Pop up roof.

[Hotel California]

Our Magolina roof tent has 2 internal bungees, there are loops sewn into the sides and you stretch them across and hook the bungy on before you let the top down. Just like the Cali roof it also suffers from air pressure blowing it out so we always stop just before it closes up and walk round and check for hernias...

I had a Hannibal roofbox-tent on my Defender back then and there where two elastics on each side inside . When crawling out the tent ( and it was on hands and feet) you needed to attach them together and they put tention on the canvas pulling it inside while closing the hatch....

 

[adinalee111]

I would not stitch anything into the fabric until the van is out of warranty, at least with the bellows bungee is you can easily remove it before you go into a dealer.

 

[andrew bazeley]

Don't feel bad - we've all done it! The first time I did it it actually cut the fabric, but an invisible tent patch did the trick. Reach up into the hatch and pull the bands inward when it's about halfway down. I recently tried the bungee - I reckon that 'll do the trick. I also tried not unhooking the Goretex liner this time. Now the whole process takes half the time.

 

[Punchy England]

I had this and it was because I opened one window on the windward side of the van and the passenger door on the top of Kirkstone Pass. Result roof bent like a dog's cock. (OK I know the rules) I found that I had buckled the roof and damaged the canvas. The dealer would not have anything to do with it but Customer Services VW paid for the repair, new roof paint match and new canvas. BUT they had just had the bad news of the emissions fiddling and were clearly looking for customer loyalty. The whole job was in the region of £6k

Oh by the way I now definitely walk around the roof about three times or more when lowering the roof. I am paranoid.

I had owned a camper before with a pop up roof that could be lowered in any wind conditions without a problem so VW's roofs are not that great.

I had actually got my insurance to CONSIDER cover for this.

Good Luck and enjoy wandering around the outside of the van in the dark in siling rain to watch if the roof goes down OK. Basically it is a design fault and VW should sort it.

 

[Kirk]

Totally disagree, it is not a design fault, my roof has been up/down hundreds of times and never been trapped, just like many others on here.

If you bring the roof down correctly it will never get trapped, more fool VW for paying for the repair.

 

[Hotel California]

Totally disagree, it is not a design fault, my roof has been up/down hundreds of times and never been trapped, just like many others on here.

If you bring the roof down correctly it will never get trapped, more fool VW for paying for the repair.

Sure it's totaly your own fault if you put a rip in the canvas.
Still VW could put more effort in a better disign , specially afther all the things they did upgrade on the 6-er , as they made it with a new diffrent canvas....they missed out on thatone

 

[Geezso]

I agree with Kirk. Too many of lifes hardships are made convenient these days. Follow the rules, take care and you should not have a problem.
Anyone taking down in the dark is clearly silly lol

 

[Sp0_0k]

The problem seems to be the lose material as the roof closes. ?

Doesn't look so in T6. There are pretty stiff guides that force it inside. And overall material is more stiffer.

 

[WooburnCalifornia]

If you bring the roof down as per the manual it will never get trapped, we are always ultra careful and our roof has also been up and down 200+ times and never had a problem.

User error... Not a design fault, sorry, we cant blame VW for everything

 

[Hotel California]

If you bring the roof down as per the manual it will never get trapped, we are always ultra careful and our roof has also been up and down 200+ times and never had a problem.

User error... Not a design fault, sorry, we cant blame VW for everything

Curious if you think the same once your 300th attempt goes wrong , it can happen in the blink,of an eye.
VW "could" have made the disign better , and seems they did on the 6-ers.

 

[Meoncoast]

and seems they did on the 6-ers.

could be a bit early to say -- no reported errors yet -watch this space

 

[larrylamb]

I think the later T5 models have more bands sewn in to help the fabric fold inwards. No problems yet with the bungy and I always watch the roof go down through the hatch until the last bit.

 

[andrew bazeley]

Further to my earlier post ("Don't feel bad - we've all done it... "), sounds obvious, but don't reach up into the hatch and pull the bands in while the roof is ACTUALLY MOVING! Stop it briefly while you're doing it. i daresay you'd thought of that, but I just had panic visions of somebody suing me for severed arms!

 

[GrannyJen]

I am a veteran of possibly 300-400 "roof lowers".

I have had my roof up and down in the wildest of conditions.

I "always" walk round.

It happened to me.

A phone call just as I was packing up, delayed, and a little bit distracted by the news I got from that phone call, perfect weather conditions, hardly a breath of wind, "oh, just drop the roof Jen, a quick "head in the hatch" to check it's alright will be enough".

