The glass in the instrument cluster of 1,305 Rolls-Royce Ghosts could shatter in an accident, leading the automaker to launch a recall campaign. The issue relates to the type of glass used in the cluster, which the automaker has known about since 2020.
Rolls-Royce first learned of this issue on May 26, 2020, following a high-speed crash test that was conducted internally. The cluster, made from a single layer of tempered glass, broke in the side impact test, and an engineering review was launched.
In videos from the crash, glass particles were seen in the cabin. However, in its review of regulatory requirements, Rolls-Royce found that the glass was still legal, and concluded that there was a very low risk of injury for vehicle occupants, so it did not launch a recall at the time.
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However, in April 2022, the automaker decided to make a change to how it produced the Ghost. That involved replacing the single-layer tempered glass over the instrument cluster with double-layer laminated glass — a change that came into effect in December 2022.
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That prompted Rolls-Royce to reevaluate its prior analysis and, out of “an abundance of caution,” it decided to launch a recall on the 2021-2023 model year Ghosts built between February 17, 2020, and December 8, 2022, in order to further reduce the risk of the instrument cluster glass shattering and causing an injury.
Although it is not aware of any accidents, injuries, or deaths related to this issue, it will reach out to owners on November 13. Rolls-Royce will apply a protective coating, effectively a high quality screen protector, to the instrument cluster in order to prevent shards of glass from reaching the driver in the event of an accident.
Correction, September 29: A previous version of this article referred to the protective coating as “tape.” This did not accurately reflect the quality of the safety equipment.
