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OK, I have a weird one. One day I noticed that those hard plastic rails on the sides of the windshield was melted in one spot. I had just gotten my front windows tinted and thought that the installers accidentally melted it with his heat gun. I had it replaced, was only like $40 for the part, but anyway found out later that it was from the sun reflecting off my windows at home.
I have noticed that sometimes I will be standing in the driveway and it feels like someone is holding a magnifying glass up to me and focusing the heat in a certain spot. I have heard about this happening to plastic siding on houses from reflection from neighboring windows, but I did not know it was hot enough to melt something on my car. I never had this issue before with my 2006 IS250 because it did not have the plastic rails.
Is this something that I can bring up with the dealer?
there's a building in London that had windows that could melt the plastics of a car parked on the street
Las Vegas Vidara hotel had an issue where it focused sunlight on the pool area - it was nicknamed the deathray until they put up shading for the pool area
UPDATE - I decided I did not want the plastic strip melting again. I have already had 2 replaced, so I backed into the driveway so that I would not have this problem again. The good news is the plastic molding on the windshield has not melted. The bad news is my side mirror has.
I have been parking in the same spot since 2001 and have never had this issue with my 1998 ES300, my 2006 IS 250.
I am frustrated that Lexus seems to be using sub part plastic in their cars. Buying a $40,000+ car, I shouldn't have to worry about where I park because the plastic might melt. I plan on taking it to the dealer and see what they can do.
Hopefully it doesn't happen again, but if it does, get a temperature reading off the mirror at the time of the melting and record it via video or pic. In general, some of the more resilient plastics melt above 300F so you'll have an idea if the temps are really that hot or if the plastic is cheap melting at a much lower temp.
Most new cars these days are using lighter materials to save weight and improve fuel economy. The dealer may or may not fix it under warranty. However, that is just a band-aid and does not solve your problem...
Since the culprit is your windows, your best solution to to apply a anti reflective material on the windows to prevent this from happening again. A Solar Energy Diffusion Screen will prevent future melting and also provide less glare and heat into your home as well. A plus for people like us who live is very hot and sunny regions.
The issue in this situation is your house, not the car. Thus, you're going to need to do something about yoru house, or perhaps park the car in the garage?
Either way, a dealer has no responsibility to fix this, this is not a manufacture defect. If you have a "great" dealer, they might replace it just to make you happy, but in all honesty this is an out of pocket fix for you.
Depending on how close this is to your house, you also have an option of maybe putting a canopy in your driveway to protect the car. However, I would be concerned that if you did that, it might even catch the canopy on fire.
The issue in this situation is your house, not the car. Thus, you're going to need to do something about yoru house, or perhaps park the car in the garage?
Either way, a dealer has no responsibility to fix this, this is not a manufacture defect. If you have a "great" dealer, they might replace it just to make you happy, but in all honesty this is an out of pocket fix for you.
Depending on how close this is to your house, you also have an option of maybe putting a canopy in your driveway to protect the car. However, I would be concerned that if you did that, it might even catch the canopy on fire.
The concentrated reflected light from the sun onto your parking spot will probably only happen for a few weeks twice a year. So, whatever you decide to do (park away from the spot, erect a temporary carport, etc) will not be needed full time.
In Florida I know a man that had a window in an inside corner of his house that reflected sun onto his vinyl siding. The siding over time became wavy and out of shape in a two by two foot spot. He had to put a sun screen over the window, but not before replacing the siding twice. LOL.
Sounds like it may be a particular reflection from the sun. Your last two vehicles were cars that sit lower, maybe the extra few inches of height is just right for whatever reflection is causing this. I had this problem, not with the outside, but with my first RX. Discovered where I was parking was allowing the 'magnifying glass' effect on a water bottle I always kept in my car. Started to scorch some paper which never happened in my car. Same parking spot, just the way the car sat/height of the water bottle in the RX.
04-03-15, 04:22 PM
Melted Plastic
