For the last year or so, I’ve been taking photos of dozens of relatively new white cars with paint that has just flaked off in huge chunks — from seven different car manufacturers. Now, with recent news of Honda owners filing a class action lawsuit over peeling white paint, and a number of Hyundai owners complaining about the same problem, it’s time we talk about this, because it’s clearly an issue. I reached out to the biggest automotive paint supplier, PPG, as well as another paint engineer to get some answers.
The issue of white paint peeling was brought to my attention by my brother Ben, who bought a brand new 2017 Hyundai Elantra, only to have its white paint just…flake off, leaving what looked like bare e-coated metal (e-coat is an anticorrosive coating). I was a bit shocked when I saw this, as his car was only about five years old. Why the heck was his paint just…gone?
I looked into this a bit, and it turns out, it’s a rampant issue with Hyundais, with numerous people in the below Reddit thread complaining about paint flaking off for no reason.
Hyundai Issues A Warranty Extension For ‘Peeling’ White Cars
The problem was so bad that Hyundai was forced to issue a warranty extension for certain Elantra, Sonata and Santa Fe Sports, which “may exhibit peeling or bubbling of the white paint in various areas of the vehicle, most commonly on or around the hood, fender and roof.”
Indeed, I spotted a number of Hyundais with this issue; this 2016-ish Elantra was by far the worst — the whole dang car was peeling!:
Here’s another:
And here’s a newer, 2017-ish model I saw on the highway.
The thing is, it’s not just Hyundais with this problem. Look at the white paint peeling on the hood of this F-150:
Check out this older F-150:
Here’s another one:
And here’s a Ford Transit Connect:
Here’s an older Toyota Corolla with flaked-off paint:
And here’s a newer Corolla:
GM wasn’t spared, either. In fact, the worst example of the white-paint-flake phenomenon, I have found, is the Chevy Express van:
Old Silverados also had the problem:
Here’s a 1990s Chevy Prizm:
And hey, I even found a Chrysler product with flaking white paint:
Ditto with Nissan:
Owners Of White Hondas File Class-Action Lawsuit For Peeling Paint
Now let’s get to Honda, because that’s the news peg. It turns out, owners have filed a class action lawsuit on 2013+ Hondas with paint that allegedly flakes off; from The Drive:
A class-action suit was filed this month against American Honda Motor Company alleging defective paint was used in 2013 and newer model-year Honda and Acura vehicles. Filed with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the lawsuit alleges that some white paints are so poor that the finishes “inevitably fail, peel, delaminate (that is, the separate paint layers separate due to adhesion issues), bubble, and flake.” Indeed, there are examples all over the internet on places like the Ody Club owner forum and Reddit.
The cars covered are numerous, but all white:
• The Acura MDX in White Diamond Pearl paint (NH-603P);
• The Honda Odyssey in White Diamond Pearl paint (NH-603P) or Taffeta White paint (NH-578);
• The Honda Pilot in Taffeta White paint (Paint Code NH-578);
• The Honda Fit in White Orchid Pearl or Bellanova White paint (Paint Code NH-788P); and
• The Honda HR-V in White Orchid Pearl or Bellanova White paint (Paint Code NH-788P).1
I’ve found on the streets a number of Hondas with peeling paint. Check out the primer showing on thee back of this Honda Pilot:
Here’s an older Honda Odyssey:
And here, at the leading edge of this Honda Accord’s hood, you can see some flaked-off white paint:
Check out The Drive’s comments section, and you’ll see that the issue of peeling white paint isn’t exactly a new phenomenon:
You’ll see similar threads on Reddit:
And you’ll see some potential explanations from commenters:
Talking With Experts About The White Paint Issue
A little over a year ago I reached out to PPG, the world’s largest auto paint supplier, and was surprised when they told me they hadn’t heard about this issue.
“It is not, I would say, related to formulations most times,” Cleveland-based PPG Product Development supervisor Mallory Prylinski told me. “Our coatings are formulated to be very robust and meet or exceed industry specs…it has to last the lifetime of a car…we only use fully-approved pigments, and we have that longstanding knowledge from working with OEMs for any number of years…to enable us to reach robust formulas in all color spaces.” (Yes, this is very PR-speak-ish).
She continued, discussing delamination, as this flaking/peeling is often called. “Going back to that whole delamination piece, that is largely applying film build that is too low — not specific cases to us…but perhaps at the plant the film build was applied out of specification, is something that can happen with a white. If you apply it at the recommended film build, you shouldn’t see delamination.”
