From the replies on this forum none of you have owned a Volvo 240 wagon or for that matter a Totoya with a few miles on it. The Volvo was the best took about a day to figure that one out. I have not seen a manufacturer yet not having broken wires after a number of years. Take any gauge wire and bend it back and forth for ten to fiften minutes and see what happens.
Must admit now that i think of it my 1991 Cabriolet is still doing OK. Kind of a simple car but wires do go thru the door frame to the door. I better keep my mouth shut.
Cabriolet
2009 Jetta 6 speed
1881 Cabriolet
Hmmmm . . . while I have never owned a Volvo, nor a Toyota . . . . but I have owned many Fords, GMs, and Chryslers . . . this is my first VW . . . and my first time having to fix broken wires in the door.
Yes, if you take a wire and bend it back and forth enough times it breaks . . .
IF you are bending the wire in a tight enough bend radius to put sufficient stress on the wire (diameter and construction of wire are of course factors as well). Difference I notice with my Jetta, compared to my previous vehicles, is that the details in the door construction appear to be much tighter design (less door gap, shorter run of wire harness between the door and body etc etc).
While I have no facts to confirm this, my guess would be that no one has told the door designers/electrical designers that they have breakage issues and that they should modify their designs to reduce the stresses involved (or if they have, VW has determined that they would rather the sleeker design over the more practical one).
My opinion is that I expect things like the main wire harnesses body to outlast the main mechanical items on a car. Open and close a car door 10 times a day, everyday for ten years and you still are less than 37,000 cycles. Somewhere along the line I believe I have heard that 80-100K is a typical life cycle expectancy on something like a door harness (I have no idea what number VW uses). I am quite sure that my driver's door has not exceeded that, and can not imagine a passengers door exceeding that on a 5 year old vehicle.
I like VWs design of this car in most cases, but this is one I wished they had taken a step back first.