DerekU

Johngerard My Fabia’a umbrella in its protective fabric cover is 28cm long and the hard-plastic storage ’tube’ that is built into the door is 29cm deep. So, when the umbrella is pushed fully into the tube, the end of the knob that has the release-button on it is about 1cm inside the tube. When the release-button is pressed, the knob only extends by 2cm. As I said earlier, for the knob to reach the front of the rear door (and potentially jam behind it) the end of the knob must be a minimum of 10cm from the tube’s opening in the driver’s door. This means that, if the umbrella were closed up but the release-button had been accidentally pressed, the main ‘body’ of the umbrella would still have to poke out some distance from its tube before the knob contacted the rear door. To allow the closed umbrella to be so short, its frame (shown on the attached image) and the way it folds/unfolds is complex, and the handle does not extend beyond the initial 2cm until the umbrella’s frame has opened. I’ve tried various ways to provoke my Fabia’s umbrella into emerging from its storage tube or its handle to auto-extend, including not tidily folding up the umbrella’s fabric, then not fitting the velcro band and fabric cover, then pushing the roughly folded 'naked' umbrella into its tube and pressing the knob’s release-button. With the umbrella closed, I also tried pulling the knob hard to see if I could get it to extend more than the initial 2cm it moves when the knob’s release-button is pressed. Nothing succeeded: even if the umbrella was far enough out of its tube for the end of the knob to touch the edge of the rear door, it still wouldn’t extend any further of its own volition. As far as I can see, if there is no ‘mechanical’ fault with the umbrella, even if it is not in its fabric cover nor had the velcro band fitted, it will be impossible for it to open (and its handle to extend) until most of the umbrella’s body is out of the storage tube.

With my Fabia Mk4 , when the umbrella is housed in the driver's door with the umbrella's handle in its fully closed position, the handle of the umbrella does not protrude at all from the door's 'umbrella compartment'. To reach the front of of the passenger door (and thus prevent the driver's door opening) the umbrella's handle needs to move backwards from the umbrella compartment more than 10cm/4". Based on your experience (and the incident mentioned by Johngerard) the 'door jamming' issue clearly can occur, but - as John has said - it's hard to see how unless a serious fault develops with the umbrella's opening mechanism. Can you replicate the problem that happened with your car's umbrella? There must be tens of thousands of Skodas that have an in-door umbrella, but the only references to it opening and jamming the door I can find online are the two in this forum's topic. If there is a design/manufacture problem with the umbrella, Skoda should be made aware of it.

The Lane Assist "Troubleshooting" guidance in my Fabia Mk4's Owner's Manual reads as follows: So, if there's a windscreen wipers-related fault, it seems not unreasonable that this might disable operation of Lane Assist. Regarding the warranty, the answer Skoda gave to the FAQ "Can I go to a non Skoda retailer for servicing?" was You are of course free to choose where you have your vehicle serviced. However, we would always recommend that a Škoda Retailer is used as they receive full training in the servicing of Škoda vehicles and are kept up-to-date with technical information. Having a service completed at a non-franchised retailer will not in itself invalidate the warranty. However, should any difficulty arise that is deemed to be as a direct result of incorrect/incomplete servicing, any remedial work required would not be covered under your new vehicle warranty.

A heads-up... The fuel-filler flap on cars is not (normally) designed to provide waterproofness and, when it rains or the car is washed, water will find its way into the compartment area behind the flap. My 2009 Skoda Roomster's fuel-filler compartment has a drain-outlet directly below the filler-cap. The outlet's bore is quite large and any water collecting in the compartment rapidly drains away and disappears harmlessly behind the rear wheel-arch's plastic liner. My 2024 Skoda Fabia Mk4's fuel-filler compartment also has a drain-outlet, but this is in an 'indent' to the left of the filler-cap and, more importantly, the bore of that drain-outlet's 'hole' is much smaller than the Roomster's. Consequently, if there is any dirt/debris in the water that enters the Fabia's fuel-filler compartment, there's every chance that the drain-outlet will clog up and a pool or water will then form. To avoid this happening, it's worth occasionally cleaning a Fabia Mk 4's fuel-filler compartment drain. I use a length of thin plastic-covered electrical wire as shown in the image below (and obviously remove the wire from the drain afterwards!)

My Fabia Mk4's umbrella has a Velcro band around it so that, even when the umbrella's protective fabric 'sleeve' has been removed and the release-button on the handle pressed, although the handle springs back a short distance, the Velcro band stops the umbrella opening. (On hit-man assignments, when I have a micro-Uzi hidden under my Fabia's driver's seat, the plastic umbrella-holder in the driver's door is perfect for holding the weapon's silencer.)