She defined film build as “The thickness of how much of each layer you apply…this is more or less an industry standard.” There’s a film for primer, and a film for base coat. The actual thickness depends on what’s called the “hiding power.” What that means, she said, is “‘How well does it cover black and white?'”. She went on, saying: “For each color space you’ll uniquely tailor your UV vis specification just to ensure that from space to space you’re hitting all those marks, so you know the capability of the entire stack.”
So, it seems like, per Prylinksi, the issue is unlikely the paint itself, but rather how it is applied. Pittsburgh-based Color Styling Manager Misty Yeomans agreed, saying: “I was surprised when your question came in. We haven’t had any of those questions pop up here.” Yeomans said she spoke with her European colleagues, as well, and hadn’t heard anything. “And we work with, I think it’s safe to say, every manufacturer.” Indeed, PPG is the biggest paint and e-coat/primer supplier out there. “If this was coating related, we would have heard about it,” she said.
She noted that white is the most common color, so that could be skewing the perception. “Looking at what’s produced every year..white has been the number one produced color…it’s in the 30 percent range of all colors produced globally are white.”
With that said, she noted, this is something that could be an issue with manufacturing. “Automotive coatings are super complex, and there’s a lot of layers to it…and there’s a ‘cross linking’ technology that happens….Coatings, primers, clear coats — You would really need to go back to the manufacturer to address any of the issues that you see.”
“There is consistent weatherability testing…we and our competitors all do consistent tenting; you’re actually putting a panel out in Florida… with the clear coat…[for] 5 years. Then we do an adhesion test after that, so that after being out for five years, there’s not a failure after five years.”
Prylinski jumped in: “Before any color is launched, you’ll run a gambit of testing to ensure that the coating stack itself is meeting the requirements of exposure to extreme temperature, general…adhesion testing… it will account for a lot of different things. We’re really going into it kind of very sure that the coating stack itself wouldn’t be responsible for any major snafu like that.”
“Each customer will issue the specific amount of time that they want their panels put on test for,” Prylinksi told me, saying PPG’s in-house test is even more rigorous. There’s also chip-resistance, and more. “It’s a mature industry because it’s been pretty well honed,” Yeomans noted. She also posed the question: “Has [the vehicle] been repaired?” It’s a fair question. “We haven’t received anything about this type of question, that’s what makes me think that maybe there are individual things that are happening.”
I respect PPG’s engineering expertise, of course. But without question, the flaking isn’t solely a result of a damaged vehicle being repainted. Like I said, my brothers’ Hyundai Elantra was brand new when he bought it, and he was never in a crash, certainly not one involving his roof, which delaminated. The Hyundai I spotted above had the delamination issue all over; surely a car that new wasn’t repainted from bumper to bumper.
I also agree that white cars are the most popular, but I’m just not seeing this type of delamination rate with cars of other colors. My eye-test isn’t scientific, of course, but we’ve seen a warranty extension on white cars from Hyundai, we’ve seen a class action lawsuit now from owners of white Hondas, and I just did a little search and found this from Toyota:
Toyota Offered To Repaint Over 1.7 Million White Cars
That’s a Customer Support Program, and it covers a staggering 1,738,940 vehicles. Yes, over 1.7 million cars! Toyota breaks down why it’s offering to repaint white cars for free, writing in that document on NHTSA:
Background
Toyota has received reports of paint peeling on certain vehicles with the original factory-applied Blizzard Pearl or Super White paint colors. These reports indicate that vehicles with these specific paint colors, applied during the vehicle manufacturing process, may experience paint peeling on exterior metal body panels. Although the original factory paint is covered by Toyota’s New Vehicle Limited Warranty for 3 years or 36,000 miles (whichever comes first), we at Toyota care about the customers’ ownership experience. Toyota is providing coverage for repairs related to the condition described above. The following information is provided to inform you and your staff of the program notification schedule and your degree of involvement.
This Customer Support Program provides coverage for involved vehicles with the original factory Blizzard
Pearl or Super White paint. The covered condition may occur when sunlight over time degrades the
adhesion between the factory-applied paint primer coat layer and the base metal electrodeposition layer
causing the paint to peel from the metal body panel. If the condition is verified, the specific panel affected
will be repainted.• The Primary Coverage will be offered until December 11, 2022, regardless of mileage.
• After the Primary Coverage, the Secondary Coverage is applicable for 10 years from the date of
first use, regardless of mileage.
