MY16 Cracking internal Door handle trims

[206Harvard]

I got the impression it was just the handle but I really don't know how much they replaced.

[DR074]

Update

I dropped the car at the VW Dealer on Friday for assessment, and they have ordered the door handle. That's the plastic around the window buttons, and it seems the whole handle itself. They said the part would only take a day to get in and is booked in for Thursday next week. Apparently takes about an hour to replace. Looks like all under warranty.

Dazz

[Wynnston]

Update

I dropped the car at the VW Dealer on Friday for assessment, and they have ordered the door handle. That's the plastic around the window buttons, and it seems the whole handle itself. They said the part would only take a day to get in and is booked in for Thursday next week. Apparently takes about an hour to replace. Looks like all under warranty.

Dazz

Thanks for the update.

[DR074]

Update

Got the door handle cracking fixed today, all good as new. Only took an hour or so.

They didn't replace the whole handle as i first thought, looks like just the plastic around the window up and downer.

All under warranty

Dazz

[Jimi]

Have most of these issues occurred on older models or is the construction of MY18 and beyond the same and therefore likely to meet the same fate?

[DR074]

Have most of these issues occurred on older models or is the construction of MY18 and beyond the same and therefore likely to meet the same fate?

Possibly, the issue didn't seem to surface until after 12 months. I don't imagine they would have had time to fix for 18 models. I guess time will tell.

[doc_777]

My wife’s passat is an MY16, my Wolfsburg is an MY17. Neither of ours have developed the issue (touch wood), but certainly something to check on prior to warranty expiration.

[Wynnston]

Possibly, the issue didn't seem to surface until after 12 months. I don't imagine they would have had time to fix for 18 models. I guess time will tell.

I think mine has been like it since new. I remember a colleague asking why the trim edge was cracked in the top right hand corner when I first got the car. I thought it was a cutout section where you could insert a tool to remove the trim if you had to (it looked pretty clean). I certainly didn't try prying at it. Upon further inspection, it doesn't match up to the drivers side, so that's why I am assuming it's been a defect from the start.

It will most likely be a bad batch of plastic that was cast in whatever manufacturers factory and a handful of us (the batch) got unlucky.

[mythik]

I had the same issue on my MY16 Passat Alltrack B8 and it was covered by the dealership. VWA told the dealership to get ****ed which was very sadening but they did the right thing and fixed it anyway. If everyone could make a ****load of noise about this it would be appreciated.

[Wynnston]

I had the same issue on my MY16 Passat Alltrack B8 and it was covered by the dealership. VWA told the dealership to get ****ed which was very sadening but they did the right thing and fixed it anyway. If everyone could make a ****load of noise about this it would be appreciated.

They probably did back then because dealers will often remove door trim to install tint and they probably thought the dealer stuffed it up when removing it.

[Passat R36]

side topic, only newbie tinter needs to remove door trim to apply tint. Stop them right away when they need to remove door cards and find someone else.

[Wynnston]

side topic, only newbie tinter needs to remove door trim to apply tint. Stop them right away when they need to remove door cards and find someone else.

That's what I thought, but I remember one of my past dealers trying to tell me that I would void the warranty on my door trim on my Tiguan if I got someone else to tint it because they have to remove the door card to do it. Utter bull**** on both accounts of course.

[Wynnston]

An update on my case.

I went to the dealer a few weeks ago. They inspected it and ordered the parts (just the trim insert for the two front doors, not the whole card).

I took the car in yesterday and they replaced the trim inserts. It's a little fiddly so I left it with them for the day. The finished product looks like new and I'm happy that it was an easy straight forward fix that I didn't have to fight for.

The dealer I went to was a commercial dealer in WA called Southside. It's so far my best dealer experience with Volkswagen to date.

Bonus: I had a speaker rattle in the front left door prior to the warranty job, I didn't mention it as I figured it was through my own negligence of pushing the factory speakers to the limit with an aftermarket amplifier. Removing the card, fitting the new trim piece and putting it back together has somehow fixed it (maybe it was the brittle trim piece rattling). Anyway, I'm a happy chappy.

[Chad206]

Ive just purchased a 17 206tsi and noticed while looking at cars before i chose this one that 90% of them were all cracked in the same spot as photos.

I managed to find one that only had a tiny crack in passenger door.

By the looks of it they are made too thin for everyday use and start to crack, might see if vw wants to replace when i take in for service, although out of warranty 🤷🏽*♂️

[thomsogl]

My 2018 Passat wagon also had the same problem with the cracked piece breaking off the LHS door handle. A cracked line could be seen in RHS door handle. Definitely a manufacturing fault. Took it to a VW dealer in Ferntree Gully and they replaced both handle inserts under warranty with no questions asked.