New Beetle Parcel Shelf Design & Roof Problems

[gingercatbruce]

Help please !!! :? :x

I'd like to pick the brains of you VW expert owners out there about the design of the parcel shelf on the new VW Beetle Convertible. We bought a 2004 Beetle Convertible, from an offical VW UK dealer, last year and have been plagued with problems with the electric roof. Its been in to be repaired five times without ever being fixed !!!

I now realise that this is a serious design problem on this car as I have found numerous other posts describing exactly the same problems as we are having.

However, on the last visit back to the dealer we were told that the engineer "found" the 2 inch thin wooden tip of an umbrella and an empty coke bottle stuck in the mechanism. The dealer claimed that this had jammed and bent the mechanism and that this was why the roof didn't work. Despite reminding them that the roof had never worked properly they insisted that it was now our problem and that there was nothing else they could do but replace the whole roof at our, £3000, expense!!!

I'd like to ask whether anyone else has had problems with objects falling down into the mechanism? I know the design of the parcel shelf has been changed on later models, perhaps VW know this is a problem.

I know that a certain element of common sense dictates that items shouldn't be left where they could interfere with the roof, but we were never told this and couldn't find any mention of it in the manual.

Having taken legal advice we have checked the manual and it doesn't say anywhere about not leaving items on the parcel shelf, and we feel that this is more likely to be a way of VW getting out of admitting the serious issues with the original design of the roof mechanism and the problems that many other owners have encountered.

Your comments and advice will be much appreciated.

Thank you.

[Deserion]

You're correct, no mention of it that I'm aware of.

However, most convertibles (soft-top) have parcel areas that lend access to the mechanisms. The Golf Cabrio is the same way, as are other makes.

The shelf has to slope down at the sides to allow the top to fit in there neatly when folded. The mechanisms are more exposed on the 2005+ models, since there are no electric flaps to cover up the rails that fold by the back seat.

-Des