# Armrest latch debacle...



## Audi'sRevenge (Mar 24, 2008)

So I think a while back I had mentioned on here that my centre armrest [compartment] latch broke in my car (when the car was around 1yr old).
At the time the stealer wanted to take me for what I consider a ride becuase they were like "oh it's not warranty but we'll give you a 'deal' on it". Yeah the 'deal' was that I would pay for the part which is like some $80-100 or something I think, and they would do the labour for "free". LOL yeah "labour"--the whole 300 seconds or so it takes to install a new lid.








Anyway I didn't go for those backdoor shens and just left the car as is for a while. Car is going back in for maintenance soon so this time I called up Audi about it. Guy on the phone tried to give me some nonsense about how it was a "normal wear" item and I replied "oh really so I should expect the armrest latch in a $40k car to break every year or so, *normally*???" I explained to him how it's not something like break pads which normally wear out as you use them and are expected to replace on your own, it's a damn centre console armrest which has no business breaking in a year.
So that guy said he would "see what he could do" and "would call me back in a couple days". Well he called back by the end of the same day and told me he'd talked to the dealer service manager and they would "take care of me".
So I book the appointment now and get an email from a service advisor talking about the armrest. Apparently they still want me to pay them $40 for it, and asked me if they should order the part. Well having the thing broken for a year now, I said yeah okay just order it. The $40 apprarently reflects an oh-so-huge 75% discount of the rip-off price they would charge in part and labaour for this repair.
I remember people replying before how they got theirs fixed under warranty, though they were in the US. 
Am I wrong in thinking it's a bit ridiculous to have to pay for a latch that broke on it's own in less than two years? Going carefully over the warranty booklet it does mention that "trim" among other things aren't covered under warranty but I'm not sure if it's not just arbitrarily deciding what is and isn't going to be covered. I mean how many people got Open Sky latches replaced under warranty right? What's the difference between that and an armrest latch?
I mean I know it's "only $40", but still, I feel like taking these retards to CAMVAP arbitration over this bullcrap










_Modified by Audi'sRevenge at 7:46 AM 4/6/2010_


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## SilverSquirrel (Jul 24, 2006)

*Re: Armrest latch debacle... (Audi'sRevenge)*

mine is broken as well, but i bought the car 2nd hand past warranty. 
its a junky little plastic latch, and i dont think you can get it apart from the armrest cover, so you need a whole new cover?


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## krazyboi (May 19, 2004)

*FV-QR*

Agreed. Its all about the dealer and how much they care for you. Eating $80 + "labor" for them is easy and would have you want to purchase from them more in the future. With them being picky on something this small...its going to make them lose possible future purchases from you.
Oh well...their loss.


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## tp. (Nov 12, 2009)

my rear one broke. dealer no replace for free wanted 150. I looked at the aprt online it was the wrong part. they wanted to replace the cup holder


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## mattA3 (Feb 24, 2010)

*Re: (tp.)*

My rear one broke too. They could not find the latch part so they replaced the whole rear center arm rest under warranty. Took a month to get but they made it more then right. Dont these dealers get paid by Audi to perform warranty work? They should be on your side, take care of the customer and stick Audi with the bill. Maybe Audi will see that making cheap parts that break all the time is not profitable.


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## tiptronic (Apr 18, 1999)

*Re: Armrest latch debacle... (Audi'sRevenge)*

My rear armrest latch was broken when i picked up my car initially, and they replaced it of course at no charge at 1st service.
then my front center armrest latch broke at around 40k (iirc).. and they replaced it under warranty. *the entire lid had to be replaced*.
Driver side window switch failed at 50k, and they replaced it under warranty/goodwill gesture.
@ Keyes Audi.
e


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## Bezor (Jan 16, 2007)

Velcro. Works fine. I don't even miss the latch. Velcro keeps the lid from bouncing.


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## SilverSquirrel (Jul 24, 2006)

*Re: (Bezor)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Bezor* »_Velcro. Works fine. I don't even miss the latch. Velcro keeps the lid from bouncing. 









im gonna try that.


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## enkei54 (Jun 18, 2007)

i've been using velcro squares on the front and back for about a month now and the glue is beginning to seep out in the hot weather. It's a pain in the ass to wash my hands after getting anything out of the center console now


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## skotti (Sep 27, 2005)

If anyone has/knows of a front center armrest available- black leather/pleather- let me know. I had cloth seats and swapped to premium, and would like to change the armrest cover.


