DerekU

The Skoda 'configurator' for UK-specification Fabia cars currently indicates that five brands of tyre (Continental, Goodyear, Kumho, Laufenn, Nexentire) may be factory-fitted depending on the particular model and wheel-diameter that the buyer has chosen. 15" wheels may have Continental, Goodyear or Kumho. 16" wheels may have Goodyear or Nexentire. 17" wheels may have Laufenn or Kumho. 18" wheels will have Laufenn. I'm sure that the contract that the buyer signs will have a clause warning that the vehicle's specification is not set in stone and that the manufacturer has the right to change it. (I was at a Skoda dealership last Wednesday and there was a brand-new 130 in their showroom. The car had Continental tyres...

What size and make of tyres are you planning to fit to the 17"-diameter wheels? The 18"-diameter wheels fitted as standard to the Fabia 130 carry 215/40 R18 tyres, whereas the tyres fitted when a Fabia Mk4 has 17"-diameter wheels are 215/45 R17. I wouldn't have thought that dropping the wheel diameter from 18" to 17" and fitting tyres that have the same width but a 45 'height' (rather than a 40 'height') would offer a worthwhile increase in pothole protection. For that you'd need to go to something like 215/60 R17, but that would look odd and there might be under-wheel-arch clearance problems with the 130 model.

My 2024 Fabia Mk4 has non-adaptive (ie. non-matrix) LED headlamps, an example of which is shown in the attached image and the DRL comprises a 'strip' of LEDs along the headlamp's lower edge. As DRLs are continuously illuminated while a car is being driven, using (normally!) long-lasting LEDs for them, instead of bulbs, makes some sense. Unfortunately, LED DRLs rapidly became a design 'fashion statement' and integrating them into a headlamp-unit means that LED DRL failure often means that the whole (expensive) headlamp must be replaced. This advert suggests that the control-unit for a Fabia Mk4's LED DRL and LED turn-signal may be replaceable https://xenonpertutti.com/gb/centraline-xenon-originali/led-module-b342998-e-skoda-fabia-iv-left-headlight-drl-and-turn-signal-replacement-control-unit.html but, if the DRL strip itself had failed, a replacement headlamp-unit would almost certainly be required. A Skoda dealer should be able to confirm whether or not repair is possible.

I believe it is your wife's Fabia you are referring to and that the car was bought new in 2024 and is a SE L model with 1.5litre motor. My own Fabia was also bought new in 2024 and is the SE L model (though with 1.0litre motor). It had the Skoda-badged umbrella in the driver's door storage compartment when I collected it. The umbrella's Skoda Part Number is 3V0 860 353 C 9B9 and this ebay advert an example. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/236687787882 This link is to a 2022 CAR Magazine article CAR MagazineSimply Clever or simply the British weather? Skoda rolls...Need an umbrella? Want a new car? Buying a Skoda could fulfil both desiresIt said Which models, I hear you ask…Buyers of the Octavia will be able to specify umbrellas in SE versions and up, but they’ll have to pay £25 for the pleasure. Fabia and Citigo models, in SE trim and above, will have the perm-protectors fitted as standard. In April, when I was at a local Skoda dealership, they had a new Scala in their showroom. I remarked to the saleslady that the car was missing its 'aero' wheel-trims and she replied "This model does not have wheel-trims". I said "Where are the wheel-nut covers and the wheel-centre Skoda badges, then?" and she said "In plastic bags in the boot" raising the hatchback lid to confirm this was indeed so. So, it's possible that, when a Fabia Mk4 is delivered to a UK Skoda dealership, an umbrella is not present in its door and either comes separately or (as mentioned earlier) should be provided from the selling dealership's own parts department. The Skoda 'configurator' indicates that all current UK-specification Fabia Mk4 models have the umbrella as standard. It MAY be that, when the Fabia Mk4 was first marketed in the UK in 2021, the umbrella was standard on some models, but a cost-option on others. However, there seems little doubt that, when your wife bought her Fabia SE L in 2024, it SHOULD have come with an umbrella. I'm guessing that you've asked your wife about this and she said "I didn't know it should have an umbrella". If a Skoda buyer is unaware of this "Simply Clever" (!!!) umbrella feature, they almost certainly won't look for it. (I recently asked my neighbour about the door-stored umbrella in the new Skoda Enyaq he obtained a few months ago and he said "I've tried using it as an experiment, but probably shan't bother again". I then asked "Does your Enyaq have an umbrella in the passenger door?" and he replied "I haven't checked - how many umbrellas does one need?")

