Breaking Cupboard Latches

ChrisHokitika · Apr 9, 2023

Is anyone else having problems with the latches on the upper storage cupboards breaking? We’ve had 2 break in 12 mths - both times the same lower front cupboard above the sink, and both time while driving on flat smooth highway. VW replaced it the first time under warranty and we’ll be making anothe claim tonight... There doesn’t seem to be any problem with the way the lock and cupboard door is fitted - it just looks like a really poor and weak design.

Mr T · Apr 9, 2023

ChrisHokitika said:
Is anyone else having problems with the latches on the upper storage cupboards breaking? We’ve had 2 break in 12 mths - both times the same lower front cupboard above the sink, and both time while driving on flat smooth highway. VW replaced it the first time under warranty and we’ll be making anothe claim tonight... There doesn’t seem to be any problem with the way the lock and cupboard door is fitted - it just looks like a really poor and weak design.

This was an issue with the early models, not sure how old your vehicle is, but certainly there were lots of issue with the catches being brittle on the first 2019/2020 models.
I personally have not had any catches break or fail, but mines a 2022 model.
Good luck getting it replaced, maybe the cupboard door needs adjusting too?
They “should” have a lock position, although many of mine don’t successfully do this, if once the cupboard door is shut you then slightly push the release catch forward (opposite way to opening it) it should click into a locked position.

Eber123 · Apr 9, 2023

I had one that broke on me. It was replaced by my VW dealer. For good measures he gave me 1x set (one for the upper and one for the lower doors) for free. Even though it happened only once I will take the spare ones with me on holiday.

Regards,
Eberhard

ChrisHokitika · Apr 9, 2023

Mr T said:
This was an issue with the early models, not sure how old your vehicle is, but certainly there were lots of issue with the catches being brittle on the first 2019/2020 models.
I personally have not had any catches break or fail, but mines a 2022 model.
Good luck getting it replaced, maybe the cupboard door needs adjusting too?
They “should” have a lock position, although many of mine don’t successfully do this, if once the cupboard door is shut you then slightly push the release catch forward (opposite way to opening it) it should click into a locked position.

ChrisHokitika · Apr 9, 2023

Mr T said:
This was an issue with the early models, not sure how old your vehicle is, but certainly there were lots of issue with the catches being brittle on the first 2019/2020 models.
I personally have not had any catches break or fail, but mines a 2022 model.
Good luck getting it replaced, maybe the cupboard door needs adjusting too?
They “should” have a lock position, although many of mine don’t successfully do this, if once the cupboard door is shut you then slightly push the release catch forward (opposite way to opening it) it should click into a locked position.

Ours is a 2022 model. Our doors/latches don’t have a lock position so the whole weight of the door is hanging off the (flimsy) latch which seems to be a big part of the problem. We’ve adjusted the hinges so that the door has minimal movement to minimise the impact load on the latch, but without making it a tight fit so the latch isn’t under any pressure. The dealer can repair it this time but we’re starting to look at how to fit an alternative design - perhaps the same as the latch design on the lower cupboards.

Mr T · Apr 10, 2023

ChrisHokitika said:
Ours is a 2022 model. Our doors/latches don’t have a lock position so the whole weight of the door is hanging off the (flimsy) latch which seems to be a big part of the problem. We’ve adjusted the hinges so that the door has minimal movement to minimise the impact load on the latch, but without making it a tight fit so the latch isn’t under any pressure. The dealer can repair it this time but we’re starting to look at how to fit an alternative design - perhaps the same as the latch design on the lower cupboards.

I should have stated only the lower latches have the lock position, although I’m not sure it does much. I’ve not had any issues with my latches breaking or cupboards opening whilst travelling.
Hope you get it resolved.

GCless · Apr 11, 2023

My GC was built in March ‘21 and I have never been entirely happy with the quality of the cupboard latches but the original dealer was not keen to change them when I pointed this out after my first trip. The latches feel much too cheap for an £80k+ van and the fact that their operation relies on repeated bending of the plastic led me to expect a fatigue failure at some point.

That point eventually came about 3 weeks ago half way through a 4 week trip around Spain/ Portugal when the latch on the lower cupboard over the sink broke. This is the most frequently used cupboard for tea/coffee, cups etc storage so you would expect it to fatigue first. Fortunately I had packed some self adhesive Velcro to bodge it closed till we got home otherwise I would have been banging my head on it and had stuff flying round the van.

The van is just back from the dealer who has replaced all the cupboard latches with ones of the same design but which feel much more robust. They were obviously well aware of the problem by now so I got to push back.

My expectation is that with the fundamental design unchanged, even with what feels like a slightly more robust version, the best I can expect is a longer duration till on if the latches fails under fatigue again. Meanwhile I will spend £60 getting an upper and lower spare to carry with me in place of the Velcro as I await the next failure of this deeply flawed design.

VW really ought to be fitting something of a much more professional design on what is supposed to be (and priced as) a top of the range campervan.

