Rear windscreen damage...birds?

[walrus]

Recently took my 2.5 year old (18k) Superb hatch in to the dealer to have a couple of issues addressed under warranty.

 

First one was the gear stick - the chrome surround has started to flake off. Warranty claim was rejected - in the dealer's opinion, it was caused by an external influence and isn't a manufacturing defect. I argued that a gear stick should be able to withstand being moved with a hand without wearing away, as that's what it's designed to do, but they wouldn't budge.

 

Second one is more unusual. The thin strip of rubber at the top edge of the rear windscreen has flaked / crumbled away in several places. Dealer wouldn't touch it once again - in their opinion it was caused by a bird eating the rubber and isn't a manufacturing defect.

 

So after all this, I still have the two same issues, unless I stump up £450 to get them fixed. Skoda customer services were a waste of time and simply defaulted to the dealer's position.

 

Has anyone else come across a bird eating rubber seals from their windscreen? I didn't catch any birds in the act, but if it's reality, there seems little point getting it fixed as they'll just do it again. Thankfully it appears only to be a cosmetic strip of rubber as the water seal is hidden under the glass.

[nebrog23]

Go to a different dealer? That’s their opinion not fact. Birds eating rubber seals, they can’t be serious?.I’m worried by Skoda’s warranty, I’ve never experienced this with other manufacturers, although Japanese. 

[Mr Rubble]

Not on a Superb, but on my wife's last Octavia we had two incidents of birds eating the seals on the sunroof. The birds were spotted doing it. Needless to say when we changed the car, sunroof was on the options list. The seal was £105 a time😕

[Gmac983]

1 hour ago, nebrog23 said:

Go to a different dealer? That’s their opinion not fact. Birds eating rubber seals, they can’t be serious?.I’m worried by Skoda’s warranty, I’ve never experienced this with other manufacturers, although Japanese. 

 

It is worth a try, OP may get a gesture of goodwill. Though manufacturers don't usually honour accidental damage or damage caused by wildlife as obviously that is not a defective part. 

Years ago I too had the sunroof seal on my old rover 200 ripped out by birds (I actually saw the little buggers in action!), in my case I was lucky, the seal was undamaged, it just needed refitting. 

Edited 3 November, 2019 by Gmac983

[nicknorman]

1 hour ago, walrus said:

Recently took my 2.5 year old (18k) Superb hatch in to the dealer to have a couple of issues addressed under warranty.

 

First one was the gear stick - the chrome surround has started to flake off. Warranty claim was rejected - in the dealer's opinion, it was caused by an external influence and isn't a manufacturing defect. I argued that a gear stick should be able to withstand being moved with a hand without wearing away, as that's what it's designed to do, but they wouldn't budge.

 

Second one is more unusual. The thin strip of rubber at the top edge of the rear windscreen has flaked / crumbled away in several places. Dealer wouldn't touch it once again - in their opinion it was caused by a bird eating the rubber and isn't a manufacturing defect.

 

So after all this, I still have the two same issues, unless I stump up £450 to get them fixed. Skoda customer services were a waste of time and simply defaulted to the dealer's position.

 

Has anyone else come across a bird eating rubber seals from their windscreen? I didn't catch any birds in the act, but if it's reality, there seems little point getting it fixed as they'll just do it again. Thankfully it appears only to be a cosmetic strip of rubber as the water seal is hidden under the glass.

Loads of people have had the flaking chrome gear knob replaced under warranty. As to the birds, never heard of that before so it sounds like garbage, Did you buy this car from that dealer? Maybe consider a small claims court action to recover the cost as item not fit for purpose. Or maybe simpler to try another dealer.

[Tolpol62]

Seems it's quite a common occurrence, plenty on Google about it.

They attack houses too here's an explanation and a solution...

 

"If birds are reacting to their own reflection in the doors and windows, the only way to stop this behaviour is to remove the trigger – the reflection. This means putting something such as cling film or non-reflective cellophane on the outside of the window. Once the reflection has disappeared, the attacks should stop."

https://community.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/f/wildlife-questions/39106/birds-attacking-window-seal

 

Or maybe the rubber tastes like cuttlefish...

 

[JR RS]

the things dealers will say to avoid fixing things under warranty or manufacturing defect!!!
geez!!!

[Steviedakota]

As mentioned cracking chrome is a known issue on the DSG lever, wife's cracked and was replaced. Part was €90 I think, the whole lever has to be replaced, bit it only takes minutes. Don't be fobbed off!

[walrus]

Thanks all.

 

I will try another dealer, particularly for the chrome as I really don't think that should happen on a relatively new car.

 

The bird story unfortunately appears to be more likely than I thought. Seems pointless replacing it if it's going to happen again (I'm unlikely to change where I park my car at home and at work any time soon).