Toyota is repainting the cars with the same color, so you’d think that the newly applied paint will stick better than the old stuff, as Toyota doesn’t want to have to repeatedly fix the same car. Whether the paint has been newly formulated or if Toyota is just adjusting its application methodology, I’m unsure. Toyota does note that this Customer Support Program only applies to metal parts:
Is the paint on plastic body panels covered by this Customer Support Program?
Factory-applied paint on plastic body panels (for example: a plastic bumper cover) is not covered. Only factory-applied Blizzard Pearl (Toyota paint code 070) and Super White (Toyota paint code 040) paint on the vehicle’s exterior metal body panels are covered by this program. Plastic body panels are not covered by this program because plastic body panels do not have a base metal electrodeposition layer and are; therefore, not affected.
I chatted with an engineer with years of paint experience for a major OEM, and we chatted about what might be causing all this. The engineer told me he’s unsure, but he had some ideas. He told me that, with a shiny, nice paint coat, most light is reflecting back. Some visible light and UV can get through, though you want to avoid that. Clear coat has special additives to do just this because UV is high-energy and tends to tear stuff apart — visible light can also cause issues. If this radiation gets through the paint, it’s the stuff under the paint (at the bottom of the “stack”) that could be a problem.
He mentioned GM’s issue in the 1980s and 90s. “If you’ve ever seen a minivan from the late ‘80s/early 90s with the paint sheeted off and replaced by rust (or just exposing gray coating) then you’ve seen the first attempt to [make a UV-resistant e-coat layer that allows one to forego primer]: PPG Uniprime. It was supposed to combine the e-coat and primer, but the design of the material neglected to include UV resistance.”
The issue, there, is that UV went all the way down to the e-coat, which isn’t UV-durable. There weren’t enough layers to keep UV out, so maybe this could be the issue with white painted Toyotas, Hondas, and Hyundais? Could it be exacertbated by not putting enough paint on? Could it be something in the formulation that isn’t doing everything it can to keep radiation out? Who knows. Maybe there’s a primer or E-Coat issue.
It’s not 100 percent clear at the moment, beyond that something appears to, for reasons I don’t quite know, be breaking down the adhesive properties of the paint stack above the e-coated body. What is clear is that there’s a paint issue that white cars are facing that non-white cars are not. And it’s been happening for years.
White GMT900 (2013) Silverado at work is loosing paint in chunks; seems to have accelerated this year.
Totally anecdotal, but it seems like this problem is far more prevalent on vehicles in climates with extreme UV and heat exposure – like Arizona and California. It was a rare occurrence to see such failures in the NE.
For sure – I snowbird between Florida and Maine, and while you see this all the time in SW Florida, it is much, much rarer in Maine. Other than the GM cars from the 80s and 90s where nearly all the colors did this, like Berettas and Corsicas. I think they did a recall.
Ha. I unwittingly parked my white van in the driveway while the house got painted. So now I have nice little flecks of blue to hold down the white paint. My van cannot be defeated!
I had that happen on a Volvo 30 years ago when I drove over a bridge that was being painted. It did, in fact, “buff right out”. 😉
Oh great, I have a white 2022 Hyundai that just rolled over 100,000 miles, no peels yet, but I’ve been down this road before. 2008 Lincoln Town Car lost most of the paint on the hood in one big sheet, also had a white 2017 Ford Escape as a company car at one point that had the paint peel off part of the tailgate
That said, I also had a 2019 Escape company car that was blue and that had the paint peel off the driver side A pillar, and also once owned a 2013 Mustang in black that had paint blister off on the bottom edge of the trunk lid and the leading edge of the hood, so, maybe it isn’t color specific. And, also, Ford might need to do something, too
A ’22 with 100k miles??? I’m surprised the paint is even on the list of maintenance items for that poor car.
It is what it is, traveling sales
I notice that Toyota isnt recalling any trucks for peeling paint, is this because no one complained or they don’t have the issue?
Different paint?
Does this mean that white’s also the heaviest color?
It is added value, patina if you like.
It breaks up the starkness of white paint.
A definite plus like Murphy Lab for Gibson guitars.
My girl friend who later became my wife had a Plymouth Reliant K-Car in maroon with exposed surface rust where the clear coat had failed. It really made the car stand out in a parking lot. In a world filled with white, silver and black cars that can be quite a benefit. Perhaps there really is a “value add” there, it just needs monetizing positively.
Solution: buy a car in an actual color 🙂
But for real thanks for pointing this out! The Crown Vic is suffering from this, but only in a few small spots.