The Yorkshireman · Apr 12, 2023

GCless said:
My GC was built in March ‘21 and I have never been entirely happy with the quality of the cupboard latches but the original dealer was not keen to change them when I pointed this out after my first trip. The latches feel much too cheap for an £80k+ van and the fact that their operation relies on repeated bending of the plastic led me to expect a fatigue failure at some point.

That point eventually came about 3 weeks ago half way through a 4 week trip around Spain/ Portugal when the latch on the lower cupboard over the sink broke. This is the most frequently used cupboard for tea/coffee, cups etc storage so you would expect it to fatigue first. Fortunately I had packed some self adhesive Velcro to bodge it closed till we got home otherwise I would have been banging my head on it and had stuff flying round the van.

The van is just back from the dealer who has replaced all the cupboard latches with ones of the same design but which feel much more robust. They were obviously well aware of the problem by now so I got to push back.

My expectation is that with the fundamental design unchanged, even with what feels like a slightly more robust version, the best I can expect is a longer duration till on if the latches fails under fatigue again. Meanwhile I will spend £60 getting an upper and lower spare to carry with me in place of the Velcro as I await the next failure of this deeply flawed design.

VW really ought to be fitting something of a much more professional design on what is supposed to be (and priced as) a top of the range campervan.

Hi we had our catches all replaced on our 2020 van as part of a campaign/recall. We’ve had no issues but your right they aren’t what you’d expect.

britlandscape · Apr 14, 2023

The Yorkshireman said:
Hi we had our catches all replaced on our 2020 van as part of a campaign/recall. We’ve had no issues but your right they aren’t what you’d expect.

Have you any more details for the campaign/ recall so I can use them to discuss with my VW Workshop - warranty runs out in June so need to get any issues sorted Thanks

ChrisHokitika · Apr 15, 2023

The Yorkshireman said:
Hi we had our catches all replaced on our 2020 van as part of a campaign/recall. We’ve had no issues but your right they aren’t what you’d expect.

VW New Zealand has agreed to go halves with the dealer to replace our 2 broken latches this time “as a gesture of goodwill” but has advised that they won’t accept any further warranty claims from us for broken latches. They also provided some instructions for opening the compartment doors (basically push the door inwards first and be careful), which are attached. I’m interested to know if anyone else has seen these instructions.as its the first time we’ve seen them and they dont appear to be in the handbooks that were provided with the van when we purchased it. We've advised VW that we will continue to make claims should there be further failures with the latches.

I’d appreciate it if anyone can provide information on the previous recalls etc for these latches mentioned in other posts as the pretty clear message we’ve received from the dealer is that this is a one-off event caused by us not opening the doors correctly.

Mr T · Apr 15, 2023

ChrisHokitika said:
VW New Zealand has agreed to go halves with the dealer to replace our 2 broken latches this time “as a gesture of goodwill” but has advised that they won’t accept any further warranty claims from us for broken latches. They also provided some instructions for opening the compartment doors (basically push the door inwards first and be careful), which are attached. I’m interested to know if anyone else has seen these instructions.as its the first time we’ve seen them and they dont appear to be in the handbooks that were provided with the van when we purchased it. We've advised VW that we will continue to make claims should there be further failures with the latches.

I’d appreciate it if anyone can provide information on the previous recalls etc for these latches mentioned in other posts as the pretty clear message we’ve received from the dealer is that this is a one-off event caused by us not opening the doors correctly.

Not seen this before. Looks a bit of a home made document rather than an official VW released bulletin.
Assume it’s good practice to open in this way.

The Yorkshireman · Apr 15, 2023

britlandscape said:
Have you any more details for the campaign/ recall so I can use them to discuss with my VW Workshop - warranty runs out in June so need to get any issues sorted Thanks

Sorry I haven’t it went in for service and I was told the catches would be replaced and work carried out on the fridge latch. This was early 2921.

Karen.greaves · May 20, 2023

ChrisHokitika said:
Is anyone else having problems with the latches on the upper storage cupboards breaking? We’ve had 2 break in 12 mths - both times the same lower front cupboard above the sink, and both time while driving on flat smooth highway. VW replaced it the first time under warranty and we’ll be making anothe claim tonight... There doesn’t seem to be any problem with the way the lock and cupboard door is fitted - it just looks like a really poor and weak design.

Hi Chris, as a fellow New Zealander, I'd be interested in hearing how warranty issues on your van have gone.

We have had ours for just under a year and seem to have endless problems getting parts for warranty issues. Our van just came back from VW and 4 latches are broken, they clearly don't even teach their own workshop how to open the latches!

The salesman who sold us the vehicle showed us how to open them properly and we've had no issues until it went to get the rear roof brake light fixed (due to the leak in the seal), which involves removing the cupboards. It came back with 4 broken latches and half the ambient lights not working because they literally cut the LED strip in half ‍

.

We are fed up and will be taking the matter to VW New Zealand head office. Curious to hear if it's consistent with your experience or if we are just unlucky.

Feel free to email me on karen.greaves@+++++.com if you want to compare notes.

Any other New Zealanders with Grand California's feel free to reach out to me. Especially if you've found a decent VW dealership in NZ that knows how to repair these vehicles and can actually get parts reliably.

