Dash mats for Golf wagons / Golf 6

[Guest001]

Please dont put on a carpet dash mat. The poor quality of the dash material would have been the cause for your old Falcon's dash to crack, and likewise poor quality in your old Commodore. In fact, i used to work at Holden and it was very common for the passenger airbag section to be "peeling" on the VR/VS models.

The Golf has a beautiful soft touch dash that is muuuuch higher quality than your old cars and looks much nicer too. Don't cover it up with a dash mat. If you are worried about UV damage or heat then buy a sun shade and use that when you park the car.

Go to Supercrap and buy a silver windscreen sunshade and use that.. They only take a minute to put in place in the morning VW expressly told me not to use a dash mat on either of my cars.

[wai]

There are arguments on both sides of the dash mat debate.

I had a Torana for 22 years, and had no issues with the plastic being damaged by the sun. It is all good and well using a sun shade, but that doesn't help when driving for hours. The mat does have some beneficial effect on the A/C, however my Torana had no A/C, so I cannot say what the effect would have been on it.

I had a dash mat on my Hiace, and I can say that it did have the effect of reducing the A/C load. No matter how insignificant, a mat must have a beneficial effect on the dash material. The Velcro patches do not like sticking to most dashboards, however they seem to be getting better glue. Whether they stick or not, I have never had a dash mat slip off or slip at all. I do use it as one half of Velcro to attach an AlerteGPS magnet holder which saves me having to permanently glue the magnet on the dash.

Dealers probably have to say not to use a dash mat because the air bag deployment has not been verified with one. It does not mean that it will be adverse.

In the main, most manufacturers don't bother because they are more interested in keeping heat in rather than out. If Europe had temperatures like we have, then chances are that manufacturers will have tested them. It amuses me when I see manufacturers announcing that they are going to offer heated seats and heated steering wheels either as standard or as an option. I have lived in cold climates here, and I can tell you that the last thing I would want to spend money on is something to heat my steering wheel or to heat my seat.

It's all a bit like seat covers where air bags are fitted. You can get them so that air bags can deploy, but as the manufacturer has not tested them, they will suggest that you don't use them. Look at diesel fuel additives. My dealer told me that VW do not recommend the addition of anything to diesel, and they have no recommendation that a premium diesel fuel be used, but a fair majority will use one of these or both.