Discussion regarding T6 ONLY roof corrosion

[Smiffy4bikes]

I will check mine when I pick it up next week (Ocean) from SMG Cowfold.

I emailed my dealer about this yesterday, and received a reply almost straight away. I was assured that they have not seen, or been aware of, any T5’s or T6’s with any corrosion issues.

And, worst case scenario, should there be any problems that arise with my vehicle in the future, they will be rectified straight away.

I’m sure that those who have had a corrosion issue may perhaps have their own opinion on this, however, personally speaking, I am perfectly happy with the response I received from SMG regarding my own vehicle.

 

[Meoncoast]

my dealer about this yesterday, and received a reply almost straight away. I was assured that they have not seen, or been aware of, any T5’s or T6’s with any corrosion issues.

Well funny that as they inspected my t5 roof and started the claim process with VW

 

[Grey one]

I will check mine when I pick it up next week (Ocean) from SMG Cowfold.

I emailed my dealer about this yesterday, and received a reply almost straight away. I was assured that they have not seen, or been aware of, any T5’s or T6’s with any corrosion issues.

And, worst case scenario, should there be any problems that arise with my vehicle in the future, they will be rectified straight away.

I’m sure that those who have had a corrosion issue may perhaps have their own opinion on this, however, personally speaking, I am perfectly happy with the response I received from SMG regarding my own vehicle.

I am getting my new vehicle serviced there and they also commented that checking was an easy process and removal would not be detrimental to the effectiveness of the seal. Removal of seals in general is apparently common to route cables etc during after market additions. Not sure if that includes the roof but they were quite happy to do this.

 

[BerndRos]

I will check mine when I pick it up next week (Ocean) from SMG Cowfold.

I emailed my dealer about this yesterday, and received a reply almost straight away. I was assured that they have not seen, or been aware of, any T5’s or T6’s with any corrosion issues.

And, worst case scenario, should there be any problems that arise with my vehicle in the future, they will be rectified straight away.

I’m sure that those who have had a corrosion issue may perhaps have their own opinion on this, however, personally speaking, I am perfectly happy with the response I received from SMG regarding my own vehicle.

OMG...they say never seen or aware of any roof corrosion issues....that simply can't be possible as it is so widespread.

They are a VW garage ?....sorry I jest.

 

[Meoncoast]

They are a VW garage ?....sorry I jest.

but they could not find a fault in my Moo value

 

[snowy55]

I emailed my dealer about this yesterday, and received a reply almost straight away. I was assured that they have not seen, or been aware of, any T5’s or T6’s with any corrosion issues.

This is an out and out LIE.

Get used to this sort of attitude from VW and their dealers.

Well funny that as they inspected my t5 roof and started the claim process with VW

And this proves that they are liars

And this is what we have had to put up with for the last 2 1/2 years from VW and their dealers.

 

[larrylamb]

I will check mine when I pick it up next week (Ocean) from SMG Cowfold.

I emailed my dealer about this yesterday, and received a reply almost straight away. I was assured that they have not seen, or been aware of, any T5’s or T6’s with any corrosion issues.

What a porker, they used to be big sponsors on this forum and staff contributed regularly so I'm sure they are well up to date with the forums long running "roof corrosion"thread.

 

[kaf2546]

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/rusty-cars-why-theyre-not-thing-past

Calis based on a van and typically vans have a lot harder mechanical life than cars and manufacturers don't really expect them to last beyond the point of starting to rust anyway (e.g. check out 2010 Sprinters, body terrible but probably on 400k) so probably don't bother with as much in the way of anti-corrosion as they do on cars, maybe Ocean a bit better, who knows... I'm not burying my head but not losing sleep either. Like a few, I'll time it until end of warranty, wait the 2 years to get it fixed, another year later a few bubbles will join the various car park dings and I'll still be parking up in it to climb some remote mountain.

 

[leightonjthomas]

Well funny that as they inspected my t5 roof and started the claim process with VW

Same here!

 

[GrannyJen]

OMG...they say never seen or aware of any roof corrosion issues....that simply can't be possible as it is so widespread.

They are a VW garage ?....sorry I jest.

They check my roof every time I pop it in...

