Rear hatch tail light glass cover stressed cracked!

[I33t]

Sure. How do I post a photo on this blog?

Instructions are here:

http://www.mybmwi3.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=419

 

[MikeBrace]

Got it. Photos posted yesterday! Thanks!

 

[mrsmith]

They had to replace the whole tailgate on mine. The way the lights are bonded to the glass and the glass to the plastic tailgate makes it understandable, would be a nightmare to line them all up.

 

[MikeBrace]

Did your glass fracture due to stress relief (like mine) or did someone hit it? It looks like it stress relieved from the picture. If that's the case I wonder if BMW doesn't have a bigger issue on their hands than just the occasional anomaly... :shock:

 

[imolazhp]

Wait, so the lights are glued to the glass? That blows, I was hoping to one day remove them, put some light smoked vinyl on the inside and then reattach them, nothing crazy like the rest of the black hatch, just a light smoke to differentiate them. They are plenty bright being LED's.

 

[mrsmith]

Did your glass fracture due to stress relief (like mine) or did someone hit it? It looks like it stress relieved from the picture. If that's the case I wonder if BMW doesn't have a bigger issue on their hands than just the occasional anomaly... :shock:

Nope, someone hit it while parked, then cleared off without leaving details.

Lights are definitely bonded to glass and from what I can see only way to get to them is to de-bond the whole glass piece from the plastic tailgate frame!

 

[MikeBrace]

Well, I was just told my i3 is repaired and ready for pickup. Here's what I learned from this whole incident:
Yes, the rear light assemblies ARE bonded to that piece of very thin, very fragile glass, and
That glass will completely disintegrate and render your car virtually inoperable if it gets the slightest nick or fracture in it and there is nothing you can do to prevent this from happening, and
Yes, if you break that glass you have to buy a whole new rear hatch assembly, and
If you have to buy a whole new hatch assembly chances are the latch in the new assembly won't match the latch on your i3 and it will sit in the shop for about 2 weeks waiting on the correct parts to come in from Germany (apparently BMW has pathetic Vehicle Configuration Management despite the vehicle being built in a totally automated factory).
BMW got very close to me Lemon-Lawing this car. So far she has spent over 3 weeks in the shop for stupid things like this. I’ve owned everything from Porsches to Fords, Deloreans to Datsun 280 turbos’, Volkswagen Golf TDI’s to Chevy Lumina Vans, and about 30 other cars in between. If this car ends up being a hanger queen for something as stupid as piss-poor configuration management again (coupled with the fact I have the worlds shittiest BMW on record) this will be my last BMW. I love the car but so far I hate BMW.
I think the final insult to injury is that every time I have to leave it at the dealer the only loaner car they give me is a bottom-of-the-line, $30,000 320i that drives like a piece of ****. If I wanted a jerky, full size 4-door ICE that starts and stops its engine every time I put on the brake I would have bought one. They do have a few i3s sitting around, all stickered up like a rolling bulletin board, but they won’t let anybody touch them let alone use them as a loaner car. Pisses me off. I am taking back their 320i with two tanks of gas and almost 500 miles on it.
At the end of it all I think what really sucks is knowing that if someone hits (and so much as chips) that rear piece of glass I have to go without my car for another 2-3 weeks. I think I’ll build a composite shield for it…probably out of carbon/epoxy.

 

[ReturnZero]

I wonder if you could put a shield on the back, like one of those clear bras that people often put on the front of their cars. Think InvisiShield for your iPhone, but for the back of your car instead.

If someone hits you it would still shatter and you'd be screwed, but small nicks/scratches that could cause a stress break would be avoided.

 

[MikeBrace]

Yea, that's what I'm thinkin'