Total Complaints
3 filings
MCLAREN MP4-12C SPIDER · model year
3 NHTSA complaints, and 1 active recall for this specific cohort.
NHTSA overall rating
Not crash-tested
New Car Assessment Program
The 2014MCLARENMP4-12C SPIDER carries 3 consumer safety complaints in NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation database for this specific model-year cohort. Within that volume, owners reported 0 crashes, 0 fires, 0 injuries, and 0 fatalities. No NCAP 5-star crash-test rating is available for this model year in the federal database.
Component-level analysis is where model-year complaints become actionable: the top complaint category for the 2014 MP4-12C SPIDER is exterior lighting with 3 filings. Concentration in one or two component groups is the classic signature of a systemic defect; a flat distribution usually reflects normal aging, warranty complaints, or isolated build-plant variability. This model year has 1 active recall campaign, which means the manufacturer is obligated to remedy the covered defect at no charge for the life of the vehicle — the full NHTSA campaign numbers are listed below.
No open NHTSA investigation overlaps the 2014 MP4-12C SPIDER in the current dataset. Owners comparing this cohort against neighboring years should pair the counters above with the complaint-by-year trend on the parent model page — a spike in a single year often tracks to a platform refresh, a new transmission supplier, or an updated ECU calibration. Use the related-complaint feed below to read raw owner narratives before deciding whether any pattern here affects your specific use case.
Total Complaints
3 filings
Crashes Reported
0 reports
Source
NHTSA ODI
Federal complaints database
At or below the fleet median complaint volume.
| Component | Count |
|---|---|
| EXTERIOR LIGHTING | 3 |
VISIBILITY:WINDSHIELD WIPER/WASHER:MOTOR
McLaren Automotive, Inc. (McLaren) is recalling certain model year 2012-2014 MP4 12-C Spider and Coupe vehicles manufactured October 10, 2011, through October 23, 2013 and originally sold in, or currently registered in, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Due to a combinat
THE HEADLIGHT LENSES ON BOTH SIDES ARE GROWING A MOLD AND FOGGING. THE FOGGING IS GRADUALLY WORSENING, AND, AT SOME POINT, WILL COMPROMISE THE LIGHT EMITTED AND RESULT IN GLARE. IT IS A WELL-KNOWN ISSUE IN THESE CARS, AND SHOULD BE ADDRESSED UNDER WARRANTY, BUT MCLAREN REFUSES TO REPLACE THE LENSES FOR ANYONE WHO HAS TRIED TO GET THIS DONE BY THEIR DEALERS, MYSELF INCLUDED. IT IS CLEAR THAT THIS IS IN VIOLATION OF YOUR REGULATIONS S5.1.2 (B) AND (C): HTTPS://WWW.GPO.GOV/FDSYS/PKG/CFR-2004-TITLE49-VOL5/XML/CFR-2004-TITLE49-VOL5-SEC571-108.XML IT IS ESTIMATED THAT, OF THE 3400 MP4-12C CARS IN THE US ALONE, ABOUT 40% OF THEM HAVE THE PROBLEM. I CAN NOT VOUCH FOR THIS NUMBER, BUT ON A MCLAREN FORUM, THIS PROBLEM HAS BEEN NOTED BY MANY OWNERS AND THEIR DEALERSHIPS WERE UNABLE TO GET MCLAREN TO AUTHORIZE REPLACEMENT OR REPAIR. IT IS ALSO NOTED THAT KOENIGSEGG CARS HAD A SIMILAR PROBLEM, AND THAT NHTSA DID TAKE ACTION. PHOTOS ARE ATTACHED, BUT IT IS DIFFICULT TO SHOW HOW BAD IT REALLY IS WITH
ORIGINAL HEADLIGHTS DEVELOPED OPAQUE SPOTTING ON THE INTERIOR OF THE CLEAR HOUSING, WHICH IF LEFT UNCHECKED WOULD HAVE COMPROMISED THE LIGHT OUTPUT AND NIGHTTIME VISIBILITY. BOTH HEADLIGHTS WERE EVENTUALLY REPLACED UNDER WARRANTY. ONE OF THE REPLACEMENT HEADLIGHTS HAD A DEFECT IN THE OUTER LAMINATION WHICH WAS PEALING AS SOON AS IT WAS INSTALLED. BOTH INTERIOR SPOTTING/ MOLD FORMATION AND EXTERIOR DELAMINATION IS A KNOWN COMMON PROBLEM WITH MCLAREN 12C HEADLIGHTS. REPLACMENT HEADLIGHTS ARE NOT IMPROVED FROM THE ORIGINALS AND ARE PRONE TO EVENTUALLY DEVELOP SPOTTING AND OR DELAMINATION. RECENTLY MCLAREN HAS BEEN REFUSING TO REPLACE HEADLIGHTS EVEN UNDER EXTENDED WARRANTY, WHICH CAN LEAD TO A SAFETY HAZARD DUE TO COMPROMISED LIGHT OUTPUT.
Mileage: 11,000
THE INTERIOR OF THE HEADLIGHT ASSEMBLY ON BOTH DRIVER AND PASSENGER SIDES IS BEING OVERTAKEN WITH MOLD AND THE EXTERIOR IS PEELING/DEGRADING. THIS IS A COMMON ISSUE AFFECTING THIS MODEL THAT USED TO BE COVERED UNDER WARRANTY BUT HAS NOT BEEN COVERED IN THE LAST YEAR OR TWO. THE MOLD AND EXTERIOR PEELING ARE GETTING THE THE POINT OF ENCROACHING UPON THE LIGHT BEAM ITSELF AND IF THE RATE OF MOLD GROWTH CONTINUES, WILL CERTAINLY GET TO THE POINT OF TOTAL BLOCKAGE.
Mileage: 6,000
Data as of 2025. Sources: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) complaints database, NHTSA recall campaign API, NHTSA NCAP crash-test ratings, and NHTSA FARS for fatality cross-reference.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.