 

[Jabberwocky]

@Smiffy4bikes This sounds like duplicity or at best a very badly informed sales executive. This needs to be brought to the attention of VWCS. I am happy to do that as I think it needs a controlled/coordinated approach as I believe an individual approach will simply be brushed aside/disregarded. I am in the process of collating a database of all T6's reported here that have roof corrosion issues with a view to ultimately talking to VW directly about a solution. Please let me have details. Currently I have the following data (you will/might have seen earlier) but if you know different/have some additions please let me know details. I bring this post to the attention of @Martin @WelshGas and @SusiBus for information.


Of course you should continue to pursue your claims with VW or their agents/distributors but it would be helpful if you keep me informed of your journey!

 

[2into1]

I emailed my dealer about this yesterday, and received a reply almost straight away. I was assured that they have not seen, or been aware of, any T5’s or T6’s with any corrosion issues.

I don't know whether to laugh, cry or scream.

 

[SusiBus]

Smiffy,
Is it someone at SMG that told you that they had not heard of roof corrosion on the T5 and T6 ?

Looking at the pictures of snowys bubbling, it shows brown stains which indicate the possible presence of rust as well as aluminium corrosion.

I can confirm that the VW part number for the rubber seal around the roof is the same for the T5 and T6 so it hasn't been modified for the T6. The possibility of replacing the rubber seal with one without a metal insert was something that we raised at a meeting at VW back in October 2014 but for whatever reasons this obviously has not happened.


I really do not understand how this issue can still be continuing with the T6, because the possible ongoing costs of respraying T6 roofs must far outweigh the cost of finding a solution which surely there must be one.

 

[sbmcd]

They check my roof every time I pop it in...

I asked VW Edinburgh to check mine last year, said it was OK but they did not remove the seal, maybe worth asking them specifically to do this next time.

 

[Martin]

I think people need to be checking the roof themselves and not relying on dealers to check them, the majority of dealers will not even know what they are looking for.

 

[Jabberwocky]

I asked VW Edinburgh to check mine last year, said it was OK but they did not remove the seal, maybe worth asking them specifically to do this next time.

Next time please check with them. It's all too easy for them to push this problem into a time frame which is outside or normal warranty. Please excuse the cynicism!

 

[Bramco]

I asked VW Edinburgh to check mine last year, said it was OK but they did not remove the seal, maybe worth asking them specifically to do this next time.

We asked VW Leicester to check ours on the first service after 2 years. They said they couldn't because there was no procedure for doing this! We're with some others on this thread that we'll wait until just before the warranty is due to expire and check then. Apologies to those of you that believe we should be checking earlier than that.

We have checked all the way round (without removing the seal) and also on the front section and there's no signs of corrosion yet. As I said earlier of course we carry around a big piece of 2x4 to stretch our luck.

 

[sbmcd]

We asked VW Leicester to check ours on the first service after 2 years. They said they couldn't because there was no procedure for doing this! We're with some others on this thread that we'll wait until just before the warranty is due to expire and check then. Apologies to those of you that believe we should be checking earlier than that.

We have checked all the way round (without removing the seal) and also on the front section and there's no signs of corrosion yet. As I said earlier of course we carry around a big piece of 2x4 to stretch our luck.

I understand the 6 year gesture of good will was made to this group by VW, I personally have not seen a document to support that, if anyone knows where that is I would like a copy as VW Edinburgh suggested yesterday it was 3 years. If you have to rely on the vehicle warranty you only have 3 years. My van had no external signs after 2 years and 10 months but under the seal was covered in bubbles along both sides of the roof, you need to get that seal off.

 

[Grey one]

Smiffy,
Is it someone at SMG that told you that they had not heard of roof corrosion on the T5 and T6 ?

We asked VW Leicester to check ours on the first service after 2 years. They said they couldn't because there was no procedure for doing this! We're with some others on this thread that we'll wait until just before the warranty is due to expire and check then. Apologies to those of you that believe we should be checking earlier than that.

We have checked all the way round (without removing the seal) and are there beilso on the front section and there's no signs of corrosion yet. As I said earlier of course we carry around a big piece of 2x4 to stretch our luck.

We asked VW Leicester to check ours on the first service after 2 years. They said they couldn't because there was no procedure for doing this! We're with some others on this thread that we'll wait until just before the warranty is due to expire and check then. Apologies to those of you that believe we should be checking earlier than that.