It was only when I did my pre-departure walk round, to make sure nothing was connected or left unstowed, I noticed one corner of the roof raised and the distinctive buckle on the nearside of the roof.

how had it got trapped? No idea, perhaps the wrong window open for even the gentlest of breeze to puff out, seemed ok when I popped my head up through the hatch, but... there we go.

My fault. No one else's. It's happened. The buckle barely notices, to me because I know it's there and possibly to other Cali users who have had the same problem, but no one else will notice really. A bit of Magic tape will soon seal the tear. It's not compromised the van, it's performance, it's usefulness nor it's ability to put a smile on my face. It's happened, end of, now carry on camping and remember the advice that I always give to others...

"WALK ROUND".... the one time that I didn't... and it was this morning

 

[Jukebox70]

User error and obviously not covered by the warranty, do a search on here as it is very common

Well it was covered by warranty, all nicely repaired and new T6 bellows to boot.

 

[Jukebox70]

Over the weekend, we closed the roof in the normal way, not a windy day or any other adverse weather conditions. The roof closed fully, and off we went for a walk. On returning a couple of hours later I noticed a bulge appeared in the roof, rear passenger side. I then raised the roof and it appears that instead of the tent canvas collapsing inwards it collapsed outwards. Has anybody else had this same problem, and will it be covered under warranty? My California is only eight months old.

Update. All covered under warranty, repaired roof buckle and fitted new T6 bellows. Happy happy happy.

 

[T6 CFO]

Good news indeed.


Mike

 

[CannellWalker]

Glad you got lucky.

 

[PhilBroc]

Update. All covered under warranty, repaired roof buckle and fitted new T6 bellows. Happy happy happy.

Hello there,

Philippe here from the south of France. I'm currently having the same issue with my California (Dec 2017) and I'm struggling a bit to get this taken under Warranty by VW France.
Would it be possible to get the VW case/reference number for your issue ?
It will certainly help me a lot if I can prove that the same issue was taken under warranty in the UK !

Thanks in advance for your help,
Philippe.

 

[PhilBroc]

I was lucky enough to get mine replaced under warranty a couple of years ago.

Hello there,

I had the same issue with my new Coast here in France and would really appreciate any VW case/incident number that I could point out to VW France to show that the problem was covered by the warranty elsewhere in Europe.
I had the problem after 15 days only ! (hole in the canvas + bulge on the roof) and it will help me a lot to convince VW France !

Thks in advance for your help,
Philippe.

 

[Loz]

Hello there,

I had the same issue with my new Coast here in France and would really appreciate any VW case/incident number that I could point out to VW France to show that the problem was covered by the warranty elsewhere in Europe.
I had the problem after 15 days only ! (hole in the canvas + bulge on the roof) and it will help me a lot to convince VW France !

Thks in advance for your help,
Philippe.

Strictly speaking this is not a warranty issue, its user error, so the dealers are being kind if they are managing to get them passed as a warranty repair.

 

[PhilBroc]

Strictly speaking this is not a warranty issue, its user error, so the dealers are being kind if they are managing to get them passed as a warranty repair.

Thanks for your reply. I know this but I know as well that due to the fact that VW is aware of the issue, they managed to take it under warranty on several occasions. Therefore what I am looking for is VW incident number(s) where it was the case ... to help me convincing the local resellers.
A fact being that although it can be seen as user error (thks to the user’s manual) there is definitely a weakness which leads to the problem and more important the sellers here are not aware of it and are therefore not informing their customers ...

 

[BigMan]

I damaged my roof canvas and it was totally my fault, if I had followed the user guide instructions the incident would not of occurred.

I really can't see how this can be seen as a design fault, especially on the later T6 Cali's

 

[Loz]

Thanks for your reply. I know this but I know as well that due to the fact that VW is aware of the issue, they managed to take it under warranty on several occasions. Therefore what I am looking for is VW incident number(s) where it was the case ... to help me convincing the local resellers.
A fact being that although it can be seen as user error (thks to the user’s manual) there is definitely a weakness which leads to the problem and more important the sellers here are not aware of it and are therefore not informing their customers ...

So when you scrape your cali down a wall, will it also be a warranty issue because you have parking sensors that did not auto activate to stop you steering into it?
And will you also sue VW when you slam your fingers in the door?

I’m sorry you didn’t like my answer but I expect lots of others were thinking it I just happen to say it out loud.