eGolf parts availability

[kenward]

On July 7th, I was involved in a chain reaction crash, with me on the rear end of the chain. The airbag went off and VW Assistance immediately came onto the car speakers asking me if I had been in an accident, since their monitor said my airbag had deployed, should they call 911? I didn't expect such a prompt response, but that was really nice! They did a fantastic job of coordinating 911, CHP, ambulance.

Airbag note: since I was holding the steering wheel at it's natural 9 - 3 position, when the airbag went off, the plastic cover opened like a flower. A flower with razor sharp leaves, lacerating the back of both hands. Look at your hands. See all the blood vessels? Lots of blood comes out when they're cut. No broken bones, no stitches needed, 3 weeks until they had healed. CHP recommendation is to use the 8 - 4 position and to always wear glasses (even sunglasses). This is supposed to minimize the chance of eye/hand damage.

Three weeks later and my new eGolf is still in the repair shop. As of today, the repair time is indefinite. I was told that there are no front bumpers and no airbags in the entire USA or Germany to be found. Sorry sir, but this is a new model vehicle and the manufacturer does not have sufficient spares, nor can they tell us when there will be spares.

This car was leased, not purchased. Impact speed was about 20mph, down from 65mph; ABS works. Current estimate is $12K ($9K parts + $3K labor), covering everything forward of the leading edge of the front tires.

Wonder if 2015 gas Golfs and Golf TDI's share the same parts, so are they impacted by the same parts availability?

Ken
San Jose, CA

 

[NeilBlanchard]

The front grills are unique to the e-Golf, and so are the lights, I think. Sheet metal is largely similar.

Cuts from the airbag cover - that is not good. Steering at 8 and 4 o'clock positions is not great - they need to redesign the way it deploys.

 

[anesthete]

A flower with razor sharp leaves, lacerating the back of both hands.

Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch

Three weeks later and my new eGolf is still in the repair shop ... This car was leased, not purchased.

That's effed up. VW shouldn't be collecting a month of lease payment when it's their fault it's undriveable. What does VW Customer Care say?

 

[kenward]

VW Customer care has really stepped up to this challenge, especially Libby. Once I contacted VW Customer care and the case was assigned to Libby, she has phoned me *every single day* with an updated status.

Current status is that they believe to have located an eGolf drivers airbag in Germany. It may arrive before the end of next week. We'll see.

VW Customer Care asked yesterday if I'd financed the eGolf through VW Finance (yes). Because of that, they'll be sending me a check(s) to cover my lease payments, until the dealer gets all the parts they need from VW, to repair the eGolf. This would not have happened if I'd bought the car outright or financed it through my bank or credit union.

I've been w/o the car for 5 weeks at this point. Once all the parts arrive it will probably take another 2 weeks to complete the repair. The repair shop the dealer uses, employ an inside-out technique. That is, they do all the work inside the passenger compartment, then do all the under hood repairs, finally completing with the exterior. They're a little unhappy because they've been storing my car, buying and storing all the parts, unable to begin work until the drivers airbag arrives. Think this is called "lost economic opportunity."

Good thing I have a BMW motorcycle to cover my commuting needs in the meantime!

The other good news is that I negotiated the lease to cover 15,000 miles per year, which would just barely cover my commute. With the car in the shop for this long, I'll end up with over 2000 miles to spare.

 

[RonDawg]

Long parts waits for newly released models are not unusual, and even more so for low-volume cars like EVs. Leafs that were purchased early in the production cycle and then crashed often sat for months before being repaired. Glad to hear VW Credit will reimburse you for the time the car is waiting for parts; I'm not sure if that was done for Leafs that had a long wait.

 

[kenward]

I thought the plan for the 2015 Golf series was to use as many common parts as possible, between the eGolf, gas Golf, Golf TDI.

Thought that the drivers (and all) airbags would be common. Wonder if gas Golf and Golf TDI owners are also waiting on airbags.

 

[RonDawg]

When I was in high school, one of the kids got a new Scirocco Mk II for his 18th birthday. The car was so new that when someone backed into it a week later, breaking one of the lights, he had to wait for some time for a replacement part to come in from Germany. My Honda Accord, which bodystyle only came out the year before, had a month wait for a new quarter panel to be flown in from Japan.

So this problem is not new and not limited to EVs. I suspect it would be even worse now with "just in time" parts availability that car manufacturers are using now vs. 30+ years ago.

 

[s4alex]

Well, I guess I shouldn't feel too bad.

I went in for a noisy front passenger window. I assumed it to be a faulty regulator and I was right as that is what they needed to order.

1 week later and its still not here and I still don't have a car. I have a loaner, but its still costing me gas and my lease payment I will have to make.

Going to have to make call tomorrow and find out the status.

 

[kenward]

Updating this post: The accident occurred on July 6th and I didn't get the car back until October 2nd. Very nearly 3 months off the road, waiting for one thing after another. VW Customer Service did the best they could, but if there are no spare parts available because it's been allocated for a car on the assembly line, you're just going to have to wait.