2012 Mclaren MP4-12C

Routine

Owners filed 3 complaints about this vehicle with federal regulators, most often about the equipment › electrical › infotainment. No safety recall has been issued.

What fails
ComponentReportsCrashesFiresInjuries
Visibility/Wiper1
000
Exterior Lighting1
000
Equipment › Electrical › Infotainment1
000

What owners reported

Newest filings
Visibility/Wiper
Filed Aug 15, 20258,000 milesFL

The contact owns a 2012 McLaren MP4-12C. The contact stated that while driving during rainy weather, the front windshield wipers intermittently failed to operate as needed. An unknown windshield wiper error message was displayed on the instrument panel. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 13V541000 (Visibility); however, the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 8,000.

Equipment › Electrical › Infotainment
Filed Jan 28, 2022GA

This is the cars main navigation, radio, and other configuration critical to the cars operability and safety. McLaren calls this the IRIS system, and they issued an upgrade after the first one had many documented problems throughout the world, with the IRIS II system. They replaced them while the cars were under warranty, but once the warranty expires on your car, you have to pay upwards of $10,000 to replace what is essentially a radio touch screen. There is a high documented failure rate of the IRIS systems in following McLaren Models. The MP4-12C, the 650S, the 675LT. The part is made by Parrot in China, and they only sell the replacement screens to McLaren, creating a very expensive repair option. McLaren refuses to acknowledge a major problem. Problem: The IRIS screen which is a touch screen (resistive touch) fails to recognize your inputs. This happens typically on the right side of the screen, making it virtually impossible to use the Navigation when entering an address with the keyboard, or radio stations, or changing configuration settings. McLaren quickly replaced the IRIS I system with the IRIS II system and offered McLaren MP4-12C owners the option to upgrade from IRIS I to IRIS II. Those screens also have the same problem and stop working. A new replacement system out of warranty can cost up to $14,000. Because of the orientation of the screen, which is set in the center stack vertically, there is no aftermarket option to replace the faulty OEM unit. Your only op

Exterior Lighting
Filed Jan 28, 2022GA

The main headlights on the McLaren MP4-12C are susceptible to condensation, and mold that cannot be cleared as it is internal. This is caused by a faulty seal, or glue, holding the top clear glass, to the plastic molding which allows condensation to happen, causing the mold. Almost all McLaren MP4-12C's have the moldy headlights, reducing visibility and creating a hazard for the driver, as well as incoming traffic, as the light pattern is no longer uniform making it hard to see at night. The only solution is to replace the headlights with new ones costing more than $4,000.

3 of 3 complaints, reproduced as filed.

Across model years

Worst on record: 2012
YearComplaintsRecallsFiresDeathsAssessment
20141000Routine
20132100Routine
2012 — this page3000Routine

Compare every MP4-12C year →

Reading this record

No unusual pattern of severe incidents in the complaint record.

Complaint counts track how many cars were sold and how long they have been on the road as much as they track quality. A common model from 2013 has had a decade to accumulate reports; a rare one from last year has not. The signal worth weighing is in the severity columns, in whether the same component keeps appearing, and in whether the manufacturer eventually opened a recall for it.

Most recent recall on file: none. Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.