MY16 Cracking internal Door handle trims

[Passerati]

Hi all.

So I purchased my Passat MY16 as an ex demonstrator in mid August 2017. It had about 2000km on the clock and was immaculate. Driven by the dealership manager.

I have now had the car for than less than one year, I use it as my daily driver as well as for work. Recently ticked over 30k.

I’ve taken care of my car as if it was my baby.
This morning as I jumped into the car to pick up groceries I noticed a piece of plastic flapping on the internal door handle.

It’s from the plastic trim on the inside of the handle, on the other side it’s leather trim.

It’s clearly cracking along the entire handle.

This is something one could expect from a 10yo car but not one that is less than 2, and only driven for a year.

I quickly called the local VW dealership who said to book in a viewing by the team.

To me it looks like poor quality/factory defect as this part of the handle being used daily shouldn’t perform like this after such short period.

Any thoughts?












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[tigger73]

Warranty claim. Hopefully it doesn’t take too long for it to come in. For this type of stuff I’d take it past the dealer at a not so busy time (I.e. not start/end of day) and get the service guys to take a look/order the part/book it in.

It’s likely going to be a 2 visit fix as unless they have the trim part in stock they’ll have to get the part in and rebook for another day.


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[ope126]

Hi Joey,

That's a shame that your door handles are doing that!
In the time I had mine, I never experienced anything like that.
Also, by looking at your pic, it appears like a manufacturing defect.
I m sure VW will sort this out for you mate.

[limiteded]

That looks like a whole new door card to me. There is only a few replaceable parts on the door cards these days such as electrical connectors, switches, lighting strips and reflectors. The components of the card are plastic welded/ heat pressed together and aren’t designed to come apart. Don’t think they keep whole door cards as a spare part in Australia, but you never know.

there should be zero issue for a warranty claim, as the defect is either the material, or the assembly of the door card.

[Passerati]

MY16 Cracking internal Door handle trims

Thanks for your input.

I took the car down to the VW dealer and Service centre at Newstead in Brisbane.

They had a quick look at it, took some photos and asked if the car still was under warranty. I said yes as it is.

One of the girls who looked at it quickly said she doubted that it would be covered under warranty but they would send the photos away for review and would get back to me within 48 hours.

VW doesn’t have the best rep when it comes down to customer service so if they reject the claim I will escalate to Fair Ombudsman, ACCC or similar as it should be covered by the 3 year warranty as per Australian Consumer law.

Warranty | Volkswagen Australia



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[Jondalar]

Maybe try a different dealer if you get no joy, I've had indirect experience of not being very willing to push warranty claims at that dealership. Also, has the car been parked in the sun a lot?

[Passerati]

Hey.

It’s always parked inside the garage at home, while I’m at work it’s outside.

Sun damage shouldn’t happen so fast but...

I’ll try the Springwood dealership where I purchased the car if VW Newstead rejects it.




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[Lucas_R]

Thanks for your input.

I took the car down to the VW dealer and Service centre at Newstead in Brisbane.

They had a quick look at it, took some photos and asked if the car still was under warranty. I said yes as it is.

One of the girls who looked at it quickly said she doubted that it would be covered under warranty but they would send the photos away for review and would get back to me within 48 hours.

VW doesn’t have the best rep when it comes down to customer service so if they reject the claim I will escalate to Fair Ombudsman, ACCC or similar as it should be covered by the 3 year warranty as per Australian Consumer law.

Warranty | Volkswagen Australia

If VW do not honor this under warranty, just get the part number for the handle trim piece and buy it yourself. For the sake of no more than $50 i certainly couldnt be bothered going to ACCC etc where you will no doubt waste far more of your time filling in forms and talking on the phone etc than what the trim piece is worth.

In saying that, you can see a mould line in the trim piece that follows exactly where it is cracking - so it's obviously a weak point in the mould.

[Jondalar]

Hmm ok, does it have aftermarket window tint?

[tigger73]

The dealer probably just wants you to go away. It’s going to cost them
more in time sorting it out than they are going to make fitting the new trim.

Best off taking it back to the dealer that sold you the car if you can. They (hopefully) will be a bit more interested in sorting it out for you.




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[limiteded]

It’s a stupid mentality that some of these dealers take towards what are usually clearly defects, thus warranty claims.
the dealer gets payed by VAG to carry out the warranty repair. The dealer I have dealt with in Sydney has zero issue with warranty work and I would even say encourages it, as it keeps people employed and encourages customers to return. I’ve had plenty of minor warranty repairs, even getting a loan car which is booked back to VAG.

that is not wear and tear, that is not due to excessive sunlight, I would highly doubt it’s due to a chemical reaction. It’s defective from the factory, and a new door card will be worth a fair bit.

[zzc2010]

I have some same cracks on the trims.

I will monitor them and do a warranty claim when the car is due for another service next year.

Keep me updated please.

Neal


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[Kowalski]

Yes dealers get paid to perform warranty work but it is at a labour rate substantially less than retail, the repair times are prescribed by the factory and there is no margin on parts. Essentially warranty work is designed to be cost neutral, at best. Dealers do it because its part of their agreement with the OEM and they have an obligation and desire to look after customers. Non the less, based on what I have seen, I agree with Limiteded, this appears to be faulty materials and workmanship and should be covered by factory warranty. The ACL is a safety net which you are also entitled to make claim under, irrespective of time or kilometers covered or the assessment of the dealer concerned.

[Passerati]

MY16 Cracking internal Door handle trims

So here how I went with the Warranty claim.

I first took the car to Austral Volkswagen in Newstead. They immediately said they didn’t think it would be covered by warranty.
Took some pics and promised to get back to me within 48 hrs.

72 hours later and no word I called them.
Some poor excuse as to why I hadn’t heard from them was given.
They again promised to give me a callback within 24 hours with an answer.

This morning I received an Invoice for $830. Nothing else. No hello thank you for you enquiry, or who it was from or nothing just a blank email with the invoice attached.

I was out driving for work while I received this email and was near Cricks Volkswagen in Springwood where I purchased the car.
A quick pit stop there, they took photos, filled out proper VW/VAG documents and said we’ll get back to you within 24 hours.

At 4pm today I get a call from them.
VAG approved the claim, two door card parts already on order. Should arrive in two days.

Two lessons learned.

1. Don’t deal with Austral VW.
2. Always seek second opinion

Thanks for all input, comments and support.
I truly appreciate it.





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[zzc2010]

So here how I went with the Warranty claim.

I first took the car to Austral Volkswagen in Newstead. They immediately said they didn’t think it would be covered by warranty.
Took some pics and promised to get back to me within 48 hrs.

72 hours later and no word I called them.
Some poor excuse as to why I hadn’t heard from them was given.
They again promised to give me a callback within 24 hours with an answer.

This morning I received an Invoice for $830. Nothing else. No hello thank you for you enquiry, or who it was from or nothing just a blank email with the invoice attached.

I was out driving for work while I received this email and was near Cricks Volkswagen in Springwood where I purchased the car.
A quick pit stop there, they took photos, filled out proper VW/VAG documents and said we’ll get back to you within 24 hours.

At 4pm today I get a call from them.
VAG approved the claim, two door card parts already on order. Should arrive in two days.

Two lessons learned.

1. Don’t deal with Austral VW.
2. Always seek second opinion

Thanks for all input, comments and support.
I truly appreciate it.





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Great to hear.

May I know what VW are going to replace?

The whole door trim panels or just the handle?

Neal