Hi, as per the title field, my wife has a Polo and I plan on fitting a Skoda pull down strap to the hatch to make life a bit easier for her to grab the opened hatch, so to minimise my chance of picking the wrong area/point/height, I thought that I'd ask if someone with a hatchback Fabia Mk111 could please post a picture of their hatch strap and where it is mounted. I had hoped to visit the local Skoda dealer today, but things did not work out as planned!

 

Thanks in anticipation, not an urgent request, just when someone has time.

It screws in to a purpose built hole with a metal threaded hole to screw in to.

The picture is with the hatchback lid open looking up from the flat parcel shelf.

So if you are at the back of the car you would find the handle above your right hand.

 

Thanks AG Falco

Edited 30 January, 20188 yr by AGFalco
typo again. note to self check b4 posting

part number if req 

 

5E5827895A

 

satin black 

5E5827895A9B9

 

Thanks to both of you for that, I have already looked up the parts numbers for the strap, mounting screw and riveted cap nut.

 

Once I get these parts ordered up and have them in my hand I might be able to work out if the captive nut just gets retained into the hatch trim, or retained into the metalwork of the hatch behind the trim.

 

That picture makes it perfectly clear where the strap gets mounted!

In to the metal work behind the hatch trim as the trim would be too weak.

There is an indent in the trim for the handle to fit in to.

 

Thanks AG Falco

Yes, I was guessing that would be the case, but hoped I was wrong!  I'll need to check out if this strap does provide the answer, I have just printed off that picture and it did not seem to get a very good response!!  I have checked and it seems that all the Skodas that have a pull down strap use the same one, so only one length available, so if that is not long enough I'll have to get a bit more creative, the problem with a longer strap would be that it might get caught in the hatch closure unless it was made out of "stiffish" preformed "rubber" - like this one is.

As you are looking at fitting it to a Polo.....Fabia in a different dress....it should be OK. Provided your wife conforms to the height norm of  the Germanic designers.  Be thankful it's not a dutch car.....population are all giants.

Had to add a bit of chord to mine ....

Is that because you are from Surrey and not The Netherlands. 

Well I collected the parts today, I just ordered up the handle, securing M5 screw and the clinch nut, £2.99 for the lot - which was good.  I've been given a demonstration of how much of a problem closing the hatch is, and it seems "on a good day" wifie can reach the recess on the hatch and pull it down!!  Well every time I've spotted her closing it she needs to get round the side of the car and grab/push the body work of the hatch to close it, though I suppose most people close their car hatches or boot lids by grabbing the dirty outside and slamming it down?  Anyway it does look doable, I've just got to wait for warmer weather so that I stand a good chance of getting the trim off without breaking anything including my skin or nails, find a suitable spot to either locate the clinch nut (and probably find a high strength bolt to "set" the clinch nut into place) and then work out if its best to cut a slot in the hatch to slide the end of the strap in through, I'd think that I'd need a longer securing screw and glue a spacer behind the trim so that the strap can get fixed securely while not causing the trim to need to flex inwards at all - probably bin the clinch nut and find a suitable cage/clip nut depending on what I find behind the trim.

 

I'd be worried that that cord did not get caught in the weather seal - no?

 

Next, or previous challenge is to stop the passenger seat belt fixing point rattling against the plastic trim on the passenger's side seat when that seat is at a certain height - Audi take care of that by fixing a loop(soft part) of Velcro round the seat belt buckle thing, so I'm copying that, again got the heavy duty self adhesive Velcro from Halfords just need to get that job done!

3 hours ago, alltorque said:

As you are looking at fitting it to a Polo.....Fabia in a different dress....it should be OK. Provided your wife conforms to the height norm of  the Germanic designers.  Be thankful it's not a dutch car.....population are all giants.

 

I think that is down to evolution, get taller or drown?

 

From my experience a very sorted out kind of people, bought 2 cars from there, as well as returning for a mid week break with wife to Amsterdam, we need to go back again some time - airport is a horrible place to waste time in, probably as is any other airport in the world to be fair!

 

Edit:- my (short) wifie can swim she so will be okay over there.

Edited 3 February, 20188 yr by rum4mo

40 minutes ago, rum4mo said:

 

I think that is down to evolution, get taller or drown?

 

From my experience a very sorted out kind of people, bought 2 cars from there, as well as returning for a mid week break with wife to Amsterdam, we need to go back again some time - airport is a horrible place to waste time in, probably as is any other airport in the world to be fair!

 

Edit:- my (short) wifie can swim she so will be okay over there.

Evolution may well be the answer.  My son has a Dutch bike...towers over everything.  Dutch folk are, indeed, a fine bunch of people and Amsterdam is a lovely, relaxed city. Due another visit this year, I think.

Well, I've eventually found a convenient spot to fit this pull down strap to the rear hatch of the 2015 6C Polo, due to the profile/detail of the area chosen being against using the clinch nut, I found a suitable 30+mm metal spacer with a through hole and bolted this handle to the frame of the rear hatch using an M6 machine bolt and self locking nut along with suitable sized 6mm repair washers to strengthen the fixing point and locate the fixing end of the handle as close as possible to being just below the trim and no more.

It ended up being mounted on the RHS of the hatch as high up as possible to allow wifie to reach it and still have enough leverage - mounting it nearer the hinge point would have made it lower when the hatch was raised but reduced the mechanical advantage so a lot more pulling effort would have been required. Determining the exact position for a small rectangular hole cut out of the rear trim was very tricky, but everything is back in place.

Note, VW Polos built in South Africa end up with some cable harnesses manufactured in Botswana!

 

Edit:- thanks for all the help given to enable me to complete this!

Edited 4 August, 20196 yr by rum4mo