Passenger airbag door discoloration

[goatee]

Does anyone else have this problem? My edge, with a build date of 02/08 has the camel interior color. I happened to notice the other day how much lighter the passenger airbag door on the dash is from the rest of the interior. It almost looks like it has been bleached or discolored from the sun. Since this part is detatched from the rest of the dash I was wondering if it was from a different manufacturer or if it just can't stand up to the sun & I don't live in the south (Im from Ohio). It's bad enough that the dash is all cheap looking hard plastic, but now with this obvious change in the color it makes it that much more noticeable. Any others with the same problem or experience? Thanks...

[Gary F]

You will see slight color variations due to manufacturing assembly locations being different, A good example of this is bumpers and sheet metal components. You have plastic and metal parts painted in different locations and when bolted together, you see a color variance. This is all too common across all car lines regardless of price point range.

 

Now on to your issue - The air bag door and the dash carrier are made of different materials and painted similar to the bumper example above. You will need to verify that the color variance is outside of an acceptable range to have it addressed by the dealership service dept.

 

They will either replace the airbag assy or attempt to repaint the dash carrier to get a correct color match. Air bag doors can not be painted or died to match. Some salvage vehicle rebuilders will do this, but it is not recommended by the manufacturer.

 

You may want to compare your vehicle to others on the dealership lot to validate and/or demonstrate the concern you have.

 

Good luck.

[tpm419419]

I was just going to write about this also. I have the exact same thing happening. I am driving a 2007 Edge and the pass. dash airbag cover is very discolored, like a brownish tint when it should be black. Will notify the dealer next time I go in for service.

Getting worse with time

Edited December 26, 2008 by tpm419419

[Lex Talionis]

I, also, was going to write about this sometime back.. and just blew it off.

 

but yes, in my black interior, that door is like a light black verging on dark gray.