Charge port glass lid shattered….

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EEEE
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Post by EEEE »

Smucker wrote: Sat Apr 02, 2022 7:03 pm I came to my car one morning to find the glass on my charge port lid cracked all over. The pictures below were taken a week or so later where they had developed deeper.
Any update yet?

I still can't believe people are thinking this was a stone chip - the whole back of the lid is completely bent downwards about a centimetre. The bonnet is clearly fully closed as the front gap is perfect. The spring opening mechanism is not that strong, and the plastic lid/cage is substantial enough not to bend by itself if the glass is compromised. It can only have been vandalised or mis-treated.

The more I think about it - why on earth did Honda decide to fit a glass charging flap in the first place? You can't see through it and there is no benefit in it being transparent. Other electric cars do not have glass charging doors (maybe non-metallic charging doors are a safety requirement?).
'21 e Advance - Charge Yellow - E1702RR alloys
'17 Civic Sport CVT
'00 Prelude 2.2VTi

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EEEE
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Post by EEEE »

From:
https://www.honda.co.uk/engineroom/elec ... roduction/
Why the Charging Point Became a Talking Point
You wouldn’t make the fuel filler cap the focal point of a petrol or diesel car. Yet with the Honda e, that’s exactly what Sahara has done: the car’s electric status is celebrated by placing the charging port in the middle of the bonnet.

“That's the point of this design,” explains Sahara, “because this is a symbol of EVs. You don't charge a gasoline car every day but with an EV, the customer is charging every day.”

The charging port cover is made from glass, rather than plastic, says Sahara, because glass looks better and feels nicer to the touch. Also, from a practical point of view the positioning of the charging port allows easy access from the front of the car or from either side and LED lighting is visible through a glass panel to illuminate the port for the driver and highlight the battery charging status.

And for those of you concerned about the rain – there are outlets in the charging port which allow the water to be drained in wet weather conditions.
so apparently LED lighting is visible through the glass panel. Not sure how they envisaged charging the car without opening the port!
'21 e Advance - Charge Yellow - E1702RR alloys
'17 Civic Sport CVT
'00 Prelude 2.2VTi
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londiniumperson
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Post by londiniumperson »

EEEE wrote: Thu May 05, 2022 12:07 pm From:
https://www.honda.co.uk/engineroom/elec ... roduction/
Why the Charging Point Became a Talking Point
You wouldn’t make the fuel filler cap the focal point of a petrol or diesel car. Yet with the Honda e, that’s exactly what Sahara has done: the car’s electric status is celebrated by placing the charging port in the middle of the bonnet.

“That's the point of this design,” explains Sahara, “because this is a symbol of EVs. You don't charge a gasoline car every day but with an EV, the customer is charging every day.”

The charging port cover is made from glass, rather than plastic, says Sahara, because glass looks better and feels nicer to the touch. Also, from a practical point of view the positioning of the charging port allows easy access from the front of the car or from either side and LED lighting is visible through a glass panel to illuminate the port for the driver and highlight the battery charging status.

And for those of you concerned about the rain – there are outlets in the charging port which allow the water to be drained in wet weather conditions.
so apparently LED lighting is visible through the glass panel. Not sure how they envisaged charging the car without opening the port!
Maybe Ken Sahara envisioned the car being charged whilst being driven :roll: either that or thought that EV drivers were so forgetful that by the time they had walked from the front of the car to getting inside they had forgotten if they had plugged the car in, because as we know the car has no indication on the meter display as to it's charge status does it :?
2022 Advance in Crystal Black Pearl on 17's - 08/2020-Current
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Garenio
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Post by Garenio »

Once the glass shatters its loses its rigidity which is why the back part collapses in. Mine was definitely from a stone or some impact but at first I thought it must have been vandalised. I just wonder if there’s anything that can been done to protect it in the future once it’s been fixed?

