VW Vento TDI (7 Months Old): Fuel Tank Lid Not Opening

[devvrr]

I am new to this forum and this is my first post. This post is not intended to be an ownership review, but I would just like to share information about an issue that I faced in my car. I could not find a section where owners can share issues faced with their cars rather than writing full ownership reviews. If this is not the right section for this kind of posts can some one please point me to the right section.

I have bought a Volkswagen Vento (TDI) in October 2013. I was happy with the car. But on 31st May 2014 when I went to a petrol pump for refueling, the fuel tank lid didn't open. The normal way to open the fuel tank lid is to press it while the car is unlocked. But that method didn't work this time.

I called up the Volkswagen on road assistance, but they could not do anything to solve the problem immediately. But they suggested me to visit a Volkswagen workshop. The problem was that an actuator stopped functioning. It was replaced free of cost by the workshop as the car was under warranty.

But the big question was, "how can such an important part can fail in 7 months old Volkswagen car?"

I was chatting with one of my colleagues who owns a Vento (1 year old now) and was surprised to hear that even he faced the same problem in his car, but he could open the lid after several attempts. He hasn't yet visited a workshop to get this problem solved.

 

[bharathbigb]

So True !! How can such an Important Part fail in just 7 Months ?? Please inform this Glitch to VW.This also proves the PDI has not been properly done in your VW.Please check it thoroughly.It may have small bugs that may develop into a bigger problem.Thank you

 

[Mr.Boss]

This is something alarming after hearing a similar issue reported by your colleague.
But one of the point to notice is, many of us are lazy to clean the area inside fuel lid. We do tank up and at some instance the fuel over flows and enters the gap at lock actuators. If you could notice inside the lid, there used to be lot of dust getting trapped at those gaps. This combined effect sometimes restrict the actuator movement. On repeated attempts it may/may not work (depends on our luck too) This is one of the reason I could see and experienced once. Should think about the other possibilities.

This also proves the PDI has not been properly done in your VW.

Nothing to do with PDI. If the concern wasn't addressed during PDI, he couldn't have opened the lid for past 7 months (Do you think he is opening the fuel lid for the first time after 7 months)

 

[furious_driver]

Nowadays, i am hearing a lot of weird complaints with VW cars and I personally feel, that VW India degrades it's quality depending on the country, where the rules are not crushing or law is enforced.

@OP
Have you escalated this issue to VW Sales India head?

 

[generalmax]

VW have become a favorite whipping boy in almost all the places ,thanks to their weird service strategy. They say "German Engineering" and sell the car ,but when it come to service the level is not up to the mark. Any mail you sent to VW national head will come back to the local dealer or service center. Now a days people have started living with this "engineering" fact. Just because of this the sales are dropping and VW themselves had cut down on their sales outlook for the future.All the best! Try making a good mechanic as your friend .

 

[cagebee]

so true.. recently i serviced my car in apple VW(1st service), they did not fit the air filter properly and during my drive to salem, the engine check light came ON and being a election day all the service center were closed, so called up salem ramani VW and they told me to drive till salem(i scanned the error with my ODB scanner and told the error code) so the technician told me to drive and not worry,
Once i reached there they were all ready and hooked my car to the system and diagonised the problem and fixed it promptly.
So some centers seems to be good, my BIL in chennai also has a vento, he too services in ramani VW salem,

 

[Crazy cat]

This is a serious problem. Imagine being stranded with your family far away from home because you can't refuel your car?

I had faced a similar problem, but with the boot in my 2011 Vento TDi. Was loading baggages into the boot while on a trip to Kerala and when i tried to close it, it wont close. Few more tries after adjusting the baggage made no difference. Then found out that the latch got stuck in the unlock position. Someone suggested to hold the unlock switch again but it didnt work. Finally, after holding the switch for a longer time, it made a weird sound and got released. It didn't occur again though.

 

[vijay]

The main question remains is still that how did that failed on the first place, what did the service centre gave the reasons for it being stucked?
What if that happened on highway or on a place where you cannot even drive till any nearby ASS.

@ CC, did you get it checked with the service centre after that incident, for it got stuck that ways?