Interior Door Handle Snapped

[dbthomas]

Hi all,

 

Could do with a bit of advice please.

 

I've been the proud owner of a 2016 SE 1.2 TSI 90 for just over a year. Suffered no issues and the car has been a little gem.

 

However...

 

After arriving at work yesterday morning I went to get out of the car and the interior door handle snapped clean off in my hands. This meant that I couldn't open the door and hence had to climb over and get out of the passenger side. I called my dealer who said that I should call Skoda Assistance for breakdown as the car is unsafe to drive. Apparently you have to be able to exit the car easily for insurance purposes, and to be honest, I didn't fancy driving a car I couldn't get out of in a hurry if I needed to!

 

I called Skoda Assistance who weren't interested in helping me at all, they said it wasn't important enough to send someone out and If I want someone there would be an extra charge. I was pretty surprised at their response and the lack of good service! With this I decided to call another local dealer who were happy to help me and give me a car to use in the meantime (god send). This morning I have had a call from the service advisor saying that the repair of this is not covered under warranty and hence I would have to pay. I immediately said that I wasn't happy about this, and I am currently awaiting a call from the service manager to discuss it with them.

 

Could do with your opinions on this if possible? Do you agree that it should be covered under warranty? A 1 year old car definitely shouldn't do things like that? Surely? 

 

Thanks in advance - pics attached!

 

Dan

 

[OzFabia]

Skoda handles seem to be flimsy. Yet I haven't actually heard of one breaking. And yes, IMNSHO, that should be covered under warranty. 

[RickW]

Looks like it scratched the trim too,I'd have that replaced under warranty as well.

[SC03OTT]

I wouldn’t expect it to be covered under warranty, no. That’s no to say I wouldn’t push for it though.

[RickW]

They may blame heavy handedness if they wanted to but at least, as a goodwill gesture,maybe wanting repeat custom,they will fix it?

[Matador]

Mine has just done the same it's less than 2 years old and my dealer has quoted me 198 pound it should be covered by warranty has there is a common fault of this model year 

[RickW]

It would be helpful if the original poster told us the final outcome of his claim.

[Skodaboy1983]

Would be interested to know the outcome of this, with me having the base model s the handle looks really flimsy and having two young kids one of whom has autism and is in reach of the rear door handle it would be good to know.

 

Davy

[AJS-2018]

Dear All

 

My door handle snapped off today :(

 

 

[chicken93]

That's crazy! I swear I could hang off my old MK2 Octavia door handles. One of the things I always loved out it hence kept it around. Shame to see the standards drop so much. I can't imagine you go mad at the poor thing when you are getting out of your fabia so they much be poorly made. 

[rum4mo]

Strangish one this, I can see that these handles really do need to work as you might just need to get out of a car quickly and not need to consider that you could end up trapped in the car if you rushed things - and maybe only have one door to use to get out, have these parts been made to be weak so as to break away instead of hurting you, I'd doubt it.

 

It looks like they are cast alloy which should be okay unless there are impurities and/or air voids in them - in 19 years of owning running VW Group products all with these shiny alloy door handles, I've never ever had one break on me, I'd also guess that part is used across the marques though maybe more than one supplier - and that could be where the problem lies which means back to getting it replaced FOC unless the dealer can prove that you have been extremely clumsy/rough with it - like when missed maintenance has allowed the door lock action to have started to firm up/seize up?

[RevPeter]

Had the same problem - twice in three years! First time it was repaired under warranty - after a gift, but not this time. I call that's draw, but it does seem to be a design fault.

 

[MoggyTech]

I would suggest the following to Skoda

1: Safety critical component for exiting vehicle in an emergency. 

2: if Skoda claim it's wear and tear, then the part is not fit for purpose.

3: if Skoda claim it's due to abuse, then again, the part is not fit for purpose. I know how hard i would pull that handle if exiting a vehicle fire.

 

Tell them to replace it under warranty, or would they prefer to deal with a world wide safety recall. 

[Omar98]

On 26/11/2018 at 14:42, rum4mo said:

Strangish one this, I can see that these handles really do need to work as you might just need to get out of a car quickly and not need to consider that you could end up trapped in the car if you rushed things - and maybe only have one door to use to get out, have these parts been made to be weak so as to break away instead of hurting you, I'd doubt it.

