield replacement including recalibration of the electronics inside will run you about 492 quid, which is about 550$. Still pricey, but not too bad compared to the 7,500 that Seiber has probably spent so far. Also, a lot of these “boxy” type cars such as the Lexus GX, Ford Bronco, and the Defender have a much more “vertical” windscreen. As a result, the glare and visibility is better, but the windshields do tend to catch a lot more debris that flies up, and this debris hits the screen at a much sharper angle. Maybe the chassis also needs to be made more rigid as body flex could weaken the shields and then minute impacts can cause them to, well, not shield anymore. This is a bigger deal than most people realise, as it could set a precedent for all automakers (ahem, Stellantis) replacement policies in the USA, seeing as how it is a district-level court hearing.
