Where Your Author Will Need Another Post-headliner Service Visit
Hello! We’re back again with another installment of the Golf Sportwagen Follies. In our last update, I’d dropped off the Golf for its second new headliner after a sunroof drainage issue caused some considerable water damage. Just under two weeks later (this past Friday), I received the “All finished!” call from the dealer and went over to pick it up a couple of hours later.
What I found afterward was less than impressive. Let’s have a look, shall we?
I noticed some of the issues below immediately upon checking out the car, while still at the dealer. The manager there assured me that she and another person had looked over the work, but they hadn’t spotted the issues I noticed. The headliner’s installment and fitting was less than good in several places. I know you all love seeing the details of my pain, so it’s all laid out here for you. Headliner problems first.
I noticed three total headliner issues when I got home and had a chance to get pictures. There was some particularly bad fitment around the rear driver’s side door light, and both vanity lights up front had the same sort of visible fabric edge on one side.
These were the only headliner issues noticeable enough to get a picture, but there was also some slightly wavy-looking fabric around the other interior light trims. Once I get it back I may be able to smooth that out by hand.
But the headliner issues above were not my primary area of concern. No, my primary problem was the damage caused by careless handling of the interior panels during the headliner transplant. We’ll separate the problems by color today, tan ones first. These panels were unmarked before the dealership visit, so the damage stood out pretty easily.
The first image is on the passenger side at the rear door trim, a panel between the door and the rear seat. Looks like it was gouged with a screwdriver, or drug along a sharp edge for four or five inches.
Second image is the B-pillar trim, where I suspect that the airbag logo needed to be removed to get access to a screw or fastener behind. Must’ve been difficult to remove, so just jab at it with a pointy object.
Now the damage to black plastics, all at the rear cargo area. The double scratches are along the side of the D-pillar.
Chunks were taken out along the left and right side of the cargo area as well, shown above and below. All damaged panels were most definitely caused while the car was in for this headliner swap. I was assured that they’d order new panels for damaged places, and give me a call when the parts arrived.
At the time I left the dealer I’d noticed only the B-pillar and rear door area scratches, as I couldn’t get fully investigative until I got home. I followed up with an email Friday afternoon and included these photos, but it was near the end of the day so I’ve yet to hear back as of writing.
Needless to say, I’m less than pleased that the car was returned to me with an improperly or incompletely fitted headliner and damaged panels that weren’t there prior. We’ll see if the dealer can make this right, and I’ll let you know exactly how long that takes. Meantime, the scraped-up Golf sits in the drive awaiting its new panels.
[Images: Corey Lewis / The Truth About Cars]
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
More by Corey Lewis
Comments
Join the conversation
I am glad I don't own a German car. Even my wife's nephew who works as a service advisor at a BMW dealership says that the newer BMWs have a lot of issues and that they are expensive to fix. Corey's VW is a nice looking wagon but I am happy that my wife has a CRV.
To add to the above misery: 1997 Toyota Camry with 4 cylinder. Took it to the local Toyota dealer to get the timing belt replaced at 75k miles. Engine knocked like crazy afterwards. Took it to a local repair shop, which stated belt was routed incorrectly and replaced with another new belt. Ran fine afterwards. Now I understand most engines use timing chains which are critical for variable valve timing (VVT).