# Water leaks out rear seat belts



## __raj (Apr 28, 2018)

I have 2018 Tiguan SE with panoramic roof and 10k miles. Very heavy downpour and noticed water dripping out of both top openings where rear seat belts attach to and side and tops of rear seats wet. Ugh......

Any known issues?


----------



## __raj (Apr 28, 2018)

Both back seat posts similar:


----------



## JSWTDI09 (Feb 22, 2009)

I see at least 2 possibilities:
1) rear drain lines are clogged or not properly connected.
2) the "downpour" overwhelmed the capacity of the above mentioned drain lines.

If you live in the eastern US, you guys have been slammed with rain. If the amount of rain getting into the track around the roof overwhelms the ability of the drains, that water has to go somewhere. Apparently in your car it has found a spot on both sides for water to enter the c-piller. I do not know if a dealer can help you or not, but it cant hurt to document this as much as possible and talk to your dealer. If they can figure out where the water is getting in, they might be able to seal it. I am actually a little bit surprised we haven't heard more about leaks considering the amount of rain that has plagued the eastern US this summer

Have Fun!

Don

P.S. I really wish you guys didn't keep making me happy that I chose to not have this (obviously) troublesome pano roof. This is the main reason I have an SE and not an SEL+.


----------



## MisterF (Jul 26, 2018)

I just got my car back from the dealership for a leaking sunroof. Except mine was leaking near the Carnet buttons. A couple days after the leak I couldn't get the sunroof closed. I had to get out and hold the seal in place while the sunroof was closing, in order for it to shut.

They dealership replaced the front sunroof glass because the seal attached to it was kinked, allowing water in.

I hope they find your issue.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk


----------



## bestvw (May 2, 2005)

NA Tiguan sucks!


----------



## __raj (Apr 28, 2018)

Turns out the rear sunroof drains were plugged.

I have had the car for 4 months and 10k and insanely VW does not cover this in the first year of ownership . The dealer good willed the repair. 

We never leave the sunroof open and rarely use it. I am hoping a fluke or possibly at build time some grease/debris got into drains creating the plugging/slow drainage. 

Hoping never to deal with this again.


----------



## tiguanmarcus (Sep 11, 2017)

Thats absurd that its not covered under the VW warranty.


----------



## shervsr20 (Jul 22, 2018)

Did they say what the drain lines were plugged with? Maybe a spider or something got in there and created a web that trapped dirt.... How wide are the drain lines?


----------



## Wilsonium (Dec 22, 2004)

This makes me want to test my drains before winter gets here. Although as much as I wash my car I have yet to see any issues. But then again, washing it is only 2 minutes of water and not sitting out in the rain.


----------



## __raj (Apr 28, 2018)

For clarity the issue was encountered with car parked on slight incline with rear lower. The rain was extremely instense, hard and driving for 25 minutes. The type people pull over typically and wait.

I am thankfully the headliner was not pulled down. They just placed what they termed a flexible long straw into tubing and cleared it out.


----------



## JSWTDI09 (Feb 22, 2009)

__raj said:


> They just placed what they termed a flexible long straw into tubing and cleared it out.


I have an old VW service manual that actually recommended using an old speedometer cable. A lot of people use the flexible plastic line from a lawn string trimmer. In many places, this should probably be done regularly.

Have Fun!

Don


----------



## shervsr20 (Jul 22, 2018)

JSWTDI09 said:


> I have an old VW service manual that actually recommended using an old speedometer cable. A lot of people use the flexible plastic line from a lawn string trimmer. In many places, this should probably be done regularly.
> 
> Have Fun!
> 
> Don



Good idea. Can you point out where to access the drain line?


----------



## JSWTDI09 (Feb 22, 2009)

shervsr20 said:


> Good idea. Can you point out where to access the drain line?


The drain lines usually end up somewhere in your wheel wells. The easiest way to find them is to look in your wheel wells while someone else pours a glass of water into the corner of the roof. Then you just look and see where the water starts to drip (stream) out of the end of the drain line. Then you can take some flexible line and run it up from the outlet to the roof drains.

Have Fun!

Don


----------



## noreastdub (Aug 6, 2018)

JSWTDI09 said:


> shervsr20 said:
> 
> 
> > Good idea. Can you point out where to access the drain line?
> ...


I came here with the same question. Always so helpful, thanks for all your contributions Don!

Actually had these clog in my mkiv gti, this forum helped me find those and how to clean them back then. I am gonna try to find them on the tiguan and clean them out. Live in the northeast, lots of rain and lots of trees. Will take photos if/when I find them.