GrandCalif911 · May 21, 2023

Hello,
I have a 2021 model, and I broke 2 of them. I asked my dealer to replace them as warranty, it was 2 months ago, and I am still waiting for the parts to arrive... Apparently they don't have them anymore in stock...
I confirm, very cheap design !

ChrisHokitika · May 22, 2023

Karen.greaves said:
Hi Chris, as a fellow New Zealander, I'd be interested in hearing how warranty issues on your van have gone.

We have had ours for just under a year and seem to have endless problems getting parts for warranty issues. Our van just came back from VW and 4 latches are broken, they clearly don't even teach their own workshop how to open the latches!

The salesman who sold us the vehicle showed us how to open them properly and we've had no issues until it went to get the rear roof brake light fixed (due to the leak in the seal), which involves removing the cupboards. It came back with 4 broken latches and half the ambient lights not working because they literally cut the LED strip in half ‍.

We are fed up and will be taking the matter to VW New Zealand head office. Curious to hear if it's consistent with your experience or if we are just unlucky.

Feel free to email me on karen.greaves@+++++.com if you want to compare notes.

Any other New Zealanders with Grand California's feel free to reach out to me. Especially if you've found a decent VW dealership in NZ that knows how to repair these vehicles and can actually get parts reliably.

Hi Karen, we’ve had our van for 15 months and have made warranty claims for repairs to the sealing in the toilet/shower, replacement sink tap, replacement actuator on the engine air inlet system, replacement of bubbling black transfer around the windows on the van exterior, a leaking side window and 3 cupboard catches. It feels like a long list given the price of these vans.
We’ve had no particular problems with parts supply other than having to wait 3 weeks for the replacement transfer and engine actuator to arrive from Europe. We were never instructed on the correct use of the latches but I don’t think it would make any difference, as you’ll have noticed they are a very poor design with the weight of the door hanging off just a few mm of fragile plastic “hinge“. VW NZ has advised us that the latches are “for light duty only” and that they won’t be accepting any further warranty claims from us for them. We’ve replied that we will continue to make claims. Watch this space… The quality of work we’ve seen to date has often been below average in comparison to other (non VW) dealers we’ve experienced, with some further damage done during repairs, resulting in additional work being required. I suspect one reason is that the technicians are just not trained to work on the numerous and different van systems - they’re car mechanics. I could certainly have completed some of the work myself to a higher standard. Let me know how you get on with VW NZ.

Karen.greaves · May 28, 2023

ChrisHokitika said:
Hi Karen, we’ve had our van for 15 months and have made warranty claims for repairs to the sealing in the toilet/shower, replacement sink tap, replacement actuator on the engine air inlet system, replacement of bubbling black transfer around the windows on the van exterior, a leaking side window and 3 cupboard catches. It feels like a long list given the price of these vans.
We’ve had no particular problems with parts supply other than having to wait 3 weeks for the replacement transfer and engine actuator to arrive from Europe. We were never instructed on the correct use of the latches but I don’t think it would make any difference, as you’ll have noticed they are a very poor design with the weight of the door hanging off just a few mm of fragile plastic “hinge“. VW NZ has advised us that the latches are “for light duty only” and that they won’t be accepting any further warranty claims from us for them. We’ve replied that we will continue to make claims. Watch this space… The quality of work we’ve seen to date has often been below average in comparison to other (non VW) dealers we’ve experienced, with some further damage done during repairs, resulting in additional work being required. I suspect one reason is that the technicians are just not trained to work on the numerous and different van systems - they’re car mechanics. I could certainly have completed some of the work myself to a higher standard. Let me know how you get on with VW NZ.

Thanks Chris, sounds like your experience is about the same as ours. I got a response from VW head office after a detailed letter, and had a call with the Customer Manager. She apologized for what we've had to go through, and said she will chase the dealer on our behalf to resolve the remaining issues, and will refer us to a new award winning dealer in Taranaki for any future issues (we have just bought land there so moved out of Auckland where current dealer is). Will see what actually happens...

kpbrow · Apr 21, 2024

ChrisHokitika said:
Is anyone else having problems with the latches on the upper storage cupboards breaking? We’ve had 2 break in 12 mths - both times the same lower front cupboard above the sink, and both time while driving on flat smooth highway. VW replaced it the first time under warranty and we’ll be making anothe claim tonight... There doesn’t seem to be any problem with the way the lock and cupboard door is fitted - it just looks like a really poor and weak design.

Hi Chris.Yes our GC 680 is a 2022 model. We have two broken latches now, the latest on a trip from Taihape to Hawkes Bay. Haven't approached VW yet but had no Problems with a previous small warranty issue.

ChrisHokitika said:
Is anyone else having problems with the latches on the upper storage cupboards breaking? We’ve had 2 break in 12 mths - both times the same lower front cupboard above the sink, and both time while driving on flat smooth highway. VW replaced it the first time under warranty and we’ll be making anothe claim tonight... There doesn’t seem to be any problem with the way the lock and cupboard door is fitted - it just looks like a really poor and weak design.