Factory Defect Roof Panel?

[SM075180]

Hi,

New here. Apologies if mis-categorized.

Has anyone experienced issues on 2017 GTI SE with the roof where it meets with the windshield?

My issue:

From the drivers side moving towards passenger- roofline is "tucked" as should be expected under the rubber seal between windshield and roof panel. Continue for ~10" and it begins to bow upwards for 10-12" reaching a peak height between 1/4-3/8" before returning to what you'd expect as normal until panel termination on passenger side.

The height of the bowing is seemingly dependent on direct sunlight/temperature and has caused stress fractures in clear coat if not also underlying paint.

Meeting with service at dealership tomorrow morning.

Just hoping for anyone else with experience as I imagine the dealership will argue fault though I have photo's of damage at the lot on purchase day (unnoticed at the time, of course.)

thanks!

UPDATE:
----------

Dealer accepted fault for manufacturer's defect. Ordered new parts (will add list of what this includes soon) and car is going in for a few days to be serviced. Dealer will be removing trim and panels and sending to local body shop to repair as they "Are not qualified" at dealer to "do this kind of repair"

UPDATE:
----------

Visited the vehicle at the body shop. Workers there suggest this is beyond the scope of what the dealer recommended to be replaced as factory defects extend deeper into the vehicle than originally thought. They will need to remove the windshield to move forward replacing a seal and have doubt they can do so without breaking it. As I have a UV Blocking clear tint installed this will be an expense I would expect the dealership to absorb.

Body shop basically said they will be Epoxying the car back together...

I found this to be unacceptable as I drove this vehicle off the lot 94 days ago. I've called Volkswagen of America and started a claim for a vehicle buyback/replacement under these circumstances.

Will update...

UPDATE: VWoA IS REPLACING MY VEHICLE UNDER LEMON LAWS IN CALIFORNIA DUE TO THESE ISSUES.

 

[Ardbegboy]

Scary.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SM075180]

Yeah I'm having a hell of a time with all this. I've owned the car for ~90 days. After taking a look around visiting in the body shop it's (at least parts of it) have little date stamps on them from February '17.

I wanna say I saw it was like 70/30 parts sourced from the Mexico/Germany factory but assembled in Mexico.

 

[nate704]

you got a lemon, and the car will never be the same after the major body work like that.
I would definitely call VWoA and demand either refund or new car.

 

[SM075180]

you got a lemon, and the car will never be the same after the major body work like that.
I would definitely call VWoA and demand either refund or new car.

Exactly. VWoA is currently in review. I'm still being polite and reasonable towards all involved at the moment. They should be getting back to me within the week and then we'll really see if I have to do this all the hard way.

Thanks for chiming in! It's reassuring that I'm in the right here.

I figure my two acceptable resolutions are 1) new car, extended warranty/service of some sort to appease my worries about staying with VW. 2) Accept original vehicle after repairs with unlimited lifetime warranty on parts and services (naturally excluding consumables like tires, filters, and the like)

Opinions on these approaches? Am I being forgiving needlessly?

Suggestions are welcome. Of course NEW vehicle is the real solution here. I do love the car...

 

[Gawernator]

Man and I thought I was having a hassle just waiting for my car for a week. At 20k miles leaking oil pan and the sunroof visor would slowly move backwards on its own as you started driving. Like there wasn't enough tension holding the cover in place. So they're dropping the whole roof I guess and replacing this tensioner and clips and I think even the tracks? Taking forever. I hope they can put it all back together correctly ..

 

[SM075180]

Man and I thought I was having a hassle just waiting for my car for a week. At 20k miles leaking oil pan and the sunroof visor would slowly move backwards on its own as you started driving. Like there wasn't enough tension holding the cover in place. So they're dropping the whole roof I guess and replacing this tensioner and clips and I think even the tracks? Taking forever. I hope they can put it all back together correctly ..

I feel you on the sunshade man. Happening to me too from day one. Dealer has said they've been unable to replicate with aggressive acceleration but it slides back on me daily just kind of regardless of speed. Just your normal suburb driving. I'll try to remember to update you on that once I get the car back unless I end up with a new vehicle altogether.

