I've had my octavia well over a year and have not noticed or had any comment on internal pressure or booming problems as of yet. I do have a spare, a boot mat, a boot full of junk, 2 child seats, thick rear seat protectors, sports suspension, 18" wheels and Dunlop tyres, mind you I think that has been proven to make little difference! The only thing I MAY have on my side which MIGHT make me less susceptible to this issue is, plenty of practice of putting my ears regulary through various pressure differences while at work. It's possible but not conclusive.

I thought I would connect a tone generator ( app on my phone) to the aux in and see what happened when using a single frequency. This is by no means a controlled experiment but I found that around 36Hz, the apparent volume level as heard from the front passenger or driver seat increased somewhat. The output on the phone and volume level on the infotainment were kept constant. Not sure if it relevant to this problem so draw your own conclusions.

i'm now very confident that the problem is a combination of the hatch vibrating and the stiff suspension setup. The boot and rear seat area in my car is very very well sound proofed so I know the sound isnt coming directly from the car floor. The rear hatch is also well damped, However, slightest road imperfection still results in boom and pressure on the ears. I just dont think the hatch is supported correctly. If you lie in the boot with the hatch closed and tap the trim of the hatch you egt a simlar boom in the cabin. I am certain the sound comes from the hatch perhaps it needs more supporting or stiffer seals. You would think that adjusting rubber stoppers would help but i have tried every combination of setting the only thing that really changes is the hatch becomes less easy to close.

The senior technician at my local skoda dealer came out with me today and immediatly could hear the problem, so its booked in for 3 days at the end of the month. I provided them with extensive written detail about what ive done so far to track it down. They will speak to skoda UK so beforehand to explain the problem and get some direction about what to do next. Hopefully Skoda UK wont just say its a characteristic of the car.

i'm now very confident that the problem is a combination of the hatch vibrating and the stiff suspension setup. The boot and rear seat area in my car is very very well sound proofed so I know the sound isnt coming directly from the car floor. The rear hatch is also well damped, However, slightest road imperfection still results in boom and pressure on the ears. I just dont think the hatch is supported correctly. If you lie in the boot with the hatch closed and tap the trim of the hatch you egt a simlar boom in the cabin. I am certain the sound comes from the hatch perhaps it needs more supporting or stiffer seals. You would think that adjusting rubber stoppers would help but i have tried every combination of setting the only thing that really changes is the hatch becomes less easy to close.

 

Exactly the same as what I have done and had happen. Starting to think only variability left is the latch tension or how far out the catch is set off the boot sill. Rubber seal seems fine and is seated all the way around and hinges look like they have no variability so....???

Edited 11 July, 201411 yr by snala

If you hit back seats (upper part) with your hand you also get very strong booming noise. All parts in the back resonate with booming noise when you hit them with your open hand. Because of that I'am sure that vibrations are transfered from suspension to the back of the car. How hatch can produce such a strong booming noise with pressure by just moving few milimeters??? It is not possible. Try to put sponge between hatch and trunk, and then close the hatch firmly. still you will have booming noise.

My dealer has told me in no uncertain terms that they will not be investigating my concern about the cabin noise. I do have the issue logged with Skoda UK but whether it leads to anything will only be determined if the number of complaints reaches a certain threshold.

Still no noise from our vRS.

 

Checked rear shocks over the weekend and they aren't the ones listed on etka.

 

My rear shocks are: 5Q0 512 011 HP.

My VRS TDi hatch has the rear shox 5Q0 512 011 HN dated 26/4/14.

 

I have the boom which is definitely road surface related. my car was built towards the end of April 14. I have the spare wheel kit fitted.

My two week old Octavia 3 estate (103tsi manual) is the base version with the simpletorsion beam rear suspension.

The resonance noise problem is there on my car but not too bad so far, although I have not been above 80kph yet or on a really bad surface yet.

If becomes apparent if I get a some road ripples and then there is this deepish rumble from the back.

I have the 5QO 512 013 FQ rear shocks that have been mentioned in other posts so could be a problem.

