NHTSA Complaint #11512296 — 2020 CHEVROLET BOLT EV

I live in New England and when we get close to the end of winter when it still snows and the roads begin to thaw some, they typically become pothole utopia. I was driving my car at night with the highbeams on when I hit a fairly decent sized pothole (1/4 wheel sized, 6-12inches deep) at a speed of 35-40mph. The impact was typical of a pothole of that magnitude (complete compression of front strut, little hop) and it knocked out the front highbeams on the side of the impact. The highbeams on the car are a bi-xenon HID projector system, which has a mechanically actuated shutter in the projector housing contained within the headlamp assembly. The mechanically actuated shutter is controlled by a spring loaded rotating bearing system with an ovoid control end which connects to a rotating L-shaped peice of metal via a hole in the ovoid connector. The force of the impact caused the solenoids metal peice to come out of the shutter control end, preventing the actuating solenoid from actuating the shutter. I believe this is a very poor design, as it's clearly not rated to take routine impacts. This issue caused my vehicle to fail a state saftey inspection and the reccomened repair was a total replacement of the headlamp assembly to the tune of $1,100 + labor because the headlamp shipped sealed. Nothing is in place in the assembly to keep the solenoid pin attached to the shutter control arm. I ended up being able to repair the projector assembly myself, using a tar/ gum like substance in the hole on the ovoid control arm hole to hold the solenoid arm in place.