I noticed the other day when I was messing around in my garage that my tailight on the driver's side is deformed or slowly deforming ('07). Instead of being flat over the bulb the plastic is wavy. It's like the bulb got hot and deformed the red plastic some. You can run your hand over the light and feel it. It also shows when sunlight hits it. Has anyone else experienced this? Is this something the dealer should fix?

 

That's the first time I've ever heard of something like that. The hot bulb sounds like a good guess though.

I'd have the dealer replace the housing AND inspect the bulb/connections to see if everything is ok there.

 

I've seen this happen on motorcycles when people jam the bulb in backwards. Is the melty tail light a lot brighter than the others? Those dual filament bulbs have locating pins on the sides that are supposed to only let you put them in one way but if you really try, it'll just spread the socket wider and go in the wrong way. This makes it so that brighter, hotter filament that would normally come on when you hit the brake pedal is on all the time and it melts the plastic.

 

That's what I don't understand. The bulb is working the correct way. I could see this happening if the second filament was staying on and causing a lot of extra heat...but that isn't the case. Maybe the light was like that from the factory and I just never noticed it before.

 

Could have been. I'd suspect that at some point the bulb was installed wrong.

Assuming you've never messed with the bulb, I'd start hassling the dealer. Hopefully they'll be cool with you and help you out since the car is so new and I assume still under warranty. If they decide to try and blame it on you, the road might be a little bumpier but I would think after some, er, polite discourse with the right people you should be able to get it fixed.

I know I'd be a bit peeved about it.

 

Is your car ever parked near a heater or something that could be producing significat heat? I am not sure where you are located, but it was at least 40°C in Chicago this summer and I have not noticed any mold stress distortion on any polymeric parts of my '04.

 

we had that happen to a nissan we owned. The tech at the dealer noticed it when we had the vehicle there for service. They replaced it-no problem-under warranty. Since the car is under warranty show it to the service department and if they are good they will fix it-without you having to hazzle them.

 

The car stays in a garage at home which isn't heated or close to anything hot. I haven't tampered with the car in any way. I have about 30 percent left on my oil change and when I take it in I will address this issue. I have a feeling the dealer will tell me to stick it. We'll see.