I just purchased a new 2010 Outlander XLS. Because of the great deal, I went about 500 miles to get the car. In the process home, the passenger fog lamp glass cracked and broke. I thought "OK, I must have has a rock thrown at it...bad luck". Then 3 or 4 days later, the other lens turned up broke in a strikingly similar way. Both lamps broken within the first week/1000 miles. This seems fishy to say the least, so I took it into the local Mitsu dealer (what a joke) and they proceed to tell me that both were because of a rock strike, and there is nothing they can/will do about it. If I want to replace them, they are about $270 EACH.

Now, that being said, has anyone else had this type of "luck" with the factory fogs? Are they really that fragile that they will not hold up to a week's worth of normal driving? I want to replace them, but not if I have to spend $600/week to keep lamps in them.

Anyone have any thoughts or ideas?

JR

 

I bought my 2010 outlander xls in march 2010 (also drove a long way to get a better deal,from west michigan to chicago), during the summer I was finishing cleaning out my garage with my hids and fog lights on for about 20 mins, went up to the car wash and started washing it. I moved to the front right and I heard a funny sound, then moved to the left side and heard the same sound. I looked down and saw that both fog lights had cracked. I was pissed, I turned off my fog lights immediately and finished washing my car. I went to my dealership the next day and told the service writer what had happened he said he had never heard about this happening but the technician said it could happen because of the hot housing to the cold water from the car wash. The service writer then ordered me two new fog lights. It was about a week and I went in to have them changed out, waited about 45min only to have the service writer come out and tell me his manager wasn't allowing them to be put in until the talked to their regional rep. They then proceeded to take pictures to present the condition my car was in, my windshield had cracked the week before and then they suggested that my fog lights were probably cracked by rocks like my windshield. He then proceeded to tell me about a friend that lived in the same area as me and he had lots of problems with cracked windshields and stone chips. I got pretty frustrated and felt like he was calling me a liar. I left and waited to hear back about what the rep had to say. I waited almost a month to hear the reps decision calling back though out only to have the service writer suggest that I claim the damage under my car insurance, I said that was totally unacceptable. Finally the rep said he would replace them under the condition that they would be sent back to mitsubishi and checked, if it appeared to be rock damaged I would be responsible for the replacement cost. I was furious, but reluctantly had them replace them. The fog lights had no chips in them just cracks from the car wash. It has been about 6 months and there has been no word back from mitsubishi and even if there was I would be ready to talk to a lawyer about this problem. I am a product designer and have worked on many vehicles and motorcycles customizing and maintaining them so I am very familiar with materials used and construction methods of parts. Now it takes about three minutes to take out the whole fog light assembly and if you look at it you can see the lens is made of thin plastic not glass like most vehicles that have the same size housing, also most vehicles use an aluminum housing to act as a heat sink to dissepate heat. Now shove a 55w halogen bulb into a small plastic housing and it creates some major heat, just put your hand in front of the bulb when it is on and you cannot hold it there for long. I guess my mitsubishi was a good price and sometimes cheaper materials are used to achieve those prices. Don't let your mitsubishi dealer push you around because the same thing happened to me and I would not stand for it.

 

im buying a wheel set..any recommendations?

 

i am planning to change my foglamps as well..thanks for sharing infos.

 

Apology to dig out this old thread. I was just doing some research on any replacement fog lights and come across this thread. I had the same issue on one of the fog lights. It cracked and I thought it could have been a rock or something.. and yes, I have checked with the dealers and it cost like hundreds to have it replaced. Crazy!!!!

Have you guys come across any OEM replacement?

 

When we bought our XLS last year we did so knowing that the driver's fog light lens was cracked from a rock strike. I called Mitsubishi about a replacement and was told that breakage of that lens is very frequent, especially in Edmonton, where we live. "It's because it's located where it is", the person said. "If I were you I would not bother replacing it.". I suggested that Mit design a plastic shield to install in front of the lens and the rep agreed with this wholeheartedly.

I haven't replaced our lens yet, and I won't until I figure out some way to protect a new one. I think that a jury-rigged protector could be made out of an inverted, flat-bottomed clear plastic cup of some kind- one that could perhaps be taped to the rim of the lens housing.

Alternatively, something like a dome made out of stainless-steel wire mesh that has say 1/8" or 3/16" openings. The top of the dome would sit in front of the lens, say an inch or two in front of it. Again. tape the bottom rim of the dome to the lens housing using aluminum tape, or maybe even a SS hose clamp. Something like the following, slightly modified, might be the cat's meow, although there will be a slight loss of light on the road:

 

I got mine replaced under warranty.....The car was also 1 week old when it happened. I was pissed.

Now I'm just pissed about how easy mitsubishi paint chips

 

Mine did not break, but i ordered a pair of vinyl decals from headlightarmour.com to protect it. Comes in 4 different tints.

 

Had mine destroyed by a rock within 2k miles of new. I fished out the rock put a new bulb in and let it go.

On ebay and several other places around the web you can find a replacemnt set with LEDs for under $100. It seems its the same light for several Mitsubishi, Peugeot, and Citroen cars so there are more sources available.

36W high power led car running fog light with cover for PEUGEOT FOCUS FIESTA RENAULT MEGANE SUZUKI CITROEN MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER -in Lights & Indicators from Automobiles & Motorcycles on Aliexpress.com

 

Try Rock Auto.