Confirmed: Rattles in the driver side pillar for 2016 Discovery Sport

So guys, I dropped my DS off this morning for the repair. I had one of the techs accompany me on a ride to hear the second squeaking noise from the trunk area. So during the ride, he showed me the noise coming from the pillar and how to physically replicate it without driving. He pressed the area slightly above the pillar and more on the headliner area...to the right...if you press on it, it will make a popping noise. That's what they're going to address initially. And during the ride, I pointed out to him it actually makes this ticking sound like a metal needle tapping on a metal surface sound when I drive on a typical city road (not smooth). The other noise, aka squeaking from the trunk, he was also able to hear. He rulled out the cargo cover making the noise and he said he'll look into maybe lubing some rubber seals since it only squeaks when the vehicle was rolling over bumps/potholes.

Off topic...slightly, does everyone with a 2016 DS with no 5+2 seating or a tow package have an opening in the rear lower bumper? I brought that up to the service rep and sales person. They noticed it on other deliveries as well. It seems to be cut for those said packages above but I never ordered it with mine. Just seeing if any dealers addressed that out there. I'll try to keep y'all DS nuts posted on this. Happy Holidays, y'all!

UPDATE: So I picked up my DS last Wednesday. I was told that they basically they did the same repair for DS 2015's. They removed the roof interior liner trim. Removed the spot wields and re-wielded them all along the front half of the roof. The rattle/ticking has been gone. I could not reproduce it.

Now to the squeaking from the rear. They re-aligned the trunk lid and greased the seals around but after a day of driving the squeaking came back. And worse. So I spent a little bit of time to figure out where that was coming from. After poking around, I was able to reproduce that squeaking sound from the inner tail light housing and the black trim piece above the license plate. I showed it to my service adviser and she said she's going to talk to the tech to see if they will actually need to order some parts for replacement. I'll keep you guys posted when i found out more. The squeaking is pretty annoying too and loud.

the B pillar tick issue exists for all DS vehicles 2015-2017. TATA for some reason has not addressed this blunder, nor does TATA or JLR want to answer any questions about it.

JLR has a service bulletin to "fix" the B pillar tick noise, but i would not recommend anyone to ever allow a dealer service guy to use a chisel & hammer to open up body panels, nor would i allow them to drill out old welds and MIG weld it back together. doing either can compromise the integrity of the vehicle, which can negatively impact the safety of the vehicle.

the best thing i can recommend for anyone about to buy a new DS is to look for a $5-6k off of MSRP price. you will be gambling your $$ with this B pillar tick issue. a "tick..... tick tick.............. tick" while driving can be so annoying you'll want to ditch the DS for something else.

for those who allowed the dealer to use hammer & chisel and/or re-weld things, i would be concerned for your safety. your DS is not the extra vehicle sitting on the farm for the occasional trip to the far end of the farm and back!

jaytee0401 said:

UPDATE: So I picked up my DS last Wednesday. I was told that they basically they did the same repair for DS 2015's. They removed the roof interior liner trim. Removed the spot wields and re-wielded them all along the front half of the roof. The rattle/ticking has been gone. I could not reproduce it.

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are you saying the dealer performed the fix before you picked up your new DS, and they did this w/o consulting with you 1st? if so i would return that DS as a lemon and get a new one w/o the fix done, live with whatever B pillar tick you get. doing the fix as i explained above can compromise the safety of the vehicle.

DrJJC said:

Are you certain the fix compromises the safety of the vehicle? If so, could you tell me your source of reference.

I was told by JLR that there were no comprises to safety.

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you did mean compromise.

post a letter from JLR corp person and then i will believe that someone from JLR is BS'ing you.

what i do know is this. using a hammer & chisel to force open the spot welded seams of body panels is not a design item, nor is drilling or grinding out factory welds and then re-welding with a MIG, all done by various service depts, without any specifications on how to perform the work, just bang on chisel, clamp here and there then MIG here and there !!! all of this is not as designed.

i will also challenge that even a letter from JLR or TATA is worthless unless JLR can show proper safety testing using random DS's that have had this hack work done to them.

i myself have been welding TIG and MIG for years now, i am good at it, but any weldor will tell you, no two welds will be the same when done manually w/o the strict controls used with robotics.

bottom line is this, the service bulletin prescribes things that are outside the actual design, and being done manually by different people using different machines and different techniques. this in-and-of-itself should tell anyone that doing such takes the vehicle outside of the original design, and thus you have compromised the safety of the vehicle.

but then again, show us JLR corp letter along with the testing results, i will then retract my statements.