However I took out the boot reversible mat and the spare wheel cover and removed the spare wheel as well.

Then I started tapping surfaces with my finger and it became obvious there were a couple of problem areas.

Tap a broad metal surface like the external surface of the car's door and you just get a dull damped thud.

However, tap the centre of the spare wheel well (next to the plastic securing point) and the distinct resonance of the tone heard when driving is very obvious.

Place your other hand firmly on the wheel well surface and the resonance is considerably damped, replacing the spare wheel has a similar damping effect although I found the tightness of the securing nut did have a marked effect on this damping effect.

The real problem was found when finger tapping around the rest of the boot.

The well supported areas to the left and right of the wheel are acoustically dead but the area forward of the wheel well are incredibly resonant, worse than a drum.

Even damping the area with the other hand fails to make any difference which is really odd. Looking underneath the car it is right above/between the rear wheel axles. 

Replacing the padded floor and the boot mat and then tapping the area through both layers made no apparent difference to the sensitivity, or resonance volume which is truly weird.

 

I will try some experiments chocking some rubber up against the surface underneath (while stationary) and see if that makes any difference to the resonance.

If others have the same problem then this is a real design flaw.

Yep, the alternative to to everywhere in her Kia c'eed. OK car but not where I want to be after getting my new vRS.

 

I attached the wheel down by finding an old piece of threaded bolt and used a pipe fitting at one end to go in the space on the boot floor, I then made a bracket across the top and screwed it tight with a nut. Advantages of having an Dad whose an engineer and father-in-law whose a plumber.  

 

Having driven the car a fair bit today the booming sound has gone but there is still a bit of a pressure issue. I agree with people saying there are a number of issues being reported here.

 

I've tried leaving the boot on the latch and that didn't fix it but that was before I did the spare wheel so I might try that again. Seems I have been particular unlucky and I have both the booming and the pressure issue. 

 

Have to say the pressure issue isn't much of a problem, I suffer from bad hayfever at this time of year and I suspect it will be fine when I'm not suffering from that.

 

Will update after my next test

Quick Update as promised;

 

I moved the rubber boot stops as suggested earlier in this post. At first I adjusted them to the maximum and that was too much, the boot was really difficult to close properly and when I opened the boot it felt like wrong, it made a strange noise and sort of popped open more than it should do. So I adjusted the them to the middle and like magic I don't have any pressure issues.

 

So for me the combination of the spare wheel and adjusting the boot has solved my issues. 

 

Of course its always possible I've just gotten used to it so my wife took it out for a spin over the weekend and she also thinks its all fixed now.

 

So very happy with the car although a little irritated that I had to "fix" a brand new car, i\m just very glad that I was able to coz I wouldn't have been able to keep driving it if I hadn't

 

Hope everyone else finds a solution that works for their car.

Can you make some pictures on what exactly needs to be done?

Quick Update as promised;

 

I moved the rubber boot stops as suggested earlier in this post. At first I adjusted them to the maximum and that was too much, the boot was really difficult to close properly and when I opened the boot it felt like wrong, it made a strange noise and sort of popped open more than it should do. So I adjusted the them to the middle and like magic I don't have any pressure issues.

 

So for me the combination of the spare wheel and adjusting the boot has solved my issues. 

 

Of course its always possible I've just gotten used to it so my wife took it out for a spin over the weekend and she also thinks its all fixed now.

 

So very happy with the car although a little irritated that I had to "fix" a brand new car, i\m just very glad that I was able to coz I wouldn't have been able to keep driving it if I hadn't

 

Hope everyone else finds a solution that works for their car.

Awesome. Did you have the repetitive bump initaited boom on rough surfaces though or just pressure and noise problems ?

Does it still have the rumble boom on like the anti skid surfaces is what i mean i guess. I've never had pressure issues, just the noise.

 

I noticed my hatch isn't level either looking from inside as when the hatch is ajar there is more light on one side than the other so the rubber stops you mention have to be different amount of turns from fully in to equal the tension on both sides of the hatch.

