Someone shot my tailights? Someone tell me I'm going crazy

[cdubbed]

Here's the story. I noticed some small circular depressions on the tail lights of my Accord the other day. They're maybe 1/8" in diameter and feel like a little crater in the plastic when I run my fingers over them, almost like someone started to drill some holes through it. There are multiple on each light housing/assembly, my initial impression was that someone had shot it with a BB gun. I found the same thing on the tail lights of 3 of the 4 cars in my driveway, an Accord, Focus, and my Maverick. I also found them on the Mavericks 3rd brake light. I googled it and couldn't find anything on it. All of the "damage" is on the rear light housings, I found none on the head lights. All of my cars were parked front-in, rear ends towards the street. Upon further investigation they appear to be symmetrical, in roughly the same spot on each side of the vehicles.

The question: Is this some sort of normal product of the manufacturing process, does anyone else have this on their mavs, or have I been vandalized with extreme accuracy?

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[Hot Runr Guy]

Those are part of the injection molding process, probably "vent pins" that allow air to escape while the molten plastic is entering the mold. Nothing to worry about.

HRG

 

[Dr.Me]

"Vandalized with extreme accuracy" HAD ME DYING

But exactly what HRG said. Also, Instead of resembling pits/pores sometimes they resemble a mountain/pimple.

 

[matmondro]

Yup, what HRG said! Kind of like the plastic flash on car model kits.

 

[Larrythelunatic]

If it’s a BB gun (or any kind of “gun” for that matter, but especially a BB gun), that’s pretty good shooting.
Were there any similar divots on the painted surfaces?

 

[Vettereddie]

Can confirm I have these on my Maverick tails and it's always annoying when cleaning the rear lenses.

 

[Toddman45]

Nope, mine have the same little knobs from the manufacturing process as Terry mentioned!

 

[Gray Goose]

FWIW, BB gun hits generally have stress cracks that radiate from the point of impact. Similar to a windshield rock chip. My daughter was parked in a remote college campus lot and her 20 year old Pontiac took several hits.

 

[Blue_Max]

I never cease to be amazed at the "flaws" people find with Ford products.

 

[ripperAZ]

Most of the things you worry about never happened anyway….

-Tom Petty

Dude, those are completely normal imperfections due to plastic molding. You need to find a big fat Indica joint and relax.

 

[OB1e]

3 accurately placed shots from a BB gun all on the same plane and a bullseye right in the red? That is one magic loogie.

 

[OWP]

My Dodge Challenger had the same thing in its taillights. So not just Ford, may be the current industry standard in how lenses are molded.

 

[Hot Runr Guy]

It is caused when the gate closes to prevent more plastic injecting into the mold. Without a valve gate on the mold there would be a sprue ( runner) that would require removing and look awful. It is impossible to get a perfectly smooth gate area in the mold. These are pretty good gate marks and small.

Good lord, I've been retired 2 years and have already forgot what a VG gate mark looks like,,,,,

Thanks bud! HRG

 

[pigsareus]

Here's the story. I noticed some small circular depressions on the tail lights of my Accord the other day. They're maybe 1/8" in diameter and feel like a little crater in the plastic when I run my fingers over them, almost like someone started to drill some holes through it. There are multiple on each light housing/assembly, my initial impression was that someone had shot it with a BB gun. I found the same thing on the tail lights of 3 of the 4 cars in my driveway, an Accord, Focus, and my Maverick. I also found them on the Mavericks 3rd brake light. I googled it and couldn't find anything on it. All of the "damage" is on the rear light housings, I found none on the head lights. All of my cars were parked front-in, rear ends towards the street. Upon further investigation they appear to be symmetrical, in roughly the same spot on each side of the vehicles.

The question: Is this some sort of normal product of the manufacturing process, does anyone else have this on their mavs, or have I been vandalized with extreme accuracy?

If you suspect BBs, with that amount of damage across multiple cars, you should be able to locate at least a couple BBs on the driveway.

 

[NJBob]

It's from the knock out pins inside the mold. That's what pushes the part out. There are vent pins too. But usually they are just vents along the parting line.

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