First problem with the GTI

Had my GTI for about a month and have around 950 miles on her. Been great so far...

From the day I picked it up, the right side of the third brake light has been a little loose...it would drop down and I'd simply push it back up. Welp, pulling into my apartment complex tonight, I notice the 3rd brake light dangling....

Got out and had a looksie....it's broken on both sides!



Gotta take her into the dealer tomorrow.....sucks!

I saw a post on Vortex similar to this the other day. The brake light totally quit working. The fix was to replace the entire hatch. Apparently the spoiler is glued on & there's no way to get it off without cutting it.

EMB145Driver said:

I saw a post on Vortex similar to this the other day. The brake light totally quit working. The fix was to replace the entire hatch. Apparently the spoiler is glued on & there's no way to get it off without cutting it.

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Hmmm.. that's a serious issue when the car is out of warranty. What the hell was VW thinking???

That was a member here, I think.

The solution was really to just tear the spoiler off, and replace just the spoiler, but the owner reported that the dealer mentioned that "body work" would be involved and he simply wanted the entire hatch replaced so it would take less time.

Yea i read that
http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=946&highlight=brake+light

Took her to the stealership yesterday...

First off, not one of the tech had seen anything like this before. It's kinda funny watching VW tech walk over to your car and be like "whoa!" and "what the??"

The 3rd brake like is indeed part of the spoiler so the entire assembly must be replaced. Problem is there is not one anywhere in the USA or even Canada, so one must be ordered from Germany....who knows how long that'll take. Then they gotta get me into the bodyshop and replace the damn thing....again, who knows how long that'll take.

Just for now, one of the techs duct taped the light back into place just so I can drive the car safely until the new spoiler arrives. I was a bit hesitant when I saw him tearing off a piece of duct tape and head torwards my car, but they're replace what it's stuck to anyway, and i'd rather be safe with a third brake light than have it dangling and not visable.

EMB145Driver said:

I saw a post on Vortex similar to this the other day. The brake light totally quit working. The fix was to replace the entire hatch. Apparently the spoiler is glued on & there's no way to get it off without cutting it.

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The repair to to replace the spoiler, not the hatch. It is attached with adhesive. Remove I like all other parts with adhesive. Would you replace the door if the side strip needed replaced?

Auf Wiedersehen! said:

What the hell was VW thinking???

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It always amuses me when folks think they know more about how a modern car should be designed instead of the professionals.

NorthGTI said:

It always amuses me when folks think they know more about how a modern car should be designed instead of the professionals.

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Perhaps some of us have professionally educated backgrounds in engineering. I know I do. I for one am also surprised that they do it this way. What part up above don't you get about them having to send a whole new spoiler from Germany and not knowing how long that will take. That's 1. A big waste of their money for such a small part and 2. A major inconvenience to the consumer who now has to wait for the Germans to get a whole spoiler assembly over here. When in all reality, replacing a light fixture with a part that you already have in stock would be much more cost effective and efficient. Anyways, I'm not too surprised that others question this method of design. I think I read somewhere that another model had done it this way as well. Oh well, just my 2 pennies. Good luck on a speedy fix.

^ Thanks...

NorthGTI said:

It always amuses me when folks think they know more about how a modern car should be designed instead of the professionals.

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It always amuses me how some people can let brand loyalty get in the way of common sense.

Normally, any VW problem that NorthGTI sees is a myth, lie, or the owner is a whiner.

In the case of this spoiler design, let me help you understand why this is a bad idea, if for a moment, you can see through the heavy fog of blind loyalty.

1. Cost - this replace or repair will cost the owner nothing in warranty, but it will cost VW hundreds in labor, parts and shipping. If the owner is out of warranty...HELLO!!!! Can you imagine what this would cost?

2. Reliability - Should this light be burning out or falling out this quickly or AT ALL? A fix that should take seconds to remove 2 screws and an LED panel replacement now turns into a long affair that consumers will complain about. Ignore Consumer Reports, but they are still going to hear it.

3. Owner loyalty - the vehicle owner will not be pleased with either having the spoiler hacked off the car or the entire hatch replaced over a 3rd brake light, on a new car. I would be thinking twice about the whole deal if I had to go through this.

Of course, there are many more intangibles involved in this, and if this problem has shown up on a few cars, you can bet it is going to happen on a lot more that we haven't heard of.

So, in summary, this is a bad design. End of story.

*disclaimer

This post doesn't claim, in any way, shape or form that vehicle manufacturers other than VW are superior in design, including but not limited to spoilers. This is to merely discuss the simple fact that two screws make more sense than glue.

My .02...
This is not a burned out LED. It looks like the plastic around the screw holes cracked and broke. I don't see this as a design flaw, but a mechanical failure. Plenty of cars have odd design traits that may not make a lot of sense to the casual observer.

One thing everybody is focusing on is that it will be costly to repair. Perhaps, but there may be cost savings in the manufacturing process that offset the repair costs. We don't know. My gut feeling is that this light sustained previous damage and the normal vibrations and shocks of driving caused it to finally fail completely.

It's not blind brand loyalty that leads me to not consider this a design flaw or an example of poor quality. It's the fact that the plastic broke that makes me think that something hit the light/spoiler.

From the day I picked it up, the right side of the third brake light has been a little loose...it would drop down and I'd simply push it back up. Welp, pulling into my apartment complex tonight, I notice the 3rd brake light dangling....

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This statement backs that up.

This is to merely discuss the simple fact that two screws make more sense than glue.

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Until you consider that it may be less expensive to glue it on rather than put holes in the roof of the car, screw it into place, and seal it from any possible water leakage. Also, is it so hard to think that cutting it off, removing the glue, and gluing a new one on is better than removing the headliner, unscrewing the spoiler, pealing off the sealant, replacing it, screwing it back in place, re-sealing it, and replacing the headliner.

I meant screws in the light assembly attached to spoiler, not screws to attach the spoiler to the car.

It is attached by screws, just not externally accessible ones. :biggrin: It is not bad design, this is not a part that normally needs replaced. Plenty of cars have LED brake lights integrated into spoilers. (even Honda!!) They aren't held in with (visible) screws because it looks bad. Also, this problem hasn't shown up on a few cars, as you assert. One car had a wiring fault or something and one car had physical damage.

My point is, it seems like some people want to make something out of nothing or criticize a design when they don't have all of the facts. It irritates me that you come in here and say it is a bad design on the GTI to have to remove the spoiler when, in fact, this is the case on many cars.

My Honda has two screws in the LED light cover.

(You knew that was coming)

Again, I didn't say this was a bad VW design, as in it is exclusive to them or the GTI, but I will say that it is a bad design if anyone uses it.

Also, I can't remember a single factory Honda spoiler 3rd brake light that didn't have access via the cover, now that you mention it.

For the record, I didn't bring Honda into this originally, and I see my disclaimers are ignored!