I tired the latch tension in all postions too and if its not right at the the bottom of the adjustment range the hatch is slightly open and has a gap so I've run out of adjustibility on that too and it looks bad alignment wise from the outside. When its open too, you get the pressure and outside nosie so that's not a viable option.

So back to latch fully tightened down and the max as far as the rubber stoppers go so that it can close and not look out of alignment but I've still got the suspension initiated boom and rumble strip nosie. I have a space saver only with the tool thing inside so wondering if a full size wheel is worth trying cause I'm out of options now.

Edited 15 July, 201411 yr by snala

Awesome. Did you have the repetitive bump initaited boom on rough surfaces though or just pressure and noise problems ?

Does it still have the rumble boom on like the anti skid surfaces is what i mean i guess. I've never had pressure issues, just the noise.

 

I noticed my hatch isn't level either looking from inside as when the hatch is ajar there is more light on one side than the other so the rubber stops you mention have to be different amount of turns from fully in to equal the tension on both sides of the hatch.

I tired the latch tension in all postions too and if its not right at the the bottom of the adjustment range the hatch is slightly open and has a gap so I've run out of adjustibility on that too and it looks bad alignment wise from the outside. When its open too, you get the pressure and outside nosie so that's not a viable option.

So back to latch fully tightened down and the max as far as the rubber stoppers go so that it can close and not look out of alignment but I've still got the suspension initiated boom and rumble strip nosie. I have a space saver only with the tool thing inside so wondering if a full size wheel is worth trying cause I'm out of options now.

For info:

Thanks god I don't have the continuous booming (pressure) issue.

But I have the "repetitive bump initaited boom on rough surfaces" and the "repetitive bump initaited boom on rough surfaces".

My previous car was a Golf Mk5 Variant (combi, estate, whatever) and there wasn't such a problem with the car. So I noticed this noise on the first day in the Octy.

Theese bump initiated booms are worse when the load of the car increases. So it's somehow related to the rear axle. Usually I'm the only person in the car, but a few weeks ago whe went on holiday with my girlfriend and with ~100 kg stuff. The boot was almost full and we also put some stuff on the rear seats. (The @ss of the car was ~10 cm lower than usual). The noise was noticeably louder on every bump.

I also noticed that the back of rear middle seat (wich is one part with the right seat) makes a noise when I hit it. There is no support in the middle and the whole back is resonating. The noise is similar to the noise on bumps.

Last week I transported some big stuff so I turned down the all the rear seat's back. I noticed that the continuous road noise was a little bit higher (that's normal) but on the bumps the situation was a little bit better (less audible noise).

I think there's more than one noise issue at the rear area....

With the back row of seats up, but no passengers in them, in my old VW Touran 7str this cabin boom was unbearable

Latest with me is:

Finally gave up trying to fix this after applying noise deadening in and under the car, didn't work. Also got access to the vent internally and its working fine so not that either as far as funtionality goes.

 

So took to my dealer in the end and they had a look at it, after I took them for a drive, and made some changes and they said we think it is fixed. But no it wasn't and is just as bad as before. I had a drive in 3 others, a TSI VRS wagon, TSI VRS hatch and a 2.0 Diesel hatch and none made the noise, they are like a completely different car. I showed them that opening the hatch fixes it and thats why they thought internal pressure hence targeting the vent. But mine is the same as any other car so.....

 

So they contacted Skoda NZ who replied that it is a world wide acknowledged problem and Skoda itself has recommendations on how to limit the effect but there is no cure for it yet. They are apparently working on it and hopefully something will come out soon. So when they get the recommendations to limit the effects I will let you know what they are here if they are doable. I'm not confident that they can do much and this is actually going to be a recall to fix in the end as it potentailly something physical that needs changing like the hatch, dampers, seals or hatch window glass.

 

So cross our fingers somethings happens soon. 

I am seriosuly not happy driving the car as this noise is so intrusive especially since I do long trips on non smooth roads. If this was a known fault prior to purchase in hindsight I wouldn't have bought the car.

