2022 formentor ruins my life

[Andreimalek]

Hello i bought a formentor 2022 1.5 petrol engine,a year ago brand new, drive only in the city like 15 km a day, through this year i had rock hitting my front AC condnser killing it about 1 month after driving the car cost me 1k usd to repair because not included damage in warranty.
2 months ago front sensors stopped working, been to the official dealer today, again a rock hit the sensor and killed it, like what the hell, the front bumper is not protecting **** with the big holes it has, anyone can give me advice? what to do i afraid to drive the car.
i think this front bumper as seen in pics is engineering flaw, by the way cupra changed it already, but i suffer from it alot.

 

[SRGTD]

With such large gaps in the Formentor’s grille, I’m surprised there aren’t more posts like yours on the forum.

Those large grille gaps provide very little - if any - protection, and will allow quite large projectile objects (stones and other road debris) through, and the a/c condenser is quite exposed and vulnerable to projectile impact damage. As you’ve said, such damage to the a/c condenser isn’t covered under warranty as the cause of the damage is by an external influence.

Cupra isn’t the only manufacturer within VAG to have similarly poorly designed front grilles; the grilles on a number of VW models also have large holes or slots (e.g. current model Golf GTI, Golf R and Polo GTI; there are probably other models too)..

As for what you might be able to do to reduce the risk of the same thing happening again - it might be worth investigating whether it would be possible to fit some close-mesh stainless steel sheeting behind the existing lower grille. If it is, then I dare say it would be necessary to remove the bumper to fit it, and finding suitable fixing points may be an issue. Stainless steel shouldn’t corrode and if it’s painted black after cutting to size before fitting, it wouldn‘t be easily seen and being mesh, it wouldn’t restrict airflow but should stop a/c condenser damage from stones and other road debris. I don’t know if it would be possible, but as I’ve said, it might be worth investigating.

 

[Andreimalek]

With such large gaps in the Formentor’s grille, I’m surprised there aren’t more posts like yours on the forum.

Those large grille gaps provide very little - if any - protection, and will allow quite large projectile objects (stones and other road debris) through, and the a/c condenser is quite exposed and vulnerable to projectile impact damage. As you’ve said, such damage to the a/c condenser isn’t covered under warranty as the cause of the damage is by an external influence.

Cupra isn’t the only manufacturer within VAG to have similarly poorly designed front grilles; the grilles on a number of VW models also have large holes or slots (e.g. current model Golf GTI, Golf R and Polo GTI; there are probably other models too)..

As for what you might be able to do to reduce the risk of the same thing happening again - it might be worth investigating whether it would be possible to fit some close-mesh stainless steel sheeting behind the existing lower grille. If it is, then I dare say it would be necessary to remove the bumper to fit it, and finding suitable fixing points may be an issue. Stainless steel shouldn’t corrode and if it’s painted black after cutting to size before fitting, it wouldn‘t be easily seen and being mesh, it wouldn’t restrict airflow but should stop a/c condenser damage from stones and other road debris. I don’t know if it would be possible, but as I’ve said, it might be worth investigating.

Yea thats what iam saying, i hope they will recall it or something

 

[CupForm]

I noticed over the past few days that I have quite a number of leaves collected behind that grille.
And I have an underground parking for the night + (almost) leaves-free parking during the day at work...
So those are mainly collected while driving...

I dare not think about stones...