 

It looks like they are cast alloy which should be okay unless there are impurities and/or air voids in them - in 19 years of owning running VW Group products all with these shiny alloy door handles, I've never ever had one break on me, I'd also guess that part is used across the marques though maybe more than one supplier - and that could be where the problem lies which means back to getting it replaced FOC unless the dealer can prove that you have been extremely clumsy/rough with it - like when missed maintenance has allowed the door lock action to have started to firm up/seize up?

They're plastic with a chrome looking wrap, mine has also broken off and I'm now struggling to get a new part for it

[loki1066]

On 26 April 2018 at 15:37, Matador said:

Mine has just done the same it's less than 2 years old and my dealer has quoted me 198 pound it should be covered by warranty has there is a common fault of this model year 

I've got a 67 plate Monte Carlo and today the passenger door release came off in the driving test examiners hand, luckily at the end of the test.

i think it would have been hard to design a flimsier catch.

how do I find out about the common-ness of the fault?

[loki1066]

Quoted £90 by the way.

saw the young lady who sold us the car in the showroom.

told her we'd been quoted 90 quid and she shouted over to the parts bloke ' c'mon, you're not charging them £90 for that are you'

We shall see.

These handles must be breaking off all over the place.

We've had four skodas from this dealer.

if we get charged £90 for this crappy piece of plastic , this will be the last Skoda.

And I was going to buy a retirement Octavia too 😓

[Fabia102]

I bought a second hand Fabia Mk III over a year ago, and within a month the handle broke. The dealers I bought it from agreed to repair it under their warranty, however is an hour's drive away from me, so they said if I got a reasonable quote from a local garage they would pay for the local garage to do the repair. The local garage (small back street sort of place) sourced a used spare part on eBay and fitted the handle for £60 all-in. The handle is still fine one year on. Obviously I'm happy as it didn't cost me personally a penny, but I think £60 is fair for the work they did.

[dadumtish]

happend to me 18months ago as well ,  some real low quality cost cutting went into the mk3 

[mikec]

Just happened to me. Does anyone know what the part number is for the drivers door handle as I want to get a new one 

[psul]

Happened to me a few months ago too. Got the part number 6V0 837 222 A 2ZZ which includes the surround for about £25 delivered from skodapartsdirect. 

[mikec]

Thanks for that 

[Blindman]

Skoda Fabia 2016

Drivers door handle broke last week, 

Soda quoted £125 to replace!

 

Sourced one thanks to post from Psul above for £32  inc P+P

Arrived after 3 days.

Fitted it in under 1 hrs, fairly easy TBHO.

 

So, pleased with the outcome but not impressed with the plastic door handle and the (not surprising) rip off quote from the dealer.

[Niucars1970]

On 06/10/2020 at 10:47, Fabia102 said:

I bought a second hand Fabia Mk III over a year ago, and within a month the handle broke. The dealers I bought it from agreed to repair it under their warranty, however is an hour's drive away from me, so they said if I got a reasonable quote from a local garage they would pay for the local garage to do the repair. The local garage (small back street sort of place) sourced a used spare part on eBay and fitted the handle for £60 all-in. The handle is still fine one year on. Obviously I'm happy as it didn't cost me personally a penny, but I think £60 is fair for the work they did.

How did you remove the old one? I removed the unit and the mirror adjuster etc. but I’m stuck at the other end and I’m trying not to remove the entire door card. I can take the pulley off but not the white plastic piece beyond this as I can’t properly reach it

[mikec]

Unfortunately I don't know how it comes off as the garage changed it under warranty 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Niucars1970]

On 24/10/2022 at 12:31, Blindman said:

Skoda Fabia 2016

Drivers door handle broke last week, 

Soda quoted £125 to replace!

 

Sourced one thanks to post from Psul above for £32  inc P+P

Arrived after 3 days.

Fitted it in under 1 hrs, fairly easy TBHO.

 

So, pleased with the outcome but not impressed with the plastic door handle and the (not surprising) rip off quote from the dealer.

 

How did you remove the old one? I removed the unit and the mirror adjuster etc. but I’m stuck at the other end and I’m trying not to remove the entire door card. I can take the pulley off but not the white plastic piece beyond this as I can’t properly reach it