We have checked all the way round (without removing the seal) and also on the front section and there's no signs of corrosion yet. As I said earlier of course we carry around a big piece of 2x4 to stretch our luck.

That's very interesting. Only this week I spoke on the phone to a certain knowlegable dealer representative who indicated a willingness to remove the seal at any point in time, suggesting it was easy and little different to removing any other seal. Let's not forget, there is a vast range of knowledge regarding the California within dealerships let alone the depth of knowledge between people with differing roles. This only highlights the need for precision, clarification and validation in any questions we put to VW on this matter.

 

[B J G]

Not certain on the Cali warranty as it's under the commercial arm but found that VW quote 12 warranty on through boy corrosion as 12 years. I was quoted 10 years by my local dealer.
A copy of the paragraph>
Body protection warranty
All current Volkswagen vehicles are fully protected during manufacture against through corrosion for 12 years from the date of first registration.

taken from here- http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/owners/warranty/factory/terms-and-conditions

Van version here-/www.volkswagen-vans.co.uk/aftersales/warranties/description#warranties.

Seems as others have advised, get any corrosion logged with VW as soon as seen to avoid any chance of being outside their terms & conditions.

 

[Grey one]

I understand the 6 year gesture of good will was made to this group by VW, I personally have not seen a document to support that, if anyone knows where that is I would like a copy as VW Edinburgh suggested yesterday it was 3 years. If you have to rely on the vehicle warranty you only have 3 years. My van had no external signs after 2 years and 10 months but under the seal was covered in bubbles along both sides of the roof, you need to get that seal off.

The following is a quote from a dealer to myself concerning this. When provided with it, I didn't pay much attention as he refers to the T5 not T6.

"Paint related claims on California T5 were on vehicles produced up to the end of 2013.
Affected customers were offered a 6 year warranty of goodwill from the brand from date of registration."

I think that knowledge came from a particular employee at the dealership who had an historic relationship with the T5 scenario. If you go back to your dealer I would imagine they could easily validate this?

 

[Bramco]

The reason I mentioned them saying there wasn't a procedure was in the hope that if the forum can get VWCS's attention on this then procedures and dealer training should be one of the aspects that is pushed for. For Cali's each service should include the check - don't hold your breath on this ever being the case of course.

And as an FYI I think Leicester are actually pretty good as regards knowledge etc. They certainly didn't try to imply there wasn't a problem - just that they didn't have a procedure (now that might be a clever way of fobbing us off) but as above if we can get any traction with VWCS this ought to be something that is brought to their attention.

I know there are folks on the forum that have met VW about this issue, so am assuming that they will pick up this up and run with it. If not then of course we'd be prepared to help in any way. Could anyone involved dig out any correspondence from when the meeting took place?

 

[Martin]

I know there are folks on the forum that have met VW about this issue, so am assuming that they will pick up this up and run with it. If not then of course we'd be prepared to help in any way. Could anyone involved dig out any correspondence from when the meeting took place?

We are currently talking to @SusiBus Graham, he was the original person that had all the dealings with VW head office.

 

[Loz]

Not certain on the Cali warranty as it's under the commercial arm but found that VW quote 12 warranty on through boy corrosion as 12 years. I was quoted 10 years by my local dealer.
A copy of the paragraph>
Body protection warranty
All current Volkswagen vehicles are fully protected during manufacture against through corrosion for 12 years from the date of first registration.

taken from here- http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/owners/warranty/factory/terms-and-conditions

Van version here-/www.volkswagen-vans.co.uk/aftersales/warranties/description#warranties.

Seems as others have advised, get any corrosion logged with VW as soon as seen to avoid any chance of being outside their terms & conditions.

I think the word "through" refers to corrosion that goes through ie. perforation and does not include surface bubbling.

 

[B J G]

I think the word "through" refers to corrosion that goes through ie. perforation and does not include surface bubbling.

Quite agree about the word 'through' but usually alloy corrosion when investigated has gone through. I was also noting that VW were referring to internal box sections.
Certainly now concerned as my T6 hasn't arrived as yet. When this was raised with my Dealer response was that it was an 'historic' problem.