I own a 2015 Vogue with 51k on the clock. I was backing my car off the drive the other day when my front offside knuckle where it joins the top arm exploded with a bang (see photos).

I wonder if anyone else had experienced the same?

I am lucky as my previous journey was on a motorway which would have resulted in the complete collapse of the wheel assembly and cause an extremely serious accident.

I am fighting with JLR to pay for the replacement as the technical report carried out by my Warranty provider have stated it is corrosion of the joint. Corrosion isn't covered by my Premium policy hence my fight with JLR.

Surely a vehicle with this capability for rugged use should have such a fundamental flaw with these critical components.

Please let me know if you have experienced or heard of similar happenings.

Last edited by Brid91 on 24th Jun 2020 4:33pm. Edited 1 time in total

Here are the photos:

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Thanks Joe

Did you have any symptoms/clunking before the explosion? 2014 FF Autobiography 5.0 SC
2008 FFRR (sold)
2008 BMW M5

No nothing whatsoever. There was no clue at all. I think I am very lucky that it happened on the drive. The bang was loud enough for neighbours across the road to hear it whilst in their houses!

If it was me, I'd be getting an independent engineers report and then dealing through the media and if necessary, court. This looks to be a potentially lethal situation, maybe JLR should be recalling vehicles to inspect / repair to prevent serious injury.

I have done something similar with Ford and Renault in my past and in both cases ended up being paid out, Ford buckled before court Renault picked up the court fees as well.

It's sort of thing that really annoys me with JLR, they have a potentially world beating product let down badly by build quality issues and short cuts.

Good luck. BMW i3 Electric Car
2012 Full Fat RR 4.4 TDV8 (now gone)
2006 VW Touareg 3.0 TDi V6

Before commenting further I would like to see better photographs of both sides of the break. It is possible that an earlier crack allowed corrosion to weaken the part causing the eventual complete break.

Its probably worth fighting over, (get a second engineers report) as a new knuckle is about £900 retail. (does come complete with new wheel bearing and hub though).

Would you not agree that 5 years and 51,000 miles is early failure, a part like this should last a lot longer? BMW i3 Electric Car
2012 Full Fat RR 4.4 TDV8 (now gone)
2006 VW Touareg 3.0 TDi V6

That’s a bad fail. Not heard of it happening before though. So it would appear to be an uncommon occurrence..... There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
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I’d be more annoyed at the extended warranty provider who don’t seem to be receiving any flack for taking your money and then excluding this from cover.

Possibly think of contacting dvsa they may judge whether a recall is necessary for the early failure of a key component.. if nothing else suggestion of doing this may prompt a better response from JLR 2012 tdv8 Westminster arrived Jan 19 gone Dec 23

200 TDi discovery bobtail gone
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300 tdi Discovery 3 dr gone

It’s a Major failure, not just a ball joint going south.

I wonder if it could be down to galvanic corrosion between the aluminium knuckle and steel pin in the ball joint? There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

'Worm', 'Open', 'Can'.......Worms everywhere!

I would think JLR would not want this to go to the authorities and may make the appropriate recompense if appropriate pressure was brought to bear. BMW i3 Electric Car
2012 Full Fat RR 4.4 TDV8 (now gone)
2006 VW Touareg 3.0 TDi V6

Red Merle wrote:

I’d be more annoyed at the extended warranty provider who don’t seem to be receiving any flack for taking your money and then excluding this from cover.

That is a shocker. Presumably it is impossible to see this problem developing as the break was from the inside? (I assume no side impact on wheel or similar that could have cracked it)

As I wasn't 100% clear what component had failed I googled RR L405 front suspension and found a Youtube film titled "2013 Range Rover suspension highlights" featuring Mike Gallery, who was the chief design engineer. He is now retired, but still volunteers at the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust at Gaydon in Warwickshire (perhaps not during the lockdown though).

I wonder if you might be able to make contact with him in some way, one might hope he would take a professional interest in this and while his loyalty to JLR might prevent him taking sides in a dispute, he might be valuable in offering guidance on whether this might need further investigation on other vehicles or a recall.

Might there be mileage in taking matters up with LR Customer Relations too, including escalating within LR? One would have thought they ought to be taking something like this pretty seriously, given safety implications, might they offer a goodwill payment as the car is quite new? Dealer FSH is always helpful in goodwill requests.

Good luck and if possible please post how you get on. Only Range Rovers since 1988