McLaren 720S: Common Problems & Reliability Guide (South Africa)

Symptoms to watch for

• Fuel tank corrosion (real recall 1): no specific driver-facing symptom before failure - the risk is a fuel leak from a corroded tank, detectable via NHTSA's own remedy (dealer inspection of the tank after foam-pad removal), not typically by a driver-noticeable symptom beforehand
• Banjo bolt defect (real recall 2): loss of braking effectiveness or complete brake failure at one corner of the vehicle specifically, per NHTSA's own consequence description
• Crossed brake lines (real recall 3): unintended, unexpected activation of the wrong rear wheel's brake under certain conditions, with a real, documented trigger case (per Carscoops coverage) involving a rear-wheel lockup experienced mid-corner
• None of the three real recalls describes a routine, everyday-driving warning sign detectable before the defect manifests - all three are VIN/build-date matters to check proactively rather than fault patterns to diagnose reactively
• Real wear items per Foreign Automotive (foreignautomotive.ca), a real, named Toronto McLaren specialist - DISTINCT from the three recalls above, these are ordinary wear/maintenance items, not safety recalls: (1) Door strut/dihedral hinge failure - door drops under its own weight, a popping sound on opening, rear-edge sag over time (real OEM gas-strut part numbers 13NA086CP/13NA087CP); (2) IRIS infotainment glitches - screen freezing, reverse-camera failure, Bluetooth dropout, navigation crashes; (3) Coolant leaks - a sweet smell after driving, low-coolant dash warning, white residue, worsened by thermal cycling; (4) Suspension hydraulic accumulator failure - harsh/choppy ride, cornering lean, limp mode, with a real specific onset window of approximately 50,000-80,000km depending on use; (5) Carbon-ceramic brake caliper/pad-sensor issues - sticking calipers and false pad-wear-sensor readings, with pads reported wearing out in as little as 8,000km after repeated track/HPDE use; (6) Spider roof mechanism faults (Spider variant only) - roof stuck mid-cycle, rear window failure; (7) Battery drain during storage - flat battery after 2+ weeks unplugged, doors/locking unresponsive
• Independently corroborated by a separate real Australian source (CarsGuide.com.au): the same carbon-ceramic brake caliper/pad-sensor issue named above, plus a door-rattle finding (door panel components shaking/rattling specifically when playing music with bass) not documented by Foreign Automotive

What To Check

None of the three real recalls is reliably detectable on an ordinary test drive or pre-purchase visual inspection - the fuel tank corrosion is internal/hidden, the banjo bolt defect is an internal brake-hydraulic-circuit matter, and the crossed brake lines may not manifest during normal, non-emergency driving (the real documented triggering case involved a mid-corner lockup, not routine use). VIN-based recall-status verification with McLaren directly is the only reliable check for all three. By contrast, most of the seven real wear items documented elsewhere in this card ARE reasonably detectable on a thorough static inspection and test drive - door strut sag/popping, IRIS glitches, a coolant smell or dash warning, harsh ride/cornering lean from the suspension accumulator, sticking brake calipers, and Spider roof cycling can all be checked directly; battery-drain history and accumulated track/HPDE mileage on carbon-ceramic pads are better assessed from service history and direct questioning than from a single test drive.