Dreaded Clock Spring failure on my 2015 Golf TDI

[amitsekhon]

Hi all,

Looks like clock spring on my 2015 Golf TDI (Canadian model) with 80k kms has failed. I am hearing weird noise while turning the steering wheel and none of the buttons on steering wheel are working and Airbag and transmission error. I called dealer and they said no recall for clock spring on my vehicle in Canada Even though clock spring on VW vehicles is a widespread issue but still not covered in Canada??

Anyone had a luck in getting it fixed under warranty or goodwill on Canada?

If not I will try to fix it by myself. Hopefully its a straight forward job. I know I will have to be super careful as it involves Airbag igniter. I have VW ODIS and VCDS. Thanks.

 

[JELLOWSUBMARINE]

My U.S. CPO has a separate clock spring coverage. Is Canada different?

 

[Cuzoe]

Disconnect the battery to ease your mind about the airbag, in the event you end to doing the work yourself. I've removed my airbag without disconnecting the battery, but probably shouldn't, if for no other reason than to avoid having to clear faults.

 

[amitsekhon]

My U.S. CPO has a separate clock spring coverage. Is Canada different?

I guess it is but it shouldn't be different.

Do you know the part no. they installed?Thanks for confirming.

 

[oilhammer]

Seems like a common issue lately on the later cars. They must have found a new (cheaper) supplier... or the supplier they've used for decades has found a cheaper supplier for an internal part. Which, in the last few years, almost always distills down to the least common denominator: China.

 

[amitsekhon]

Totally agree with you Oilhammer.

 

[dataiv]

Hi all,

Looks like clock spring on my 2015 Golf TDI (Canadian model) with 80k kms has failed. I am hearing weird noise while turning the steering wheel and none of the buttons on steering wheel are working and Airbag and transmission error. I called dealer and they said no recall for clock spring on my vehicle in Canada Even though clock spring on VW vehicles is a widespread issue but still not covered in Canada??

Anyone had a luck in getting it fixed under warranty or goodwill on Canada?

If not I will try to fix it by myself. Hopefully its a straight forward job. I know I will have to be super careful as it involves Airbag igniter. I have VW ODIS and VCDS. Thanks.

There is an extended warranty on this. Or there should be for your vehicle. I received a letter in May 2021. The subject is:

"Extended Warranty Coverage - Steering Wheel Clock Spring - Certain 2010-2018 Model Year Volkswagen Vehicles" and the coverage extends to 10 years / 193,000 kilometers.

Hope mine doesn't fail, or if it does, very soon, as I am at 185,000 km with no failure... yet...

 

[amitsekhon]

Thanks dataiv. Is it for MK7 Golf TDI? What year and model your car is and Are you in Canada?

 

[TurboABA]

Go here and run your vehicle.

Motor Vehicle Safety Recalls Database - Canada.ca

A quick and easy way to search for passenger vehicle and light truck recalls. Just provide the make, model, and year of the vehicle and you’ll get information straight from the Transport Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Recalls Database.

wwwapps.tc.gc.ca

Only "some" vehicles got the coverage from what I recall. If the dealer runs your VIN, they will see for sure.

 

[amitsekhon]

Go here and run your vehicle.

Motor Vehicle Safety Recalls Database - Canada.ca

A quick and easy way to search for passenger vehicle and light truck recalls. Just provide the make, model, and year of the vehicle and you’ll get information straight from the Transport Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Recalls Database.

wwwapps.tc.gc.ca

Only "some" vehicles got the coverage from what I recall. If the dealer runs your VIN, they will see for sure.

Thanks TurboABA. I did talk to the dealer and my VIN was checked and the guy said no clock spring recall on my vehicle.

 

[oilhammer]

There will be, but not yet. They never issue it for ALL of the effected cars, because they'd run out of replacement parts. So they do it in stages. Like the whole Takata airbag deal.

Just keep any paperwork, as if the recall finally gets to yours, they may reimburse you.

 

[amitsekhon]

Ahh.. that could be the reason. Never thought about that

 

[JELLOWSUBMARINE]

almost always distills down to the least common denominator: China.

Also a cheap wrist to ground strap. Found on ebay or might even be avalible at a local parts... probably made in China

 

[amitsekhon]

Going to try different dealership with a mention of safety issue. Lets see what they say.

 

[dataiv]

Mine is a 2015 Golf Sportwagen TDI. So I guess the staged approach may apply as described above, unfortunately. Hope you can get it covered, or worst case, reimbursed later.

 

[MrCypherr]

Its not a recall per say. Its just extended warranty. So if they are checking recalls, then it wont show. They have to check warranty/extensions for the car.

 

[oilhammer]

They often start as a TSB, that can turn into a warranty extension, before it finally turns into an actual campaign. The idea is, that way, they'll be first hopefully getting the cars that are actually broken, before they start fixing cars that are not. Otherwise, they'd quickly either run out of parts, and/or the dealer service departments would be overwhelmed with [loser] recall/warranty pay work.

This is always a clusterfudge, because of scheduling and parts availability, and the fact that there is ALWAYS a significant subset of the ownership pool that will JUST bring their car in for the "free" stuff, and nothing else, which further adds to the dealership service departments' frustrations. You cannot expect a tech to work an eight hour day doing nothing but recall work that pays 50% time so that at the end of the day you've only earned four hours' pay. Much easier to swallow if you mix this stuff in with normal pay work. The manufacturers know this, so they try and spread it out.