I knew someone who had a Toyota Iq, the dealer was of no help at all. The paint was peeling off the car all over. She eventually learned to hate the local Toyota dealer. I know Toyota is considered to be a quality car, but they, Toyota and the local dealer really did nothing for a customer who bought the car new. Think what you want about any manufacturer, but none of them will fix anything if they can figure out a way not to.
David first Pittsburgh as in PPG is spelled ending in an H. Second when a so called expert, was this a paint professional or a PR Whore, uses 20 multiple syllable words in a statement yeah they are trying to word smart you. You don’t want to seem ignorant so you allow them to blitzkrieg you. That sounds like what PPG is doing. Is it one brand? Where are they getting their paint? What car brands are having the issue? Needs research not talking to a PR Flak.
Nice catch on the “h.”
Yep, plenty of PR speak, but the ticket is to be skeptical of what they say, and to get an outside opinion from an expert unrelated to them. (which is what I did).
Did I miss where you mentioned Jeeps?
There is no way the paint experts are telling the whole truth. I don’t believe for a second that they haven’t heard of the issue, or that it is new to them. They don’t want their companies to be liable for the issues.
Bingo.
Your prize: Your prescription is now approved by your health insurer!
(insert “I’m In Danger” meme here)
My Oxford White Ford is a ’22, so hopefully any issues have been remedied so my car won’t suddenly start shedding its skin in the future. Fingers and toes crossed.
Park it in the garage, and it’s less likely to happen.
My ’20 Oxford White Ford has an extra splattering of blue to hold the white down. I can’t help you in terms of paint longevity, but more color never hurts.
One thing a chemical engineer told me many years ago is that white paint is the hardest to work with. Not because it’s almost impossible to keep it white or because white is the most likely colour to showcase uneven coatings. It’s because white gets the most punishing UV effect out of all colours. Most colours simply deflect the worst of the UV spectrum on either side, either deep ultraviolet or ultra red, and thus they last a lot longer. They are absorbing the weakest wavelengths with the lower energy and thus their surface isn’t under as much bombardment. White paint though? Not only does it deflect all of the human-visible spectrum, but it also deflects deep ultraviolet — the most energy dense wavelength of light. Anything with white deflection (not emission) either discolours or becomes brittle because it can’t indefinitely handle that amount of energy.
This is why a majority of organic life on Earth is some shade of either red or green.
Totally irrelevant. It just started happening. It isn’t a paint issue, it isn’t a white problem, it is a manufacturer of paint problem or applying of paint problem.
It’s not irrelevant. This has been an issue since the early 1980s when they switched over how paint is applied and stopped using lacquers. The article itself shows vans and cars from the ’90s suffering from this issue. I remember cars in the ’90s, especially Chrysler products like the Caravan and LH cars that were just a few years old, where the white paint would just chip off the roof or trunk. In recent years as thinner coats have been applied and different clearcoat formulations have been switched to the problem has increased once again, but it’s been a persistent issue since, as said, the early 1980s. It just comes down to the fact that white paint can’t be applied the same way as other colours because it goes through more physical stress.
At least half the photos in the article are at least 20 years old.
I dunno. Titanium dioxide and zinc oxide are very common in white paint because both make for excellent white pigment and unlike other pigments they scatter (deflects?) visible and ultraviolet wavelengths including most of the UV rather than absorbing it.
That’s why they are so effective in sunblock. Even as an ultra thin coating spread out enough over your skin such that the white vanishes they are still highly effective at blocking ultraviolet to protect your skin underneath. And because they are a mineral base they do not break down unlike the organic molecules in sunscreen such as avobenzone. So if anything white pigment using these minerals should be much more resistant to UV damage than ones based on organic compounds.
FWIW those organic compounds active in sunscreen work by absorbing the ultraviolet light to form free radicals which attack and form covalent bonds with nearby hydrocarbons. Sounds awful I know but it works and AFAIK is much healthier than no sunscreen at all.
The difference between sunscreen or waxes is they aren’t meant to be applied once for a lifetime. The fact that they break down under exposure to light is how they protect whatever’s underneath them. They take the energy that would otherwise penetrate the object below them and sacrifice themselves to prevent damage. Titanium dioxide especially begins to transition after just a short while under heat or UV light and in contact with other metals thanks to the oxygen content. Meaning any scratch or chip to the clearcoat starts the interaction and degradation right away. Zinc oxide I’m not sure of the interaction with however.
Transition into what exactly?
It transitions to different crystalline structures. Much like iron it has several different forms it can take. Unfortunately for automotive paint, that means no longer being in the crystalline structure needed.
Never underestimate the ability of management to cut costs to earn a bonus.
