stuck pass. door lock.

[turboveedubb]

My left rear door lock failed and took it to the dealer service, they spent 2 days on it (took the door trim off inside) and still couldn't get the door open so they can't replace the lock.

They recommended me to get a panel beater to carefully cut the door lock from the inside. I rang their recommended panel beater and they say they haven't done anything like that in the past and couldn't guarantee no panel damage in the process but are happy to charge $110.00/hr to try.... *sigh*

Gave a call to VW Australia and they're chasing it up. Hopefully it'll be fixed somehow as a 'good will' gesture...

Just had our first significant fault, and its the left rear door lock, also within the last two months of warranty.
Tried the fixes above, no luck, off to dealer.
i assume the warranty will cover it.

[turboveedubb]

Just as update. VW Australia has agreed to cover the cost of replacing the door lock as a gesture of good will which is nice

Down side is the car's been with the dealer service department for 4 days and they still haven't managed to get the door open so the door lock replacement can take place.

Any advice that can be given about how to get the door open?

[5pot]

Good luck with that... what year is your car? Do you have a warranty?

I usually just lock and unlock the car to try and get it open... I think I gently held the inside door handle to put some tension on the mechanism... or at least that's what I think I'm doing haha...

Unfortunately you might just have to go the route of cutting the interior of the door open to try and get to the lock mechanism. Get them to cut the hole behind the trim perhaps and go from there. At least you can cover the hole afterwards...

[turboveedubb]

It's a 2007 build MY08. Out of warranty already but VW Aus has agreed to cover the cost of this repair which was good of them. It's been with the dealer service department for 1 week now and still no good, they may actually have to cut a hole in the door's interior sheet metal to get to the lock itself.

Seems like there's quite a few people with door lock mechanisms which have failed on the MkVs. Would really suck if there was an accident and you had to get out only to remember the door lock has failed.

[5pot]

exactly my thoughts regarding the safety aspect.

I had to fork out for mine when they went early last year. First the front passengers side and then the front drivers side. I might have an issue again now with the driver's side being intermittent. Seems to be affected in cold weather... I.e. now!

[turboveedubb]

They've exhausted every method they know to open the door lock without luck.
The only option left is to refer it to the panel beaters to 'apply force' to the door but 'may result in panel damage to the vehicle'.

Any subsequent panel repair costs will not be covered by the gesture of good will... *sigh*

[madasstupac]

Hi, same issues with my rear left passenger door on a 2008 Golf TDI. Would not open for months until about a fortnight ago when I held onto the door unlock button on my remote (this will cause all car windows to automatically open).

Don't know why, but the door has opened and closed ok since then. Doors played up again about 2 days ago, did the same thing with my remote and it was fine. Due for a major service within next month or two, so will try suss out what is going on... Attempted door trim removal, but chickened out last minute as it required a bit too much force for my level of expertise...