Have a 65 plate L&K combi with powered boot/hatch lid. Lovely car - which came out of its warranty just two months ago. 40k miles on the clock.

 

Over Christmas we noticed the boot wasn't opening as far - and the switch on the boot lid intermittently didn't work and gave a strange bleep.  Key fob opening and closing was fine.  Diagnosis - the two powered boot struts need replacing, and my garage (Meadens) went to price these. 

 

They've come back - £878.00 plus VAT to supply and fit.  The parts are about £350.00 per strut. They're as surprised as I am and are kindly talking to Skoda - not least to say that had this happened just two months earlier the cost to me would be zero under warranty. I'll update when we get a response.

 

Has anyone else had the issue? Solved it in another way (say WD40 squirted down the strut). Or any cheaper suppliers of the parts in OEM form? I'm interested not least as we run two, soon to be three Skodas of different models, and frankly if this is the cost of parts, I'll start to factor that into my buying decisions. 

Mine started failing after about a year - I spotted a white chalky residue down them and they made a grating noise when opening/closing as if they weren't lubricated properly. Garage swapped them under warranty so not entirely uncommon.

 

I'd certainly want a chunk of money knocking off that price (or a suitable discount on some other service).

Do both fail at the same time? Unlikely I would have thought.

 

I'm feeling more and more nervous about these "tech" laden vehicles. A lot of it unnecessary, since when was opening a tailgate difficult or complex? Unfortunately you get these features foisted upon you when you choose an SEL or greater.

2 hours ago, xman said:

Do both fail at the same time? Unlikely I would have thought.

 

I'm feeling more and more nervous about these "tech" laden vehicles. A lot of it unnecessary, since when was opening a tailgate difficult or complex? Unfortunately you get these features foisted upon you when you choose an SEL or greater.

 

They are still and option when I checked recently on the sportline. Mine came without. Very convenient feature but as we now know, could be am expensive fix if it fails. 

Wow that is incredibly expensive for some boot openers. You should be able to get a discount at the dealer via "goodwill" especially so close to warranty expiry.

 

I think we are at the point where modern cars are so complex that fully warrantied ownership is an almost must have. A year of warranty via "insure with Skoda" is almost certainly cheaper than the cost of this fix at full price. And that is based on fixing something as trivial as the boot openers. What's the cost when something important goes catastrophically wrong?!

3 hours ago, xman said:

Do both fail at the same time? Unlikely I would have thought.

 

 

If one starts to go I imagine it will put more strain on the other so when one completely fails the other will not be long for this world either.

4 hours ago, xman said:

Do both fail at the same time? Unlikely I would have thought.

 

I'm feeling more and more nervous about these "tech" laden vehicles. A lot of it unnecessary, since when was opening a tailgate difficult or complex? Unfortunately you get these features foisted upon you when you choose an SEL or greater.

Ha ha, my Mum told me off for ordering electric windows on my '87 XR3i.

She said 'That's just something else to go wrong'

That car was full of Tech, central locking, with the key, not remote.

1 hour ago, KeteCantek said:

 

They are still and option when I checked recently on the sportline. Mine came without. Very convenient feature but as we now know, could be am expensive fix if it fails. 

Could you not, not fix them and just add normal struts?

1 hour ago, vfrvrs said:

Could you not, not fix them and just add normal struts?

Personally, no

14 hours ago, xman said:

Do both fail at the same time? Unlikely I would have thought.

 

I'm feeling more and more nervous about these "tech" laden vehicles. A lot of it unnecessary, since when was opening a tailgate difficult or complex? Unfortunately you get these features foisted upon you when you choose an SEL or greater.

When my arms are full being able to waggle my foot and open the boot has frankly been a blessing. 

 

Not that I'd be paying over a grand to fix this issue. 

 

6 hours ago, DBT85 said:

When my arms are full being able to waggle my foot and open the boot has frankly been a blessing. 

 

Not that I'd be paying over a grand to fix this issue. 

 

 

Try putting the stuff down or is this an OCD thing?

 

Balancing on one leg and wafting the the other in the air while holding a ton of stuff is asking for trouble.

 

Not sure but presumably you still have to open the car by pressing the key fob (in your pocket) or touching door handle with Kessy?

5 minutes ago, xman said:

 

Try putting the stuff down or is this an OCD thing?

 

Balancing on one leg and wafting the the other in the air while holding a ton of stuff is asking for trouble.

 

Not sure but presumably you still have to open the car by pressing the key fob (in your pocket) or touching door handle with Kessy?

You merely need to have the key near the car even if the car itself is locked. It's no more work or brain function than lifting my foot to walk to the car in the first place so I'm not sure why it could be a struggle.

 

It's just convenient. Works the same if you've got your arms full and you want to close it.

 

Yes I could put things down and pick them back up again.