I agree... This link relates to UK-vehicle reverse lights https://agri-lighting.co.uk/vehicle-lighting/reverse-lights/ and this to rear fog lights https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1989/1796/schedule/11 My RHD 2009 Skoda Roomster has the mandatory single rear fog lamp on the UK driver-side, but has reverse lights on both sides. The Roomster's bulbs are P21W-type and have a significantly brighter output than the LEDs in my Fabia Mk4's small single rear reverse/fog light-unit. There is no legal imperative preventing Skoda fitting 'working' rear fog/reverse light-units on both sides of a Fabia Mk4, but it would be more expensive to do so. It's been suggested that it would be possible to 'cross-wire' a Mk4's working rear fog/reverse light-unit to the non-working unit on the car's opposite side so that both units function. However, it's clear (on my Mk4) that the rear reverse light on the passenger side is 'empty' with no LEDs in it, plus adverts for secondhand UK Fabia Mk4 rear fog/reverse light-units show that a 'working' unit has built-in cabling, whereas a 'non-working' unit has no cabling. So in order to double-up a UK Mk4's light-units, it would be necessary to replace the left-hand 'non-working' unit with a unit suitable for a LHD Mk4 and then cross-wire. Returning to the 'bulbs' question, I have confirmed that there are three light sources (hence 3 bulbs) in the main rear light-units and I'm now confident that the amber direction-indicator bulb is a wedge-base 958 WY16W as shown here: https://www.skoda-parts.com/catalog/fabia-4/service-interval-parts/bulbs-700.html I'm comfortable that a wedge-base 501 W5W bulb might be used for the rear position ('side') lights. Logically, I would have thought a wedge-base 582 W21W bulb would then be used for the brake-lights, but it is generally advised in online adverts that a bayonet-base 382 P21W is the correct bulb! Only way to be sure would be to remove the rear light-unit and check, but I'm not going to do that unless I have to...

This was asked about here in 2023, but did not elicit the information requested. An image in the "Tail light assembly" section of Fabia Mk4 Owner's Manuals SUGGESTS that the light-unit has 3 bulbs (which, as the unit provides brake, direction and position functions, would make some sense). On my 2024 car the direction-indicator bulb is easily visible. It is amber and 'round-headed' (so possibly a PY21W type). The other bulb(s) are impossible to see with the light-unit in situ. I've studied several photos showing the rear of the light-unit (example here) but (so far) I have not been able to identify any obvious bulb-type identification markings. Many (pessimistic) car owners will either carry spare bulbs or at least record the bulb-types that are needed should replacement be required. As the "Replacing light bulbs" section in the Owner's Manual begins "You may replace the following light bulbs yourself" and only bulbs in the front fog-lights and in the tail light assembly are referred to, one might reasonably expect the Manual to specify the bulbs that would be needed, rather than a Fabia owner having to remove a failed bulb in order to identify it. If brisF1 is going to replace a bulb in his car's rear light-unit, perhaps he could check whether the unit carries any bulb identity-markings, or (if not) check and identify the bulbs themselves.

Unless a Fabia Mk4 has 'full-LED' rear lights, the car will have ordinary bulbs in the left and right main light-units that are in the bodywork on each side and removal of the light-unit (and the bulbs) is adequately covered in the Owner's Manual (search online Manuals for tail light assembly ) though the specification of the bulbs themselves is not stated. The main light-units provide brake, direction and position functions. For right-hand-drive cars, in the tailgate ('hatch') the right-hand (UK 'offside') light-unit provides fog and reversing lamp functions using LEDs, while the left-hand tailgate light-unit does not operate and (I'm pretty sure) has no electronic parts in it. This was discussed in this 2024 Forum topic https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/526779-changing-to-rhd/#comment-5887502

Does the Skoda recall campaign website still show a Please contact your authorized service partner message when you enter your car's VIN-number? There is a gov.uk recall website GOV.UKCheck if a vehicle, part or accessory has been recalledCheck if a vehicle model, part or accessory has been recalled because of a fault in how it was madebut the data are hopelessly flawed where Skoda Fabia Mk4 vehicles are concerned. (I recall using a DVSA safety-recall application in the past that not only provided details of what the recall was for and the number of vehicles involved, but also specified the VIN-number range(s) of those vehicles.)