Sad to say it's really the least of my worries atm :S

Edit:
I'd be curious to know if they yanked the bottom portion of the back seats out of yours when they take the headliner out. Mines sitting like that at the body shop right now and I have no idea why it was necessary.

 

[Gawernator]

I feel you on the sunshade man. Happening to me too from day one. Dealer has said they've been unable to replicate with aggressive acceleration but it slides back on me daily just kind of regardless of speed. Just your normal suburb driving. I'll try to remember to update you on that once I get the car back unless I end up with a new vehicle altogether.

Sad to say it's really the least of my worries atm :S

Edit:
I'd be curious to know if they yanked the bottom portion of the back seats out of yours when they take the headliner out. Mines sitting like that at the body shop right now and I have no idea why it was necessary.

Yeah that makes no sense ... I hope they do fix it. It was INSANELY annoying on hot sunny days. You have to close it 200x per day because it slowly opens and blasts you with hot sun... not fun. Worse because it's a crack of light instead of just bright all over. At least the dealer didn't fight me on it at all. Just taking a while. I've been driving a loaner Jetta for a week, it's like they took the golf and made it worse in all ways lol

 

[SM075180]

Yeah that makes no sense ... I hope they do fix it. It was INSANELY annoying on hot sunny days. You have to close it 200x per day because it slowly opens and blasts you with hot sun... not fun. Worse because it's a crack of light instead of just bright all over. At least the dealer didn't fight me on it at all. Just taking a while. I've been driving a loaner Jetta for a week, it's like they took the golf and made it worse in all ways lol

Haha I've had a Passat for a week and a half now as a loaner and I seriously want to just roll it off a cliff. There's so many things about it that just make zero sense. Like a class of 5th graders engineered it. At first I thought "okay they loaned me like a 2013 model, no biggie that makes sense" but then I realized it's the '17 and just behind the times in every way.

I'm in California the sun through the little crack wasn't so much an issue for me for heat and all just a complete nuisance to my OCD side.

 

[Gawernator]

Haha I've had a Passat for a week and a half now as a loaner and I seriously want to just roll it off a cliff. There's so many things about it that just make zero sense. Like a class of 5th graders engineered it. At first I thought "okay they loaned me like a 2013 model, no biggie that makes sense" but then I realized it's the '17 and just behind the times in every way.

I'm in California the sun through the little crack wasn't so much an issue for me for heat and all just a complete nuisance to my OCD side.

Yeah I'm in SJ. The Jetta has almost the same interior but everything is cheaper feeling and looking, smaller computer display, noticeably worse sound system, less power. It's weird how similar but worse it is

 

[dang]

Been off the forums so only saw this now. But I think your problem if I understand it correctly is very similar to mine. Last summer (about 2 months after getting the car) I noticed that the black panel surrounding the sunroof was bowed along the edge with the windshield. From what I saw the rubber weatherstrip had tucked under the black panel pushing it up and causing the bow. Dealer said it was most likely not glued down properly and starting to peel up. Because it's under tension it retracts under the roof panel. They tested for leaks and found that it was still good but offered to fix it. They couldn't tell me how big a job it would be because that weatherstrip extends all the way back to the sunroof opening and so the whole roof panel would have to come off.

I ended up leaving it because it wasn't leaking and I couldn't go without a car but after the winter I noticed that it had gotten worse and there was a more noticeable bow in the roof. Still no leak but by this point it had gone from 1.5 inches to about 4-5 inches where the weatherstrip had peeled and tucked under. So I decided to get it fixed and coincided it with an overseas trip so I wouldn't inconvenienced.

The dealer got a third party in because essentially to get to the weatherstrip they had to pull the headliner, windshield and roof panels to get to it. When they got to it they realized the the sunroof frame was actually defective and warped from the factory. This meant they had to order a new roof from VW and ended up replacing the whole sunroof assembly aside from the glass itself. It ended up being a huge job and took 3 weeks from start to end. The majority of the time waiting for the replacement frame and then waiting for the adhesives that attach the roof to cure.

