Plastic plate covering the diesel tank fell off

[Sunny43.5]

I think the problem here is that not every scenario can be covered when vehicles are designed overseas lets face it they have rain in Europe too but as I have read on this thread [and some one can correct me if I am wrong] the latest T5,s apparently do not have the same protection the older T5,s have . I have just had a look under ours and they have plastic engine cover which is tucked under the rear bottom edge of the front bumper , it then runs back and finishes in line with the rear of the transmission there are plastic covers then each side full length these are complimented with some alloy heat shielding the fuel tank is only partially covered accross the front end only the rest of the tank and its support starps 3 are exposed. The other problem and this is not only a VW fault is that most of these fittings that hold these parts in place are VERY STUPID in design .
I see this a lot in my line of work in the motor industry the good old days where a car was built with metal parts with either a nut welded to the parts or a hole for a screw have been replaced with a large hole just formed where a screw would go it then has a plastic insert for the fitting to screw into these are okay up to a point but not as strong as a proper bolt or screw into solid metal !!!! You should see some of the nightmares I have to deal with in the interiors of modern cars there are many models where the whole roof trim and grab handles sunvisors interior light etc do not have single screw to hold them into the car . The problem is that its all geared around the easiest an cost effective way of assembly , those "bolts" that hold the plastics to the underside are probably not bolted on to the car each parts has the inserts assembled on a bench etc then the robot or fitter just pushes it into place obviously its quicker for the factory with money saving for them but we the consumer still pay a premium for our cars . Profits up for the manufacturer cost for consumer up as well , Okay some of you are going to say Howards whinging again but believe me if half of you could see for yourselves some of these supposedly smart ideas that are included in cars today you would be on my side [ and yes I have been back to VW] for parts that have fallen off and been told that its not waranty. It is a well known fact that Australia has some of the worlds worst roads and highways so whatever testing that is done overseas can still not always match up with what we put up with . Here ends the rant !!! Howard

[jfoldbar]

I think the problem here is that not every scenario can be covered when vehicles are designed overseas

i disagree. humans have been designing cars for a hundred years. you would think they would have nutted out all the problems by now.
they can design a car that cools the fuel before it goes to engine (not really important) but they didnt think to clean the diesel before it went to engine(important). this is just one of the many things that designers either overlook or dont care about that are important for a car. like being able to park on a hill. theyve made cars with handbrakes for 100 years, and considered them important. met a guy with a new isuzu auto. no handbrake. i didnt believe him so he showed me. can not park on hill. how dumb is that.
i think i could rant just as hard as you howard. new things look nice and drive nice when going (thats if they go) but so many important things just seem to be not cared about any more. like you said its all about money and stuff safety and everything else.

[Sunny43.5]

Thank you one more on my side

[brasstinman]

The questions are:
Did the cover fall off due to a defect in the cover?
or
Did the cover fall off due to an impact (whether it be water or a solid object in the water)?

If it was not due to a defective part, then how is that VW's fault?
If you drive in a flood, and the electrics get toasted in your van.......is that a warranty problem?

Another question, Do you only go to your dealer when there is a warranty problem, or do they do all the servicing also?

There was nothing in the water and I can't say if the cover was already partly off when it happened and the water just finished the job. But when I stuck my head under while it was up on ramps at home the way the covers are installed isn't all that good.

The water was pooled up the side of the gutter as the road falls off to the left. It certainly didn't make the Multivan deviate from it's path so it wasn't that large a puddle. It's not like it was a river crossing or rapid in which you'd expect the Multivan to come off 2nd best.

If it wasn't a defective part then I don't blame VW, I'm a little disappointed with service manager who failed to call me back when he said he would. I had to chase him up...

We took our Multivan to a specialist VW mechanic for it's 15,000 service. We had a blow valve which needed to be replaced under warranty so we took it to the dealership we bought the car from, they found the fault and replaced it quickly. The same dealership I went to for the cover plate.
We have our 30,000 service coming up in 5,000 but we'll take it back to our specialist VW mechanic because they give impeccable service and really look after the car like it's their own. I trust them working on the Multivan.

Anyway I'm going to whinge about the cover plate anymore because it came off, it's not covered under warranty because they can't prove it wasn't already damaged/defective before I took on the puddle so I have no choice but to pay for it myself which I will when we take it in for it's next service.

I just think the build quality on this Multivan isn't up to the standard I'd have hoped for. While it's got refinement I think the quality is lacking in areas where they use plastic coverings under wheel archers etc. Even my wife pointed it out when we first got the Multivan how it looked a little cheap where the plastic isn't flush in places.

We had a T3 before this and the quality on that I feel as much better. More metal and less plastic mean things were more sturdy.
You know that's the way of the world and we have to just keep replacing things more often than we used to. Comes with the decision of owning a newer vehicle.
I loved our T3 but I also love our Multvan, it's nice owning a new car with all the perks that come with it even though it isn't as perfect as fussy me would like.

[Sunny43.5]

Like I said earlier the older vans ran circles around the later models on the way they were constructed, and yes I would acknowledge there are some technical aspects of the new ones have made our vans joy to own and drive , but that still does not mean that they are not without faults . And it seems that the simplest of things can give the biggest headaches , .

[Transporter]

Do you only go to your dealer when there is a warranty problem, or do they do all the servicing also?

I know you didn't ask me but, I never went to the dealer (Solitaire Automotive) for servicing and they fixed many things under the warranty in our cars, with the courtesy car waiting for me, even washed it and vacumed it. Some broken thinks were of the similar kind as the OP's fuel tank cover.