Low frequency 'boom' in cabin

[mork23]

Still keeping an eye on this thread for any resolutions.  Every morning on the school run I experience this and it's annoying but bearable.  As soon as I head off though music goes up and I couldn't give a monkeys...

 

I've a 65 plate VRs TDI hatch just over 1k on the clock.

[MadsB]

Hi

I was interested to read this thread. I am about to buy a new car and I decided that the Skoda Octavia 1.4 TSI SE ticked all the boxes for me. I went to the local dealer in Horsham and I have road tested four cars so far. As soon as I tested the first, which was a brand new estate version, I heard the boom which people describe. It is exactly the same noise that I used to get when the kids opened the rear windows of my old car when driving on the motorway and it actually hurts your inner ear.

I told the sales guy and he didn't really comment. I then test drove another estate this time with 11,000 miles on the clock and got exactly the same noise as before, on the same stretches of road. I though that it was probably the estate body causing a problem so decided to opt for a hatchback.

Yesterday I went back (different day, different weather conditions) and drove a nearly new demonstrator (auto box) and another car with 11,000 miles on the clock (manual and both hatchbacks) The both had the noise to varying degrees. I used the same test route each time and the noise occurred in the same places. The least noisy was the hatchback demonstrator. Some cars had spare tyres some didn't (I didn't really make a note as I hadn't read this thread at that stage).

On Friday I drove back home on the same route in my Toyota Avensis Estate and yesterday I used my Ford Focus. Neither of them made the noise. Interestingly we took a decibel meter with us on the second test drives. The Skoda Octavia hatch registered 61 Dcb in the cabin at 30 MPH while the Ford Focus ( a 2012 model) registered 72 Dcb. The Skoda is noticeably quieter to drive.

Today a Skoda dealer in Milton Keynes phoned me because I had expressed an interest in a car there previously and when I mentioned the "noise problem" he knew exactly what I was talking about and told me that Skoda have not sorted it yet. I think Skoda have lost me as a customer. It is a shame as it is a nice car otherwise.

I would love to know if anyone has found a fix yet.

Maybe your equipment is not able to messure such deep frequency?

Samsung S5

[heavyrightfoot]

SOLVED for me at least, after having 4 Octy mk2s I just got a nearly new "management" mk3 2.0tdi hatch with 3500 on the clock, booming/ air pressure noise was terrible at low speed over any road imperfection shellgrip etc as others have said.

 

Rang dealer told them I couldn't live with it, they said they hadn't come across it before (yeh yeh!), anyway they took it in and lo' and behold skoda UK overnighted new spring loaded stops for the sides of the boot and a new latch which is a good 5mm lower than the original. got it back with a complimentary set of new mats   and it's like a different car. Boot goes down really solid and no more boom.

 

I have tried to put in pictures without success but will keep trying.

 

IMO They know about this problem but are trying to avoid a recall.

 

If you've got the boom go back to the dealer. for this fix first.

OH NOOOO! still noisy   I have been living with the modified boot for a few weeks and it has got rid of the worst of the "woofing" noise from the boot lid, but unfortunately not all of the low frequency pressure noise, I have had the engineer out to test drive it again and at around 40mph it still booms and makes my ears ache (even with the radio on!). They acknowledge the noise and are going back to Skoda Technical who they said were "interested" in the feedback on the original fix.

[jsgreen89]

OH NOOOO! still noisy   I have been living with the modified boot for a few weeks and it has got rid of the worst of the "woofing" noise from the boot lid, but unfortunately not all of the low frequency pressure noise, I have had the engineer out to test drive it again and at around 40mph it still booms and makes my ears ache (even with the radio on!). They acknowledge the noise and are going back to Skoda Technical who they said were "interested" in the feedback on the original fix.

 

I think you and me are having an almost identical situation!

Update on my fix:

 

So my car went in with Skoda for a total of almost 2 weeks while they looked at the problem. The good news (if you can call it that) was that when one of the technical guys was taking it for a test drive, he had to return shortly after due to feeling sick from the pressure / booming in the cabin, so this went some way to making them take it quite seriously!

 

After looking at it for a few days they spoke to Skoda Technical for quite a while and got the spring-loaded stoppers delivered and fitted, along with the new boot latch. They initially only fitted the sprung stoppers, but found they didn't make a huge difference without the boot latch too. Now that I have the car back I can safely say that the obvious booming at lower speeds (30-40mph-ish) is improved quite nicely. However... on my commute of around 50 minutes (mainly motorway) I still get the pressure sensation in the ears, which I think is a cumulative result of lots of little pressure changes from the boot still moving. You can still hear the booming, but it's less noticeable, and shifted to a slightly higher frequency, but the effect is still apparent after a longer journey.

 

The technical department promised to keep looking at it if it wasn't fixed, so I suspect they'll have to go back to Skoda Technical and see what can be done next..

[aki78]

I have just checked 2 brand new O3 Combi at our company.

