I recall our first (early 2012) chassis had some form of shield added in late 2012 when we had the (very noisy) first bevel box replaced after a couple of thousand miles. This was to address the huge amount of road water/dirt that was getting into the "cabin" via an opening around the bevel box and seat belt reels. Cannot remember any more on it and not so relevant as we added a mudguard and the chassis has been repaced. In other words, the early cars had a particular problem with dirt/water in that area which was seemingly fixed....