We also ran into another issue and that was parts designated for certain VIN groups would have a specific part number that linked them to a recall or warranty extension, but others were not. Even though it was the exact same part in the car with the exact same problem, you could not install it. Because it had a different part number. That happened at Lexus, a lot, with radiators. The second gen RX (and Toyota had the same issue with the Highlander and Sienna) had rampant radiator leaks. But the warranty extension only applied to some of them, not all, at first. So we'd literally have a brand new RX330 less than a year old with a clearly obviously leaking radiator... but if it was not under the specific campaign by its VIN, we could not install one of the 20+ radiators we had on the shelf, we'd have to order a "regular" one in with a standard part number instead, and install it, under the "normal" warranty parameters, even though both Denso radiators were exactly the same inside the box.

 

[Cuzoe]

There are also two clock spring manufacturers for our MQB's. This is a recent discovery as myself and @Nuje look into heated and/or Mk8 steering wheel retrofits. From what we can tell each requires a matching set of steering column stalks as well. This doesn't mean much for the OP as the dealer will hopefully get it sorted under some sort of coverage.

But it does make the already difficult (for VW and other manufacturers) issue with parts more complicated. They will either have to wait on your (our) clock spring to come in or change both parts. It would be interesting to see if the TSB (or whatever it is) mentions the specific part number. I wonder if only one manufacturer's units are having the failures .

 

[oilhammer]

Kostal and Valeo... but it is even more complicated than that. Because they do not even give part numbers in ETKA for these (the clockspring is part of the whole steering control module), instead it just says you have to get the p/n via scan tool. And yes, the combo switches and anchor plates are all for whichever specific version that car has, PLUS they now come just soft coded, meaning the control module actually has to be programmed. Like stupid GM and their automatic transmissions that come blank.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Is this the control module?

 

[oilhammer]

Yep, and that is where the clockspring lives.

 

[amitsekhon]

Update:

Took it to different dealer and they replaced it under extended warranty. Didn't know that polies are different from dealer to dealer. Actually Stealers!!

 

[Nuje]

Is this the control module?

Yeah - 5Q0953569A is the clockspring, which gets recognized as the "Control Unit" (Module 16 - J524) in VCDS scans.

 

[JGK781]

They often start as a TSB, that can turn into a warranty extension, before it finally turns into an actual campaign. The idea is, that way, they'll be first hopefully getting the cars that are actually broken, before they start fixing cars that are not. Otherwise, they'd quickly either run out of parts, and/or the dealer service departments would be overwhelmed with [loser] recall/warranty pay work.

This is always a clusterfudge, because of scheduling and parts availability, and the fact that there is ALWAYS a significant subset of the ownership pool that will JUST bring their car in for the "free" stuff, and nothing else, which further adds to the dealership service departments' frustrations. You cannot expect a tech to work an eight hour day doing nothing but recall work that pays 50% time so that at the end of the day you've only earned four hours' pay. Much easier to swallow if you mix this stuff in with normal pay work. The manufacturers know this, so they try and spread it out.

Here's a bit more info regarding this issue:

The recall/extended warranty for the clock spring apparently was brought about due to the US NTHSA (Nat. Traffic Highway Safety Admin) getting involved. I've got a 2015 Golf Sportwagen TDI with failed clock spring that is not listed in any on-line sites I could find as being included in the free fix. My daughter, on the other hand, has a 2015 Passat which has had three clock springs replaced for free (the only symptom she was aware of was the airbag warning light was on). After a bit of checking I assumed the difference must be that the Golf and Passat used different clock spring parts for the 2015 year (5Q0-953-569-A in my 2015 Sportwagen and 5K0-953-569-AL which in her Passat). The Passat's 5K0- part is listed as being used in multiple models (Eos, Golf, GTI, Jetta, Passat and Tiguan) and model years starting in 2010 thru 2018. My Golf Sportwagen's part first appeared in 2015 (so after the clock spring fiasco was well underway) and only used in Golf/GTI models from 2015 thru 2018, and then the 2019 Arteon. It also seems kind of weird that the clock spring used in Golfs was the 5K0 part for 2012 and 2013, then Golf used a different part for 2014 (5K0-953-549-B MSRP: $ 730.27 !!), then in 2015 switched to the 5Q0 part (the cheapest of the three at MSRP $222).

In searching around I found information to the effect that VW claims to have "fixed' the design error in the older part that led to failures by adding a cover to prevent the contamination, so I assumed that's why the failed clock spring in my case was excluded from the free fix. Therefore I was preparing for a fight at my local dealership when I brought my car to them this morning. Lo and behold! After diagnosing the problem they said this fix was covered!? Oh happy days! (of course they now want to replace the broken rear spring for multiple Ks --- they also think the Bridgestone tires I got at Costco a year ago should be replaced ??

This is my 2nd TDI Sportwagen (I got the 2015 TDI to replace the 2014 "diesel-gate" TDI that VW bought back from me) and my daughter's got a Passat so we've been pretty loyal. When this part fails the driver's airbag stops working. This is a safety issue. I'd like to see the stat's on the failure rates of the newer part (5Q0-953-569-A).

 

[Nuje]

Different generation of vehicles - the 5K0 parts are part of the Mk5/6, while 5Q0 is part of the new MQB platform (started with 2015 Golf (not Jetta) in North America, but 2013 Golf in EU).

Glad to hear you got your clockspring covered under warranty. Check back in if it ever goes bad again and isn't covered - a few of us have swapped in heated steering wheels and have perfectly fine 5Q0953569A kicking around in a box in the garage.

(Oh - broken rear spring: look into maybe putting AllTrack springs on your Sportwagen, or at least "helper airbags" (I know that link points to a Mk6 car, but I've put the same bags on a couple Mk7 Sportwagens, including my own, and they're doing great.

 

[amitsekhon]

(of course they now want to replace the broken rear spring for multiple Ks -

I guess rear springs should be covered under warranty as well. Mine 2015 Golf TDI's rear springs were replaced by the dealer under recall in Canada.