I have experienced severe water ingress on my 2014 H&W Yeti, probably via sunroof. Dealer has fixed (?) Drain tube issue, but this happened 6 months out of warranty so costly.

Unfortunately due to delays before drying out carpets, a very pungent musty smell developed. The dealer wants a silly sum to strip them all out. The helpful service rep says it will gradually improve now the leak is fixed.

My questions are thus:

1) Is he correct? Will the smell subside or is the cause (mould?) stuck without further work?

2) Can I attack the cause by some form of chemical solution without lifting the carpets? I have a wet vacuum cleaner and a dehumidifier machine..

3) Worst case, how easy is it to strip out all the carpets as a DIY job?

Cat litter in a small material bag or sock. Place them in the affected foot wells for a few weeks after giving them a good scrub with carpet cleaner. It dries it out and traps odours. 

Had a similar problem with my wifes Fabia. (Water seeping down the windows through the door cards to the inside footwells) It caused mould on the carpets front and back.

 

Having fixed the leaks, the difficulty is getting the carpets out to dry them, so I tried the following first. I sucked out as much water as possible with a aquavac and then used a dehumidifier (room sized mains version) standing in the boot with all the windows and doors closed. It took a couple of days running 24/7 to completely dry it out but solved the problem.

7 hours ago, PerryM said:

I have experienced severe water ingress on my 2014 H&W Yeti, probably via sunroof. Dealer has fixed (?) Drain tube issue, but this happened 6 months out of warranty so costly.

Unfortunately due to delays before drying out carpets, a very pungent musty smell developed. The dealer wants a silly sum to strip them all out. The helpful service rep says it will gradually improve now the leak is fixed.

My questions are thus:

1) Is he correct? Will the smell subside or is the cause (mould?) stuck without further work?

2) Can I attack the cause by some form of chemical solution without lifting the carpets? I have a wet vacuum cleaner and a dehumidifier machine..

3) Worst case, how easy is it to strip out all the carpets as a DIY job?

Surprised you didn't get a goodwill payment from Skoda to help pay to cure the problem - your Yeti was only 6 months out of warranty. What did the dealer say about getting a goodwill payment?

I'm also confused by Skoda not making at least a goodwill payment. You may have drawn attention to the problem [just] after end of 3yrs, but I am guessing that the blockage was something gradual and would have started in warranty period.

 

Colin

The 'helpful service rep' is a comedian.

 

Mould is mould and even when wet dries out mouldy is mouldy.

Did the Service Desk Manager or Dealership Warranty manager look at the car, and do anything towards having a discussion with Skoda UK.

 

Still time to have words with the Dealer Principal, about the mould and their 'helpful service rep.'

Thinking about this you should kick up a stink (sorry!) until the dealer agrees to challenge Skoda about paying for all of your problems. If he is less than enthusiastic then tackle Skoda yourself and don't be put off by any initial knockback. It's been leaking for some time and making the carpets wet and mouldy - Skoda owe you!

OK - an update to this long saga. I contacted Skoda UK Customer Service and they have been very helpful. It is a great shame that the dealer didn't contact them immediately the problem was discovered. It is complicated but Skoda UK have made a significant contribution to the repair cost. They also offered to have the car valeted to remove the mould smell. This was done by the dealer and was completely ineffective so the dealer then contacted a specialist who spent a whole day removing the under carpet materials and treating them with some magic mould 'eater'. I don't know the details but it then needed several days for the underfelt to dry out before the car was finally re-assembled and returned to us.

I would be lying if I said the car smells like new! The smell has permeated everything and it will take a while for it to dissipate, but it is much much better than before and more important I hope we have got rid of any possible re-occurrence. I may try another large plastic container with a bag of cat litter tipped out inside - this worked quite well before the fix in soaking up the smell.

 

Bicarbonate of soda is a good odour neutraliser. You wipe smelly fridges out with it and leave a saucer of it in the bottom with the door closed. It will kill the smell of sour milk.

 

Colin