2023 Range Rover Sport Hit With Recall Due to Moisture Accumulating in the Rear Lamps

9 months, 2 weeks ago - 30 December 2023, autoevolution
2023 Range Rover Sport
2023 Range Rover Sport
Land Rover has issued a recall for an estimated 4,347 examples of the Range Rover Sport. As it happens, the right-hand tailgate and body-mounted rear lamps may fail due to water ingress.

Dealers will be instructed to replace said lamps on January 4, 2024, and owners will be informed on February 9, 2024.

Documents published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reveal that Jaguar Land Rover is aware of 144 warranty claims related to this matter. Happily for owners and the British automaker's legal department, there have been no reported accidents caused by failed rear lamps.

JLR received the first warranty claim back in October 2022. Come February 2023, an increasing number of claims prompted the automaker's Product Safety and Compliance Committee to open an investigation. With the help of the supplier – which is listed as Jaguar Land Rover Limited in the report attached below – the engineering department investigated lamps from the field through September 2023.

Jaguar Land Rover identified a difference between the rates of issues from left to right-hand rear lamps, therefore prompting further investigation. Eventually, the automaker learned that Solihull assembly plant workers used different approaches to finesse the gaps and flush fit of the right-hand tailgate and body-mounted rear lamps. More specifically, the right-hand rear lamps were being mechanically altered whereas the left-hand rear lamps were not.

In case of water ingress, one or more lamp failures may occur, including the loss of the brake lamp, outer marker lamp, turn indicator, and reversing lamp. Potentially affected vehicles were produced for the 2023 model year at Solihull between July 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. No fewer than four part numbers are listed in the report attached below. Instead of waiting for Jaguar Land Rover-branded envelopes to arrive via first-class mail, owners can easily determine whether their vehicles are recalled or not by running the VIN on the NHTSA's web portal.

Internally referred to as L461, the third-gen Range Rover Sport is underpinned by the MLA-Flex platform of the Range Rover. This vehicle architecture supports electric powertrains, which is why both the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport will be available as electric vehicles in the near future. Speaking of which, Land Rover has already opened the waiting list for the Range Rover Electric. Be that as it may, JLR didn't mention whether the newcomer will debut as a 2025 or 2026 model.

In the meantime, prospective customers are presented with the so-called Range Rover Electric Hybrid and Range Rover Sport Electric Hybrid. Both of them are plug-in hybrids. Over in the United Kingdom, their electric range is estimated at 75 miles (120.7 kilometers) in the WLTP and 59 miles (95 kilometers) in real-world conditions. The US-spec P440 PHEV is good for up to 51 miles (82 kilometers).

P440 stands for gasoline in British English and 440 metric ponies, which converts to 434 horsepower. Maximum torque is estimated at 457 pound-feet (620 Nm). Rather than a turbocharged V8, the plug-in hybrid setup is built around a turbocharged I6.

As of December 2023, the Range Rover Sport is available to configure in the US at $83,600 for the SE P360 MHEV. The most expensive specification of the bunch is the $180,300 SV Edition One P635, which belts out 626 hp and 553 lb-ft (750 Nm) of torque. 

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