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Hello there! I wanted to share my story in case you experience the same issue, because there were a lot of lessons learned and you can benefit from it.
The digital instrument cluster (a.k.a. digital cockpit) got faulty in my 2017 Tiguan. The screen went completely dark. Warranty expired in 2023.
I brought my car to the VW dealership who ran a diagnosis and informed me that it needs to be replaced and quoted me $6K for replacement. Since I wasn't willing to spend more than 10% of the value for the whole car on a single part replacement, I searched for different options.
The best and cheapest option was to buy a used instrument from a car wrecker and replace it in a VW certified service. The replacement part was around $300, and the service quoted me around $800 for the replacement and coding. The coding must be done by professionals due to the complexity and the coding tool, and the service also had to ask for permission from VW HQ in Europe for the replacement. The digital cluster is a computer, which stores the car's immobilizer information and the mileage.
I booked my car in and the replacement went well. But there was one small problem. My car's odometer had around 68K kms in it, but the replacement taken out from a Tiguan had around 120K in the odometer and after the replacement, my car's odometer was showing that. Which means, on paper, I just lost a couple of thousand dollars from the value of the car.
The service informed me that the mileage cannot be adjusted during the coding as VW only allows it to be changed once when the cluster is brand new. It is protected to avoid any foul play. I wish they told me this before the replacement because then I would either bought a brand-new part or bought a used one, which had lower kms in it. The service told me to wait, because they are experiencing more faults with these digital clusters and VW might allow km change via the software coding process or someone will write a hack.
That's it in a nutshell. Be aware that digital cockpit replacement is possible, but your car will show the kms which was in the other car. This could lead to interesting conversations when you try to sell your car.
Funnily enough, you could also end up finding a replacement part, which has less kms in it than in your car hence why I don't understand why VW doesn't allow services to change it, but maybe they will change this practice and remove the software protection.
The digital instrument cluster (a.k.a. digital cockpit) got faulty in my 2017 Tiguan. The screen went completely dark. Warranty expired in 2023.
I brought my car to the VW dealership who ran a diagnosis and informed me that it needs to be replaced and quoted me $6K for replacement. Since I wasn't willing to spend more than 10% of the value for the whole car on a single part replacement, I searched for different options.
The best and cheapest option was to buy a used instrument from a car wrecker and replace it in a VW certified service. The replacement part was around $300, and the service quoted me around $800 for the replacement and coding. The coding must be done by professionals due to the complexity and the coding tool, and the service also had to ask for permission from VW HQ in Europe for the replacement. The digital cluster is a computer, which stores the car's immobilizer information and the mileage.
I booked my car in and the replacement went well. But there was one small problem. My car's odometer had around 68K kms in it, but the replacement taken out from a Tiguan had around 120K in the odometer and after the replacement, my car's odometer was showing that. Which means, on paper, I just lost a couple of thousand dollars from the value of the car.
The service informed me that the mileage cannot be adjusted during the coding as VW only allows it to be changed once when the cluster is brand new. It is protected to avoid any foul play. I wish they told me this before the replacement because then I would either bought a brand-new part or bought a used one, which had lower kms in it. The service told me to wait, because they are experiencing more faults with these digital clusters and VW might allow km change via the software coding process or someone will write a hack.
That's it in a nutshell. Be aware that digital cockpit replacement is possible, but your car will show the kms which was in the other car. This could lead to interesting conversations when you try to sell your car.
Funnily enough, you could also end up finding a replacement part, which has less kms in it than in your car hence why I don't understand why VW doesn't allow services to change it, but maybe they will change this practice and remove the software protection.
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