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I have a small problem with my VW Passat. Some of the 'soft feel' plastic trim on the driver's door is starting to break up (peel off). The car is less than three years old and still under VW warranty. However VW are saying that this is wear and tear and so not covered. The car has had a gentle life and has not yet done 36000 miles. Any comments on how I can pursue this. To replace the piece of trim from my own pocket will be very expensive.
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Unfortunatley I think this is typical of VW dealers and the reason why the suffer so badly in the Customer satisfaction surveys.
My approach would be to try again and question the life of this part - and if it is wear and tear why did they spec material that would wear so easily - this is obvioulsy a design fault. Parts are not designed to wear out inside a car before it is 3 years old !!!.
I had the same thing happen on my golf but was ready to swap it for a Honda anyway after the way I was treated by the dealers - shame really because it was a nice car. This is also ststed in the CBCB for Golfs:- "Plastic coating rubs off the armrests of the doors and looks terrible". Doesn't actually say if the dealers will fix under warranty.
If all else fails escalate to VW UK at Milton Keynes.
I think you just need to presevere
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Could it be that your arm routinely rubs against it when driving?
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Typical VW I'm afraid. Wouldn't ever go near another one.
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I had a trim 'issue' with a Peugeot and the dealer I bought it from said it wasn't covered by the warranty, so I took it to another dealer who said that it was! Why not try another VW dealer, if there is one near you?
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Funnily enough I was at a VW dealership at the weekend taking a quick look at an 8 month old/15k miles Passat Highline (last of old shape) - very nice car apart from the scruffy looking interior door pull - guess this must be a common problem on the Passat. Best thing you could probably expect is a new door arm of the same type - but this will no doubt go the same way. They won't have redesigned a part for an obsolete car.
Incidentally, the exact same thing happened on a 01Y Mondeo 3 I used to own - interior door pull had a soft coating that basically chipped and eventually peeled off. Made the door look really scruffy. I never purused it with the dealer as I was getting rid of the car anyway.
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Incidentally, the exact same thing happened on a 01Y Mondeo 3 I used to own - interior door pull had a soft coating that basically chipped and eventually peeled off. Made the door look really scruffy. I never purused it with the dealer as I was getting rid of the car anyway.
The OP does not say that it is the door pull on the Passat, one would expect the door pull to be subject to wear and tear.
I noticed this on my Mondeo at about 80k miles/three years so I bought a new insert for the door pull, it cost less than a fiver and took 30 seconds to fit.
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I merely presumed he meant the door pull as the nearly new Passat I saw recently had a worn door pull. Maybe the OP can confirm *exactly* where he means for us.
My Mondeo was two years old with 40k when this problem occured. IMO Ford either never properly tested the material or they weren't bothered. I would hope they have changed it so that owners don't have to buy new "inserts" at 80k/3 years
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Looked at a low mileage 1-year-old Passat estate last year. All the decorative plating on the end caps of the roof rails had already been patched up with chrome tape. Pathetic. What will happen to all that ugly chrome on the latest model?
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I've got the same thing on my 02 82k Mondeo.
Did you buy the part from a dealer or source it from elsewhere?
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From a dealer, it easliy clips out, only a couple of quid.
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By contrast, the highly naff stick on woodtrim starting peeling off my Octavia door and ashtray. The local Skoda dealer replaced it free of charge under warranty when the car was two and a half years old.
Try other VW dealers, you may get lucky.
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Ther is nothing falling off,peeling or looking worn on my Rover75 inside and out. I examined a 230,000 mile one recently and all was well they are becoming popular with the Taxi drivers too.
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Thank you for your comments gents. I have tried asking another dealer for a warranty replacement, but they are not interested.
The replacement piece of trim, with fitting, is going to cost over £200 which comes out of my pocket. Not very good for a less than three year old car. To add insult to injury my wife has noticed that the seam at the front of the drivers seat is starting to seperate a little. Oh dear!
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A_Lees, this is on a Highline right so I'm guessing leather seats. So much for VW's legendary cabin quality. I'd definitely take that one up with the dealer if the car is under three years old, if you get no joy go to VW customer services.
The door pull probably isn't worth replacing at £200. I don't think your car will get knocked down on price when you come to p/x it based on a tatty door pull, especially if all Passats have them. However, if you're planning on keeping the car long term and cannot live with it looks like you wll have to shell out the £200 - but surely the new trim will just go the same way so what's the point?
I'm interested in your observations on this car because I've been looking at nearly new Passat Highline TDI 130s - they seem cracking value, but based on your experience I may just give it a miss and look at the Avensis in more depth!
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Just re read you original post and you don't mention the spec of your Passat so I must have got you confused with another thread!
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