Looking for a new van, SUV, crossover. Anyone know a particular design that takes on less dirt/dust in the rear. Our current 2006 Honda Odyssey is the worst. We had to have the tail lights completely replaced before we had 90K miles (should mention that we travel in the winter so most of those miles were on the highway). The lights were so full of dirt they completely failed. But our 1995 Chevy
pickup with a camper shell and 170K miles has its original
tail lights and doesn’t get nearly as dirty
DOn’t bother with that as criteria. It could have been poor luck, the van was in a rear accident, bad design or something else.
All vehicles will have dust stick to the rear on rural dirt roads. Part of the “joy”. I grew up on one where I traveled 2.5 miles to get to my home.
You might consider the addition of an air deflector.
http://deflectors4less.com/rewide.html
Vehicles with a somewhat boxy shape in the rear will develop a low pressure area behind it as the vehicle moves down the road. This draws not only dirt and muddy water up but it also pulls up exhaust gas.
A deflector will disrupt that low pressure area and prevent this to some degree. Hope that helps anyway.
You could cover the whole tail light area with that clear plastic paint protectant film that people use on the front of their cars. It would probably be noticeable in the gaps between the lights and the body, but maybe that isn’t important to you.
Thanks for the idea about the deflector. Every vehicle we are considering to replace the Odyssey has that flat type of back end.
No accident, we bought it new. Could be a bad design, but was also wondering if the spoiler has anything to do with the excessive amount of dust that collects on the rear of the vehicle.