As some of you may have already read in other posts my Fabia vRS is leaking in rainwater through the back doors. It is booked in at the dealers to be sorted next week.

The thing is my passenger front seat belt has stopped retracting and i'm wondering if this is down to all the water that has been sitting in the rear footwell as its only inches away. Is it likely that the seatbelt mechanism has begun to corrode with all the damp just underneath it?

And more to the point, will i stand a chance of them fixing it under the warranty along with the leaking doors or is it just a coincidence that these two things have happened at the same time?

Also, will i automatically get new carpets fitted if they've been soaked?

BTW, my dealer has said the whole job will be done in 2-3 hours, i would have thought longer if the carpets were being replaced and all damp removed and surfaces treated.

As some of you may have already read in other posts my Fabia vRS is leaking in rainwater through the back doors. It is booked in at the dealers to be sorted next week.

The thing is my passenger front seat belt has stopped retracting and i'm wondering if this is down to all the water that has been sitting in the rear footwell as its only inches away. Is it likely that the seatbelt mechanism has begun to corrode with all the damp just underneath it?

And more to the point, will i stand a chance of them fixing it under the warranty along with the leaking doors or is it just a coincidence that these two things have happened at the same time?

Also, will i automatically get new carpets fitted if they've been soaked?

BTW, my dealer has said the whole job will be done in 2-3 hours, i would have thought longer if the carpets were being replaced and all damp removed and surfaces treated.

Nope they are lazy and will only seal the doors, unless you complain of damp smells and request new carpets and foam. if you lift the carpet up there is about 2 inch of foam in the rear footwells. This acts as a spong would and takes months of dry weather to dry out properly.

I would be requesting to see the foam and if theres mold present request new faom and carpets

Good luck

Also ask to see the belt mechanism, if this looks corroded i would say the damp hasent helped it

Same thing happended on my drivers seatbelt not retracting too great, only thing the garage done was clean it with something and blamed it on fibres blocking the belt.

Good luck with the claim mate.

Davy

Took mine to the dealer and was met by the bloke at the desk. I asked if i could speak to the guy who would be doing the work and was asked why? I said that i wanted him to explain to me how he was going to fix the fault and for him to answer any questions that i may have. The guy said that it could be anyone of 4 technicians so he couldn't get the one who'd be doing the work. I said that anyone of the 4 would do. He said that he could tell me how it would be done.

How hard is it to just have a conversation with the mechanic????????

Anywho, deskman told me how they would seal the doors so i asked him what they would do about the carpets. He said that they would vax them clean/dry. I said "What about the foam rubber underneath the carpets?". He said that should get dried from vaxing the carpets. I said that i'd heard of other owners getting their carpets replaced, he said that that only happens under a manufacturers warranty and not an extended warranty. We only fix the fault i.e the door seals, we don't fix carpets. I said "What? not even if the fault is a direct result of another fault?" He said, "No!"

Then he gave me an example, "If your alternator went and snapped the belt in the process, we would only replace the alternator, we would not pay for a new belt!". :confused:

So then i mentioned the seat belt not working and he said that they would fix that because it was 'safety' irrespective of whether it was caused by the damp.

So, 3½ hours later and the job was done, all 4 doors re-sealed and carpets vaxed. They will let me know when they have a new complete seatbelt in and will fit it for me. On the whole, fairly pleased as long as the doors have stopped leaking and the carpets dont go mouldy or the floor start to rot. Condensation seems to have stopped too!