Hi all, my daughter's Fabia doesn't get used much as she's in uni far away, but today I insisted she drove it a bit otherwise things go wrong.

I tried to put the tyre pump in the boot, but as I pressed the button to open it, a short whirring noise was heard but the boot doesn't open.

Perhaps there's a method of releasing it from inside the car?

I was thinking that maybe releasing it might free off whatever is stuck.

TIA

It's a 2015 Fabia-no lever visible in cockpit, I've pulled down one of the rear seats and cannot see a lever

48 minutes ago, semiroundel said:

my daughter's Fabia doesn't get used much as she's in uni far away, but today I insisted she drove it a bit otherwise things go wrong.

Very good idea, and driven for a reasonable distance otherwise it may be counterproductive.

There's an "emergency" release inside the boot have a look at the 'Owner's Manual' and get your daughter to read and refer to it and then she'll know more about the car and what to do and not need the help or expense of others. I hope you weren't do all the driver's maintenance checks and physical work of pumping up tyres, going to "Uni" is about learning independence too.

If you don't have the paper printed copy you can download a VWŠkoda pdf free from this VWŠkoda site. -

https://www.skoda-auto.com/apps/manuals/Models

A good website for cars and info on the Fabia Mk3 for owners is this one, well presented (if a little cooky) very good and clear information on all videos much better than most pro or diy mechanic ones I've seen for any car.

The vid you want now - Skoda Fabia Mk3: Boot Won’t Open (Find Emergency Lever) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EdHnx4aeeE

And the Playlist for your daughter, and you, to look at. - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHH-B9onXpOqdKjFA815CBd7YB4hocem5

HTH.

Many thanks Nigel, I'm going out now to try this-already forwarded on the Playlist.

She's quite independent and is keen to learn, however I insure the car currently as she has no money, but expecting her to work from September once her master's is over, and to afford the insurance it's kept near me as Brighton is so expensive compared to here plus parking costs too!

Glad to hear she's keen to learn and be independent (as much as anyone can) especially as a woman, I'm a man and not happy about having to rely on any men (much prefer a woman in a "man's job"). In the mid-80s my wife went to a 20-week evening car course but it was on things like working on a stripped engine when it should have been on basic and general car servicing and maintenance but 30+ years of me running various old (over-priced and over-valued "classic") cars as dailies and more taught her a few real-world bits about cars. It's not saying much but she's much better than me at identifying the sounds from potential and actual problems , and remembering the sounds. She knows how to simple stuff on a car, which is about as much as I know, but it's my job to do the stuff and get dirty, cold and wet doing the stuff (cos I ain't not clever enough to get out of it).

Wow, Brighton more expensive than that-there-Lunden, I can imagine that as when I went to see Meatloaf in Brighton in 1982 we had to pay £4 !! for all-day parking, the Rent-a-Wreck Mk4 Ford Cortina estate IIRC only cost £10 hire for the day, between the four of us, and it wasn't in that bad condition, compared to some of our local taxi firm ones. £4 !! Still hurts even today, I think a pint of (real) beer was only about 50-60p a pint (outside of London and the south at least). £4 !! 🙃

Hope you are now sorted.

Keeping the battery topped up on an under used modern car is important, perhaps especially a VW products with all it's computer systems and programs.

I've seen the boot problem on 2016 Fabia before - in our case we managed to open it by pushing down/in on the boot lid while pressing release button. A spray of 3 in 1 oil in the nooks and crannies stopped it from happening again. Hope you are lucky and find an easy solution. Could also just be low battery if it's stood idle for anything over a couple of weeks.

Thanks all for your input.

The answer turned out to be simple, once thatis, the YT video that nta16 kindly posted a link to.

It turns out that like my 2022 Superb, there is a rubber pull handle to close the boot, only mine had been chewed away by the previous owner's dog- so I didn't know there was one.

I only found this out when I got into the boot via the back seats, and did the screwdriver trick to open the boot.

Quite simply, because the boot had been closed for so long, the rubber seal had sort of stuck to the frame of the car enough not to be able to open with the hand outside, but once the leverage of the screwdriver had done its work, I could hear the seal unsticking bit by bit.

I would never have thought of that so thanks nta16 for the link.

Well done.

More advice for you and your daughter, WD-40 Multi-Use is fine in an emergency but a better longer lasting lubricant and penetrating/releasing fluid is GT85. It used to be a British company but is now part of a large invasive American corporation . . . called WD-40 Company!

https://gt85.co.uk/product/gt-85-spray/