Car 1: lid can be closed with a drop from min. 30-40 cm. Opening is with a noticeable "pop" sound. Correct.

Car 2: closing is too easy (possible with a drop from 5 cm). No "pop" when opened, just the motor noise. Lid is easily moveable when closed. Crap setting from the factory.

Mine was like car 2, I had the annoying booming on bumps. The lid was shaking on bad road surfaces and the boot nicely amplified it.

I did buffer and striker plate adjustments on mine which solved the issue completely.

80% of the noise was gone and the remaining was transferred to a higher and less annoying frequency.

Now the noise level from the back is just like in my previous Golf mk5, normal.

It seems that Skoda doesn't care too much about correct adjustments. :(

[aki78]

This is my video about my adjusted boot lid.

The first part illustrates the correct buffer adjustment.

The second part is about the correct striker plate position (pop sound of the lock).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvRnZ_Qwz3s

[aki78]

This is my video about my adjusted boot lid.

The first part illustrates the correct buffer adjustment.

The second part is about the correct striker plate position (pop sound of the lock).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvRnZ_Qwz3s

Unfortunately I don't have "before" video.

[snala]

The parts they replaced on mine are the parts you describe on yours, I'm pleased yours hasn't got the boom!.

 

The new parts seem to be hard plastic and have a very stiff spring loaded damper in the parts fitted to the boot lid so hopefully won't loosen, so far I'm still pleased with the fix.

 

Are these rubber coated or just plastic?

If just plastic they'll rattle and squeak after a while.

My hatch built end of July has rubber ones with little bumps on. Hatch closes very firmly, no rattles or booming.

I've had the replacement plastic buffers in my hatch since Sep 2014 and they don't rattle or squeak. They are spring loaded so can't rattle which is the point of them. There wasn't a revised latch at that stage and it fixed the booming problem in my car so I'm still happy from that angle. 

If you have the noise, get them, it's free so why not. I'm surprised they are not standard on all the new cars just in case, be nothing cost wise to VAG.

 

These cars are very air tight too as you can tell when closing the boot with the windows up so any movement will change pressure, make sure the vents in the boot on the sides aren't obstructed too. I wonder if some drivers use their air con on recirculate also which may make it worse too?

Edited 27 November, 2015 by snala

[Graemer147]

I've had the replacement plastic buffers in my hatch since Sep 2014 and they don't rattle or squeak. They are spring loaded so can't rattle which is the point of them. There wasn't a revised latch at that stage and it fixed the booming problem in my car so I'm still happy from that angle.

If you have the noise, get them, it's free so why not. I'm surprised they are not standard on all the new cars just in case, be nothing cost wise to VAG.

These cars are very air tight too as you can tell when closing the boot with the windows up so any movement will change pressure, make sure the vents in the boot on the sides aren't obstructed too. I wonder if some drivers use their air con on recirculate also which may make it worse too?

I had my spring loaded ones fitted earlier this week and have noticed the booming is more or less gone now so they do work, I too haven't got the revised latch so have to shut the boot with plenty of force or it remains loose and moves! To be fair the revised spring loaded ones do not even have a part number and my dealer knew nothing about them all he said was they requested feedback. This tells me this is a beta part and us issued for testing purposes, however they work so I am happy!

[Gerrycan]

 

These cars are very air tight too as you can tell when closing the boot with the windows up so any movement will change pressure, make sure the vents in the boot on the sides aren't obstructed too. I wonder if some drivers use their air con on recirculate also which may make it worse too?

 

The air vent is remarkably small and the airflow route to it seems tortuous too. I have no idea how it copes with the boot blind in place and the fan on maximum.

Could you explain how using recirc would make it worse? Hardly use recirc myself anyway

[jsgreen89]

Car is going back in this week for further investigation.. I'm still hoping that the boot fix in conjunction with extra tweeks will somehow do the trick. But my conclusion so far is that the new spring boot stoppers plus latch have helped, but not fixed the problem to a level that makes it tolerable.

Also as a side note I tried experimenting with driving without parcel shelf and back seats up/down but no improvement :(

[octavianestate]

Tyre differences here are a red herring. We don't all drive alike we don't all carry the same payload and our driving styles certainly all differ.

Push your car to its limit (on track) and you may notice how a tyre behaves at temperature. On a greasy ****e Road then unlikely. Car test drivers here I'm sure will disagree and rightly so having some experience and authority.

My car does not boom. It has other 'issues'. To me this is clearly a quality problem. Changing tyres like underpants and suspension may suppress the cars problems but inherently it's a flawed design.

Of course no car is perfect, all have some issues etc, but this brand have more issues than most in ALL aspects of their design. I did consider that as it was a Czech car and the perceived bottom rung of the group a lack of quality is normal. I'm advised on here that quite a few of the brands with the group share components. Thus I can only deduce the same design issues exist some £10k to £30k further up the price range.