The 'car info' on @bertJ's forum Profile is unhelpful, but the content of his earlier postings indicates that his Fabia is a Mk 4 SE L model that was brand-new in mid-2025. He bought the car in late-2025 when the vehicle was 6-months old and had a mileage of 700. In the 2024/2025 forum topic I provided a link to in my yesterday's posting, owners of Fabia Mk 4 models observed that Skoda's recommended 'normal load' 2.5bar (36.25psi) inflation-pressures for the Fabia's front and rear tyres (15"/16"/17"/18" wheels) was unusually high (for a small 'family' hatchback car) and, consequently, translated to a firm/harsh ride quality - which is definitely the case for my own Fabia Mk4 SE L on some of the UK's badly-surfaced roads. In the final posting of the 2024/2025 forum topic I said ...The recommended pressures are indeed high, but that does not mean they are somehow wrong and, if Fabia Mk 4 owners choose to use lower pressures, there is nothing to prevent them doing so. If driving on UK's poorly maintained roads at UK legal speeds, reducing the sticker pressures by 0.2/0.3 bar (3 to 4psi) should be fine, but, if I were regularly cruising a Fabia Monte Carlo at 200kmh on a German unrestricted autobahn, I'd definitely choose to use the sticker pressures.... I echo Evolution13's advice, but I suspect that - to produce a really significantly softer ride on UK roads - a drop in pressure to at least 2.0bar/29psi (front and rear wheels) would be required. The recommended inflation-pressures for my 2009 Skoda Roomster's 15" tyres are 2.2bar/32psi (front) and 2.1bar/30psi (rear) and, when the pressures naturally drop over time or in cold weather by (say) 0.2bar/3psi, I can (usually) notice the difference when I begin to drive the Roomster on roads I'm very familiar with. But my 2024 Fabia's ride (at the 2.5bar tyre pressures) is noticeably firmer than the Roomster's and (although I haven't experimented) I'm pretty sure I'd need to reduce the Fabia's pressures well down to make a major ride-quality difference.

This 2=page forum discussion (that began in April 2024 and concluded in November 2025) may be worth wading through.

Are you sure? I think your Fabia has the smaller "Bolero" (non-navigation) infotainment display-screen, whereas my Fabia has the larger "Amundsen" (navigation) unit. If I follow zzee's advice I get a list of instrument cluster menu options, but these do not include trip-resetting UNLESS I scroll the screen down when two extra options appear that allow short and long trip data to be reset.

Online Skoda Owner's Manuals can be found here https://www.skoda.co.uk/apps/manuals/Models and the most recent English-language Manual for Fabia Mk4 cars has a 'Production period' of 2026/3 and the Manual that downloads has an Issue date of 30.3.2026 A downloaded Owner's Manual has a search capability (click on magnifying-glass symbol at the top of the homepage) and searching for trip counter in the 30.3.26 Manual directs to "Settings" in the Virtual Cockpit" section. As my 2024 Fabia does not have the Virtual Cockpit (VC) I cannot check what those actions actually do. But when earlier Fabia Mk 4s like mine had the the (optional) VC, the trip-related guidance in the Manual matched the image above.

Fitting ring-type 'connector leads' was discussed in this earlier forum thread https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/533259-ctek-ct5-startstop-battery-charger-12-v-and-why-i-bought-it/#comment-5951535 that included a photo of a CTEK MX-5 battery-charger connected to my car's battery with the standard crocodile clips. The snag with fitting ring-type connectors (which I had done with my previous 2021 Hyundai i20 MHEV that had a really large starter-battery parasitic drain) is that, with a Fabia Mk4, doing this will normally disconnect the battery and some work will then be needed to recover settings. This may not matter much and can be sidestepped, but it's something to bear in mind if a new owner is not technically oriented and does not take this into account. My 2024 Fabia is similarly my first car with a starter button since owning a Turner Sports Mk2 in the 1960s. I've never owned a Morris Minor, though I have driven them and I did work for a while in the 1970s with an American who had acquired as an investment one of the 30 Morris Minor "Million" models made in left-hand drive. Regarding Morris Minor reliability, I recall the need for regular greasing and the model's propensity for front suspension trunnions to become detached if that was not done. I well remember seeing a Minor languishing at the roadside with one of its front wheels folded up under the wheel-arch.

Slightly off-topic, but this recent YouTube video may be of interest as it covers replacing a Skoda Fabia Mk4's 49Ah EFB starter-battery wth a larger-capacity battery. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFP-L-Y93JA If a Mk4's starter-battery is to be charged, it's perhaps worth mentioning (based on my own experience) that it can be tricky getting a firm grip on the battery's positive (+) terminal (image below) using the type of crocodile-clip connectors that battery-chargers normally come with. I also notice on the video that, when a (longer) 60Ah EFB battery was installed, the 'fuse-plate' that sits on top of the battery was at a slant, so fitting an even longer (large capacity) battery might not be practicable without modifying the cabling.