C25D94CE-28DC-4FCA-9013-7380271D24F4.jpeg

FAC9A91F-B3FB-4860-AEB7-1AF9C6A3641A.jpeg

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londiniumperson
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Post by londiniumperson »

Garenio wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 10:07 am Once the glass shatters its loses its rigidity which is why the back part collapses in. Mine was definitely from a stone or some impact but at first I thought it must have been vandalised. I just wonder if there’s anything that can been done to protect it in the future once it’s been fixed?
If you look back at the 1st page of posts on this thread you'll see there is a way to protect it.
2022 Advance in Crystal Black Pearl on 17's - 08/2020-Current
2015 VW Tiguan (Pure White) - 04/2018-Current
1991 Honda Beat PP1 (Festival Red) - 11/2022-Current
FMIB
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Post by FMIB »

For me, its not clear if this protection film is just a ring of film that goes around the charging port, or it also covers the glass as well
GENUINE HONDA E CHARGE PORT PROTECTION FILM 2020
https://www.coxmotorparts.co.uk/honda-s ... film-2020/
Smucker
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Post by Smucker »

Garenio wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 10:07 am Once the glass shatters its loses its rigidity which is why the back part collapses in. Mine was definitely from a stone or some impact but at first I thought it must have been vandalised. I just wonder if there’s anything that can been done to protect it in the future once it’s been fixed?

Sorry for the silence folks, not logged on in ages. Yes Gorenio, the damage on your pics is pretty much identical but I really don’t think it was from an impact. My pics were taken about a week after it happened so the cracks progressed more and more as I was opening and closing the lid to charge. It didn’t look like that at first…just very faint hairline cracks evenly dispersed with no obvious starting point.

It must have happened as it was parked over night as I would have seen it otherwise upon parking up when getting home to charge…I charge it everyday (obvs haha!)

There were no other dents or marks on the bonnet which would indicate something had struck it and it’s parked off road where there’s no passers by.

I honestly think it’s just shattered from basic use of opening and closing and most certainly not with excessive force…and therefor is not fit for purpose….it’s a charge lid designed to be opened and closed and it obviously can’t hack it.

I actually think more and more of these cases will emerge.

I could get over it if not for the fact the part was over £1000…and that’s coming from Honda direct, not a dealer hiking up on top. It took ten mins to fix. It’s pretty disgusting they can charge that money and it doesn’t bode well for future repair costs. I’m in warranty period FFS and their customer service lady had zero interest on the phone, just the trained robotic responses repeated off a script to deny fault.

…I’ve saw elsewhere on this forum of eye watering cost to replace windscreen (I guess because of those wriggly line things).

My cars been in twice for door handles not popping out which HAS been covered by warranty BUT once out of warranty I believe those costs would be around £500…and you just know 100% it’s going to be a reoccurring fault long after 3-years has elapsed (hands up who’s handles aren’t popping out correctly???)

Love driving the Honda but livid at Honda central customer service (not my local dealer) and not looking forward to silly amounts of money to fix minor things…

Rant over sorry!!!
Smucker
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Post by Smucker »

…and just to add one more thing….I think the reason both pics of the damaged charge port lids appear to have a point of origin in the crack pattern towards the bottom is because it’s at the bottom of the charge port where the force is applied to close the lid each time by hand.

Granted…it looks like something has impacted but I’m willing to bet any following cracked charge port lids in future will all have a point of emergence from the bottom…and it won’t be a coincidence…!
turntoport
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Post by turntoport »

thanks for those updates, smucker. OK, yes, the 'push-down' force application point providing the stress-raiser for crack initiation. The rate at which tempered glass 'fails' depends somewhat on the internal stresses within the glass at manufacture: Is th port lid a lamination of two layers of tempered, i wonder? Unless there's something else happening that's 'outside the design & function envelope', a straightforward low cycle-count of 'normal' use failure indicates a design fault: there must be a route to Honda's technical department to review the failures via fmeca/dracas. I'm sure they wouldn't just 'dump' an issue like this; it would be too costly to co'y image if a court claim was made under the 'unfit-for-purpose' path.

Needs addressing - Honda tech: take ownership.

atb - ttp
Nebrog23
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Post by Nebrog23 »

It’s also worth being careful not to knock the charge cover with any wedding rings etc when closing the lid given it seems relatively fragile
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