----------



## miro1118 (Nov 21, 2003)

*drains*



shervsr20 said:


> Good idea. Can you point out where to access the drain line?


The front drains are in the cowl area under the plastic trim which is under the wipers. On either side of the car there is a small black nipple with a red flap over the bottom where it drains out into the cowl. you have to pry the trim up a little and reach back towards the passenger compartment to see them. I was able to work some debris free and the water finally rushed out over my hand.


----------



## southpawboston (Feb 3, 2018)

__raj said:


> Turns out the rear sunroof drains were plugged.
> 
> I have had the car for 4 months and 10k and insanely VW does not cover this in the first year of ownership . The dealer good willed the repair.
> 
> ...


The dealer lied. They did no such "good will" gesture of "cleaning" the drains. The drains did not need cleaning on a car that's a few months old and whose sunroof is kept closed most of the time.

My GSW maintenance book states that the drains need to be checked and cleaned every two years or 40k miles. I would urge owners of Tigs to check their maintenance schedules and show the service managers.

VW has had TONS of leak issues with all their pano roof vehicles. They have bought back GSWs/Alltracks because of constant leaks that multiple repair attempts could not resolve.

Don't let dealers try to deflect blame for defective designs onto the owners as neglected maintenance.


----------



## semiart (Sep 20, 2018)

*same problem*

just drove my car back from the dealer 2nd time for the same problem. Had this car for 4 wks. There were couple of rains in the past 3 wks. Every time i got wet seat belt and wet trunk no matter how heavy the rain was. The dealer blew the drain pipe but it didn't help. Actually I think it made it even worse. They also put the car in the car wash for 1 hour but they said they couldn't find the problem. I am gonna bring it back in raining day so they could take it apart right away and find out where the problem is. My dealer didn't charge me for the investigation so i'd assume it's under warranty.


----------



## JSWTDI09 (Feb 22, 2009)

semiart said:


> The dealer blew the drain pipe but it didn't help. Actually I think it made it even worse.


Blowing out the drain lines is the WRONG way to clear them. If there is actually a blockage the compressed air can pop the drain hose off of the nipple it is plugged into. This can definitely make the problem worse because now the water does not even try to go down the tubing, it just drains directly into your headliner. Sunroof drains are a PITA.

Have Fun!

Don


----------



## BCalvert (May 17, 2011)

I have a 2018 SEL P and I have the exact same problem with both sides of the vehicle in a heavy rain that started two nights ago. I have had it 5 months and under 5,000 miles. I have an appointment next Friday the get it checked out but I am going to go ahead of time this week and talk to the service advisor about it. They have to disconnect the recall on the ambient lighting also in the roof. So that seems like a good time to check out the lines. 


Total BS if they say this is not covered. No way will I pay for it. I took a video of it to show them how it was happening and bring with me.


----------



## ButMudBrooks (Jul 18, 2015)

Looks like I've got a leak too. I noticed some water on the front passenger floor board, the insulation under the carpet was soaked.
Took it to a detailer because I thought I spilled something or maybe my wife spilled something.
They dried it out, cleaned the whole thing and all was good.
It rained and the water is back. Taking it to the dealer in a couple days.


----------



## ButMudBrooks (Jul 18, 2015)

Update:
I took my Tig to the dealer on 10/3 for the water leak. They completed TSB 2052184 and called me to pick up on 10/4.
Two days later the water was back. This time I removed some of the trim and lifted up the carpet.
The entire front passenger foot well is covered in water. The carpet and insulation are pretty much soaked.
I'm dropping it off again as soon as they can get me in.


----------



## BCalvert (May 17, 2011)

Turns out my leak is specifically related to the rubber of the front glass being bent upward from a poor seal/weather stripping all around the roof unit. While closing it was bent upwards. I will see if I can post the pictures. It seems without looking from the top down I would have never seen the poor installation of the weather stripping/seal. The fix for it is a new front glass piece and a new seal all the way around. The thing that sucks is that they have to take the headliner down all round etc to get the seal in. Not happy about that and I will be taking "before" pictures to make sure it is all put back together properly and clean. Annoying at best. 


Lets hope this solves the leak problem. The flip side is while they have it all apart I am having them do the TSB for the B pillar noise and recall on the ambient lighting.













https://1drv.ms/f/s!AmUpWSkudI_wuiixS9YHCkpBjTKu


----------