 

I could also park without sensors, drive without ACC, blind spot detection, DSG, steering wheel controls, android auto, adaptive headlights, rain sensors, heated screen, lane assist, speed limit warning, speed camera warning, DCC, electric windows, etc etc. But then I'd be driving a 1990 Ford Sierra and I'd rather not.

2 minutes ago, xman said:

 

Try putting the stuff down or is this an OCD thing?

 

Balancing on one leg and wafting the the other in the air while holding a ton of stuff is asking for trouble.

 

Not sure but presumably you still have to open the car by pressing the key fob (in your pocket) or touching door handle with Kessy?

Or it can be that you don't want to leave stuff you carry over the typical road crap/mud/water/dust, and then carry all of that in your boot and your house?

And LOL, It's not balancing, you just kick forward briefly and then you're back on two feet, you need to spend as much time on one foot as you do when walking.

And... virtual pedal is exactly that: no need for button unlocking. The button step is replaced by the kick! 

Today I put a microwave in the boot of my car while parallel parked at 5am thanks to waggle foot. I did not die.

 

Praise jesus

Edited 4 January, 20197 yr by DBT85

I remember when I moved from my X-reg focus which came with a tape deck and electric front windows (no air con) to my 55-plate focus with electric driver's seat, electric windows, electric sunroof, dual CC and a touchscreen sat nav I was worried about all the tech breaking.

 

In reality the only things that let me down was the height adjust on the driver's seat (workaround was to find the height you wanted and use the adjust button until it locked into place as it was PITA to fix) and the sat nav but by that time the car was 10 years old, the map was 10 years out of date and a mobile phone could do a much better job.

 

The tech in my Octavia does scare me a bit but most cars now are laden with it.

 

Incidentally I needed to replace the gas struts on my first focus, cost me £15 each..........  I read twice what the replacement of the auto struts were, I wondered if you'd been quoted for the gold-plated upgraded versions!!!  I really hope that Skoda stand by their product as you would expect (especially at that cost) these would be a pretty much lifetime part.

2 hours ago, DBT85 said:

 

Praise jesus*

 

 

*Other religious figure heads are available 

 

 

On 02/01/2019 at 22:41, ahenners said:

 

I think we are at the point where modern cars are so complex that fully warrantied ownership is an almost must have. A year of warranty via "insure with Skoda" is almost certainly cheaper than the cost of this fix at full price. And that is based on fixing something as trivial as the boot openers. What's the cost when something important goes catastrophically wrong?!

 

This is a reason why I prefer new car with min 4 year warranty. 

Used cars loaded with electronics with no warranty is too big risk for your wallet. 

 

I have the same concern about those struts on my 2nd hand estate. The local dealer advised that they can be replaced with normal gas struts which are far cheaper and - imho - more convenient for much of the time. I will certainly swap if/when necessary. It will also get rid of the god-awful beeping.

If mine fail I'll be fitting regular struts.

 

The boot takes so long to open and close! It's also only a matter of time I open the boot onto the roof of a multistory car park or bollard.

21 minutes ago, silver1011 said:

If mine fail I'll be fitting regular struts.

 

 

Not so sure its easy to convert. The mountings look different, the locking mechanism may be different, and of course it will have to be coded out.

If replacement electric struts are still £1,000+ I'll find a way!

3 minutes ago, silver1011 said:

If replacement electric struts are still £1,000+ I'll find a way!

 

Readybrek and a broom handle is better than £1000+ 

Considering I just had a turbo and actuator for one our Fabias in our fleet changed for £1333 at the dealer, these struts seem horrendously expensive and unreliable considering how much work they actually do.

 

I can appreciate (and ignore) DBT85's sarcastic comments earlier, just hope his boot struts, DCC shocks, ACC unit, windscreen with recalibration, DSG , haldex and Columbus don't all break on him at the same time.

 

But then he's probably a 3yr PCP/Lease kind of guy so oblivious to this possibility.

 

Mines intended to be a 20yr keeper (I ran an Alhambra for 20 years without any major or costly failure)

On 04/01/2019 at 17:18, MikeHig said:

...... It will also get rid of the god-awful beeping.

 

So can VCDS (mine was silenced before I even drove the car!)

OK...update. Skoda kindly agreed to reduce the price by £500...very genourous discount which will bring the peice to a less eye watering £378.00. And many thanks to my garage for negotiating. Meantime...it all started working again. Hatchback door opens fully, on all controls, closes fine. Same with virtual pedal. Spoke to garage as my concern is it could be rain which got into the hatch, shorted a switch or connection, and has now dried out (after a torrential period it's not rained where we live for a week and I did some long runs so the car warmed through). But they've reassured me its the struts, which will be changed on Monday. Actually glad they saw the fault while it was there.