PS to my post above. Just thought to check VW Golf forums since the cars are basically the same and they are full of stories of version 7's having the same issue.

VW has been replacing the rear shocks/dampers since June, after a years worth of customers complaining, and it seems that most people who have had it done are reporting that it works.

 

http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?146830-Rear-suspension-noise

 

http://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2568&page=16

 

So where are ours Skoda??!!!

Edited 25 July, 201411 yr by snala

Hi there, someone was suggesting the "not fully closing boot" temporary solution, tried it on some short runs, seems to work for me, but I do get the Open Boot warning symbol on the MaxiDot, and cannot view any other info on there. is there a way to go around this?..

Cheers

Hi there, someone was suggesting the "not fully closing boot" temporary solution, tried it on some short runs, seems to work for me, but I do get the Open Boot warning symbol on the MaxiDot, and cannot view any other info on there. is there a way to go around this?..

Cheers

 

On the mk2 Octavia you press the Ok/Enter button on the steering wheel, it may be the same for the mk3.

Now I definitely changed the acoustics of my 1.4 TSI Hatch.

 

The booming sound is almost completely gone. I pointed out earlier that the backseats backrest were vibrating with a low frequency. I thought that I would try and dampen this vibration by adding some foam between the backrest and the boot cover (don't know the correct word for it).  I added some foam with tape on its back as a temporary solution, see the pictures. After doing so, I knocked the backrests and to my regret, they still seemed to vibrate. However, when driving the car, the acoustics completely changed - to the better.

 

My guess is that the vibrating backrest, and maybe other parts around the boot as well, will generate a sound pressure that will be amplified when pumped through the gap between the backrest and the boot cover. Like a subwoofer bass port. Now I closed the port with the foam and it helped.

 

I am looking forward to hear if this will work for others as well.

 

 

Had my Vrs estate with variable boot floor 3 months now.

Usually have floor in half fold position,so that the area is partioned. Today had a level floor. Noticed for first time, on certain surfaces the rear tyre noise was quite loud. On others fine. This may support the vent flap theory, as with flat floor, it seals off the lower boot where the vents are. Next time I do the same route, will half fold the floor.

Is this still an issue with new Octavias?  I'm sensitive to low frequency noise in general, so this could put me off getting an Octavia altogether if it's still prevalent.  

Is this still an issue with new Octavias?  I'm sensitive to low frequency noise in general, so this could put me off getting an Octavia altogether if it's still prevalent.  

I would make sure you get a good test drive of the actual car before accepting it. They don't all have that particular problem - mine hasn't.

Just to be clear the problem isnt tyre noise, but the car definately isnt the quietest car in thw worked so there is a fair amount of road roar. My car was at the dealers for a week and skoda UK instucted them to try a number of things to resolve it, none of which worked. They had 3 vrs's in and all of them displayed the boom problem to varying degrees. Apparenty the factory is aware of the problem and are working on some modified buffers for the hatch. You can replicate the problem by sitting in the driver seat getting someone to sharply press the hatrch form the outside. This generates a low frequency boom.

Some peope are more sensitive to it than others, infact I find if I equalise my ears i can no longer hear or feel it for a while, at laeast until i go done the next big hill.

Apparenty the factory is aware of the problem and are working on some modified buffers for the hatch.

 

That is very interesting. Do you have a source?

 

@woodnotes, stay away from the Octavia III. If I had known about this problem I would not have bought the car. I have two cars, so I dont get used to it since car number 2 is very quite. Now whether I am going for a Superb in two years time, to take over for car number 2, depends on the effort Skoda is going to show when solving this ridiculous issue. If Skoda does nothing, then no more Skodas for this little family.

 

My above solution only reduces the boom somewhat, but problem is not yet solved...

Some peope are more sensitive to it than others, infact I find if I equalise my ears i can no longer hear or feel it for a while, at laeast until i go done the next big hill.

 

You should be doing that anyway :p Just imagine yourself being the diver or a pilot.