This 2017 BRISKODA forum thread mentioned a 2014 Yeti's reversing camera image being 20cm '****-eyed'. https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/425625-reversing-camera-adjustment-alignment/ and this YouTube video describes reversing camera calibration using ODIS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d34u0C_VSA My Fabia Mk4 does not have a reversing camera and - as the Hyundai i20 that preceded it had one - I miss it! I never checked the i20's camera system for accuracy, but I don't recall ever relying on it for reversing into a tight place. I like to think that Its guide-lines were reasonably correct or I would have noticed (maybe!) I would have thought that - like fitting a telescopic-sight to a rifle - a reversing-camera system will need re-calibration if it's found to be inaccurate.

All UK-specification 2026 Fabia Mk4 models will have LED headlights and there are two types - 'basic LED' or 'adaptive LED'. I THINK that 'adaptive LED' headlights were standard on 2026 Monte Carlo and 130 cars, but all other models had 'basic LED' headlights as standard with 'adaptive LED' headlights as a cost-option. The 2026 Fabia Mk4 Owner's Manual exterior lighting-related section includes the following guidance My 2024 Fabia Mk4 has 'basic LED' headlights (ie. without adaptive functions) with the usual UK 'left-hand traffic' dipped beam-pattern that lowers the beam-angle and aims it leftwards with a significant 'kick-up' on its left-hand end to illuminate a road's verge. If my car were driven in 'right-hand-traffic' (eg. in France) that 'kick-up' would have the potential to dazzle ongoing drivers. (If I asked a Skoda dealership for assistance, I assume they would suggest I fit temporary beam deflectors like "Eurolites".)

This earlier forum discussion may relate... https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/538090-backup-battery-trouble-code-b1916f4/

Is this the sort of boot-sill protector you are looking for? https://www.carnoisseur.com/products/details/rgm-rearguard-to-fit-skoda-fabia-rbp1370?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=1670715078&gbraid=0AAAAADp-aY_X3G2OI9Moj8aG4fb-ikIjo&gclid=CjwKCAjwx7LSBhB3EiwAjcodxOiZiEoz3bKtd4ZbPAzK1EGDydNKibLG8JC6GwHvShcHrFq_HFlmYBoCwo8QAvD_BwE

Umbrellas provided as original equipment to recent Skoda cars are manufactured exclusively by the DOPPLER company. There should be a Skoda Part Number label on the umbrella's frame and the umbrella handle's end should carry proof that it is a 'genuine' product, either using a moulded plastic Skoda 'badge' (as on my Fabia Mk4's umbrella) or the embossed word "SKODA" as shown here. In the latter case, I THINK that particular umbrella is only provided for higher-end Skoda models and may have Doppler's Smart-Fold or Smart-Close mechanism. But neither of the Skoda OEM umbrellas has the capability to spontaneously open/extend and jam the driver's door. It's clear from the photo that Johngerard posted above that the umbrella that could extend itself was not a Skoda OEM product, so the Skoda company cannot be blamed for the resulting accident. Telescopic umbrellas that closely resemble the Skoda OEM umbrellas can be obtained for just a few quid, but buyers may regret doing so if the umbrella self-opens and jams a door.

The photos in your 2nd posting above show the same umbrella as the one supplied with my Fabia Mk4, except your umbrella has a green "doppler" label on its cover and mine does not. It's evident from this (Bulgarian) advert https://krik.bg/products/cad-r-skoda-scala-2019-1-0-tsi-444a055c1 that this umbrella has been fitted to Skoda cars for some time and (as you've said) it has a moulded Skoda 'badge' in its handle's end. To further identify that this is a Skoda part, the umbrella has a label on its framework carrying the reference 3V0 860 353 C 9B9 And (on my umbrella) the reverse side of that label has a date-code indicating it was manufactured in September 2023 (not long before my Fabia was built). This July 2024 article https://psi-network.de/en/2024/07/17/sustainable-partnership-doppler-umbrellas-take-a-seat-in-skoda-cars/ included the following statement Specially developed by doppler for the car manufacturer, the new Škoda umbrella made from environmentally friendly materials combines innovation with ecological sustainability. In the future, it will be an integral part of the equipment of many Škoda cars and reliably protect the driver and passengers from the rain. So it may be that (since 2024) Skoda cars have had a different design of Doppler umbrella. But whether this might have the potential to 'self extend' from the door pocket is anybody's guess. (My neighbour recently acquired a new Skoda Enyaq. I'll ask him sometime what type of umbrella it has.)

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.)