To get to the point I see the existence of the group is to solely satisfy the fleet market whereby shifting large quantities of units repeatedly without any concern over quality and overall driver satisfaction. Big brother knows better...the so called emissions debacle suggests this

[oasisphonic]

Tyre differences here are a red herring. We don't all drive alike we don't all carry the same payload and our driving styles certainly all differ.

Push your car to its limit (on track) and you may notice how a tyre behaves at temperature. On a greasy ****e Road then unlikely. Car test drivers here I'm sure will disagree and rightly so having some experience and authority.

My car does not boom. It has other 'issues'. To me this is clearly a quality problem. Changing tyres like underpants and suspension may suppress the cars problems but inherently it's a flawed design.

Of course no car is perfect, all have some issues etc, but this brand have more issues than most in ALL aspects of their design. I did consider that as it was a Czech car and the perceived bottom rung of the group a lack of quality is normal. I'm advised on here that quite a few of the brands with the group share components. Thus I can only deduce the same design issues exist some £10k to £30k further up the price range.

To get to the point I see the existence of the group is to solely satisfy the fleet market whereby shifting large quantities of units repeatedly without any concern over quality and overall driver satisfaction. Big brother knows better...the so called emissions debacle suggests this

 

I had well documented (on here) issues with booming and cabin pressure, with my brand new vrs in the summer, after the first fix to change boot stoppers failed and i was told to wait until the autumn for further help,  i lost patience and paid to get out of my deal with skoda and went to audi (much abuse on here for that, both in forums and in private).

 

I accept the whole "you are paying for the badge" argument to an extent, i think you are, but i have also paid for no booming, no pressure problems, no bizarre intermittent electrical faults . . . so far anyway (not saying Audi are perfect)

 

I think the recent skoda hatchbacks are just poorly designed and skoda technical are working on the "throw enough **** at the wall and see what sticks" approach to their root cause analysis / preventive actions. 

 

For all the people stuck with their cars though i hope they get it sorted soon, not sure how it isn't more of a scandal in the automotive world? its a definite safety issue.

[jsgreen89]

Just to keep people updated on my case..

 

Car went back to Skoda again for more tests, they tried swapping out the wheels (i.e. to smaller alloys so should be softer ride), changing boot seal, and even taping the boot closed.. All made little-no difference. They've now said that Skoda Technical have escalated it further, but the dealership has agreed that things are unlikely to move further, and they accept that this is not acceptable for us. So things are now moving towards me handing the car back. Hopefully I'll have this settled by the end of the week. Luckily despite all the troubles my dealer have been very good at least, so I'm confident they'll do the right thing.

 

So not a good outcome for people still suffering I'm afraid. I'm convinced it's such a significant design flaw that it can't be corrected without some radical action..

[Gerrycan]

 

So not a good outcome for people still suffering I'm afraid. I'm convinced it's such a significant design flaw that it can't be corrected without some radical action..

It is only a design flaw if it occurs on every Octavia, and it doesn't.

Some of the things they have tried are logical and others are obviously pure guesswork.

I wonder why they have not tried changing the whole boot lid from one that is not experiencing the problem?

[GAFF]

It is only a design flaw if it occurs on every Octavia, and it doesn't.

Some of the things they have tried are logical and others are obviously pure guesswork.

I wonder why they have not tried changing the whole boot lid from one that is not experiencing the problem?

I wonder if Skoda have one of those 3D imaging scanning systems that was shown in the live programme about making the Mini.

It might be very useful for comparing a good & bad car.

[Croat]

I must say I don't have this problem. I think? Is there any sound or video recording of this thred issue?

[Gromle]

I dont have the booming either.

Has anyone with left side steeringwheel reported this problem? I can only remember seeing people from UK or Ireland having this issue.

[iphonik4]

I dont have the booming either.

Has anyone with left side steeringwheel reported this problem? I can only remember seeing people from UK or Ireland having this issue.

Nope. Same issue on czech forums..

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[glosrich]

Nope. Same issue on czech forums..

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What's the link to the Skoda forum in Czech?

 

I speak a little, so might be able to understand it.

[MadsB]

It's also the same problem in Denmark

Samsung S5

[Srejber]

What's the link to the Skoda forum in Czech?

I speak a little, so might be able to understand it.

Stálý dunivý zvuk v interiéru při jízdě

http://forum.octaviaclub.cz/index.php?/topic/21837-St%C3%A1l%C3%BD-duniv%C3%BD-zvuk-v-interi%C3%A9ru-p%C5%99i-j%C3%ADzd%C4%9B

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[iphonik4]

Srejber was faster yep thats the thread...

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[glosrich]

Thanks

[jsgreen89]

Well my Octavia has now gone back to Skoda with a full refund. So have now paid a little extra to switch to a mk7 Golf Estate. Much happier that we an drive around without any headaches, ear pressure problems or feeling sick now!

It was a shame as apart from this problem, it was a very good car for the money! So if anyone doesn't have this problem then count yourself blessed!