I have no proof that is at play here, but my cynical side says it’s everywhere. In the before clear coat era, UV inhibitors were mixed into the color coat, and a buffing would relatively easily bring back -like new- luster. It is a much more problematic fix when a clear coat(that has the bulk of the UV inhibitors) fails, and the underlying color fades. I suspect-no proof-that more reflective colors are accelerating clear coat degradation, then allowing UV penetration.
There’s a helicopter manufacturer based in southern California that had to switch to low-VOC paint for its rotor blades. After this switch, numerous helicopter operators reported similar issues with the paint essentially delaminating and peeling off in large sections from the rotor blades.
Despite what Prylinksi says, I can’t help but wonder if that’s related.
The lead-based paint on my asbestos siding sure holds up nice 60 years after it was applied.
You can taste and smell the quality put into things back then.
Damn, my Toyota is too old! It started looking like this after 17 years or so. Always parked in the driveway.
And our 1997 Avalon started looking like this after 15 years or so, before we sold it. It was the “diamond” white and was garaged when not in use.
Again, one has to wonder, how often should cars be waxed/detailed/etc. to prevent this? Or, should they simply be repainted or wrapped every five years?
I’m willing to pay more for a better factory paint job, but this is usually not an option.
So, the solution seems to be an all-plastic exterior?
But cheap cars with cheap build have lasted beautiful long before now
My 2011 Ford Ranger has this problem. Paint flakes off like a bad sunburn. It lives its life outside in Florida so I don’t know if I have an argument or not. Plus, the paint is Silver, not white.
2016 Sonata Sport 2.0t, and yep, it’s happening to mine.
They are trying to get a class action suit certified here in Canada.
https://lambertavocats.ca/en/hyundai-class-action/
Mine isn’t bad yet, but it isn’t good. I want to get the hood done, but I don’t want to pay for it. I have had paint stay better on rust.
So much for white privilege.
There does not seem to be a pattern between steel and aluminum in the pictures above, with both being impacted. However, there does seem to be a pattern of it emerging from where the front or rear windows are glued in.
Speaking of aluminum, we had our rain gutters replaced a few years ago – generally they look great, but one junction piece (for an inside corner) has completely peeled. It looks bad on cars, but it also annoys the heck out of me when I drive up to the house and see all of the perfectly white rain gutters and downs spouts with this one gray (primer colored) piece.
I wonder if it’s the same issue.
So what’s stopping you from putting a lick of paint on it yourself?
Not having the ladder, the can of spray paint and a large enough piece of cardboard (for the over spray) handy when I pull into the driveway, plus a dog that needs to take care of business as soon as we open the door. And laziness. Definitely some laziness. But mostly I guess I’m just easily distracted.
An honest answer 🙂
Actual contribution: this is happening to my 2014 F-150. It’s not babied, but neither is it abused such that the paint should be coming off. It is, though, and I’m pissed. After 21 years on this earth the Z4 is only missing paint where something took it off suddenly, and even then sometimes just a speck of clear coat.
Alternate headline: The Kids Are NOT All White
Really? lol.
You’d think after 100 years of manufacturing cars, making the paint stick would not be an issue….
I mean, there’s an easy fix, which is adding lead to it. Then adhesion would be no problem.
I think this is mostly an “aesthetic” problem (which needs addressing nonetheless) but not necessarily a practical one. It ain’t early-onset rust.
Titanium White and Zinc White work too – The former being a stronger tint.
And while losing paint isn’t rust – the purpose of paint is primarily to prevent rust.
Otherwise we’d all be driving around in polished (or clouded) steel cars.
those are pigments. Lead allows for flexibility. Also makes it sweet. That’s why kids used to eat paint chips.
I drive a Nissan NV2500 for work. The company decals were peeling off the van so I picked it a bit and it took the clear coat right off. The vehicle was re-decaled and the decal company had to put a white wrap on the sides of the van to hide the peeling paint and be able to apply the new decals. I just thought it was crazy how easily the paint peeled right off. Like it was barely adhered to the vehicle.
It is deeply unfortunate that the Germans seem to excel at whiteness
I know nothing, I see nothing!
It seems no european cars are mentioned in the article, and by ‘european’ I mean they’re also mostly US-made but by EU OEMs.
MB did have an issue w/ Mars Red cars for a time – but mainly due to peeling clearcoat, not outright paint failure.
Older Mercedes-Benz actually had such thick paint applications that darker colors would craze when left out in the heat of the sun for longer periods of time.
I didn’t really need another reason not to buy a white car, but I guess I’ll take it.