Have to say they did a good job and you couldn't tell that the car has had it roof torn off and replaced. There are a few tell tale signs such as the headliner being a little out of shape on the passenger's side from where they grabbed to pull it off. I haven't had the chance to go back and get that addressed yet. Hopefully your situation gets sorted out and you're happy with the outcome!

 

[SM075180]

Been off the forums so only saw this now. But I think your problem if I understand it correctly is very similar to mine. Last summer (about 2 months after getting the car) I noticed that the black panel surrounding the sunroof was bowed along the edge with the windshield. From what I saw the rubber weatherstrip had tucked under the black panel pushing it up and causing the bow. Dealer said it was most likely not glued down properly and starting to peel up. Because it's under tension it retracts under the roof panel. They tested for leaks and found that it was still good but offered to fix it. They couldn't tell me how big a job it would be because that weatherstrip extends all the way back to the sunroof opening and so the whole roof panel would have to come off.

I ended up leaving it because it wasn't leaking and I couldn't go without a car but after the winter I noticed that it had gotten worse and there was a more noticeable bow in the roof. Still no leak but by this point it had gone from 1.5 inches to about 4-5 inches where the weatherstrip had peeled and tucked under. So I decided to get it fixed and coincided it with an overseas trip so I wouldn't inconvenienced.

The dealer got a third party in because essentially to get to the weatherstrip they had to pull the headliner, windshield and roof panels to get to it. When they got to it they realized the the sunroof frame was actually defective and warped from the factory. This meant they had to order a new roof from VW and ended up replacing the whole sunroof assembly aside from the glass itself. It ended up being a huge job and took 3 weeks from start to end. The majority of the time waiting for the replacement frame and then waiting for the adhesives that attach the roof to cure.

Have to say they did a good job and you couldn't tell that the car has had it roof torn off and replaced. There are a few tell tale signs such as the headliner being a little out of shape on the passenger's side from where they grabbed to pull it off. I haven't had the chance to go back and get that addressed yet. Hopefully your situation gets sorted out and you're happy with the outcome!

Thank you for posting! From the photo it looks exactly like my car. I have plenty of photos but have been too lazy to resize.

Do you mind if I ask when and where you purchased yours and where you had it serviced? It might come in handy speeding up my VWoA case?

Much appreciated!

I'll be sure to let you know if I end up having a buyback or replacement offered. Maybe you could chime in and get yourself new wheels as well if that's how it goes.

 

[dang]

Thank you for posting! From the photo it looks exactly like my car. I have plenty of photos but have been too lazy to resize.

Do you mind if I ask when and where you purchased yours and where you had it serviced? It might come in handy speeding up my VWoA case?

Much appreciated!

I'll be sure to let you know if I end up having a buyback or replacement offered. Maybe you could chime in and get yourself new wheels as well if that's how it goes.

The dealership has pictures of the work being done too which I was interested in seeing but haven't had the chance to stop by and get them. Will definitely post once I have them. I purchased mine from Suburban Farmington Hills VW and got it fixed at Ralph Thayer VW. Both of these in the Metro Detroit area.

Good luck with the VWoA case. Keep me posted with how you go!

 

[SM075180]

The dealership has pictures of the work being done too which I was interested in seeing but haven't had the chance to stop by and get them. Will definitely post once I have them. I purchased mine from Suburban Farmington Hills VW and got it fixed at Ralph Thayer VW. Both of these in the Metro Detroit area.

Good luck with the VWoA case. Keep me posted with how you go!

Thank you and I definitely will. Did you ever have issues with the sunroof's shade slipping back? I've seen that's a common issue for many owners and would be curious to start seeing if there's a correlation between slipping issues and the potential for this panel bowing.

 

[dang]

Thank you and I definitely will. Did you ever have issues with the sunroof's shade slipping back? I've seen that's a common issue for many owners and would be curious to start seeing if there's a correlation between slipping issues and the potential for this panel bowing.

I never close mine so I wouldn't know. That's because I find it useless anyway being just a piece of cloth vs a proper panel like it was in the MK6. I'll try it tomorrow though and let you know.