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## -j- (Jan 15, 2006)

Front and back armwrest latches are broken on mine. It's the same cheap crap they used on the open sky latch. It's really sad. My 20 year old corolla had better material than these.


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## skotti (Sep 27, 2005)

Can the armrest 'top'- lid- be purchased separately? Anyone have a part #?


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## krazyboi (May 19, 2004)

skotti said:


> Can the armrest 'top'- lid- be purchased separately? Anyone have a part #?


 http://www.genuinevwaudiparts.com/p...l=A3&year=2007&catalogid=2&displayCatalogid=0 

I assume you would want black leatherette...


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## SilverSquirrel (Jul 24, 2006)

thanks for the link.. i need one too. but at that price, ill just let it be.


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## skotti (Sep 27, 2005)

Thanks- I think that link is for the door armrest, though. I already looked there for the part, but they sell the entire center armrest for $287 : o


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## krazyboi (May 19, 2004)

skotti said:


> Thanks- I think that link is for the door armrest, though. I already looked there for the part, but they sell the entire center armrest for $287 : o


 Oooh, perhaps you are correct. If only the had a picture. Let me fire up my laptop to see if my .pdf has the part listed separate.


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## krazyboi (May 19, 2004)

Pad, Armrest 
Black - 8P0 864 245 C 8P3 
Beige - 8P0 864 245 C TAN 
Gray - 8P0 864 245 C 8P6 

2006 list prices are at $86.45. I'm also not sure if this is cloth, leather, etc. 

Part no 23: http://www.genuinevwaudiparts.com/p...440&callout=23&catalogid=2&displayCatalogid=0


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## skotti (Sep 27, 2005)

Thanks, Johnny--I'll have to shoot them an email to make sure... 
Price isn't too bad, but I'm hoping I might score one from a junk yard!


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## JCB (Aug 12, 1999)

how do you unfasten the lid/top?


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## callmecue (May 18, 2007)

*Trying to replace my armrest lid.*

I have a grey leather interior. Can anyone tell me if the "leatherette" option is similar in appearance to the "leather" one for sale at genuineaudiparts. There's a $90 difference and I'd really like to keep that in my pocket.


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## rkeon (May 11, 2008)

My younger brother broke mine and the dealer replaced it at no charge under CPO Warranty


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## a3lad (Aug 6, 2005)

callmecue said:


> I have a grey leather interior. Can anyone tell me if the "leatherette" option is similar in appearance to the "leather" one for sale at genuineaudiparts. There's a $90 difference and I'd really like to keep that in my pocket.


iirc, armrest cover is leatherette unless your car has "premium leather" option.


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## callmecue (May 18, 2007)

a3lad said:


> iirc, armrest cover is leatherette unless your car has "premium leather" option.


 Yeah. I have the "premium" leather. One wouldn't know it by the discoloration and feathering of the seats. Guess I'll pony up the extra $$ for the leather one. It seems to be a recurring thing with MK5 VAG products having less than stellar interior quality.


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## architect76 (Jun 27, 2010)

the exact same thing happened to me too... and the stealership said they wouldn't replace it, instead they told me it was going to be $150. yes ridiculous... so i did a bit of research and found the part number (pleather one - found in my 2007 A3 S-Line): 

8P0864245G38M 

here's the link at ecstuning (the one you see in the pics is actually in my car now... they brought the part in, took some pics and now it's on their website) - it's $75... yes half of what the stealership wanted: 

http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/8P0864245G38M/ES457711/ 

it's very easy to install / take out... just squeeze the two elbow pieces together and pull out / install. now i'm extremely careful when i open and close the center armrest console... 

hope that helps


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## Nuke-em (Oct 2, 2006)

My latch broke off a couple months ago. The dealer replaced it under warranty, but only after pushing back a bit. It also helps that I always work with the same service manager everytime I take the car in. Can't hurt to build a rapport...

Matt


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## Machnickiⓐⓤⓓⓘ (May 14, 2008)

Audi took care of me under warranty the first time. It broke again a few weeks ago. :thumbdown:


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## Willie Gee (Feb 27, 2012)

car arrived from Audi Dealer in texas with a broken rear center armrest. I hoping for the best, but it appears that I will need to create a fix....


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## TurboChrisB (Feb 25, 2012)

My rear one is trashed...was like that when I picked up the car (bought it used at a dealer) the latch AND the cupholder are broken...


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## absolutt (Aug 10, 2007)

The original latch design is terrible. Really stupid for Audi to skimp like that. No good reason for them to reinvent the latch and make an inferior design.

Rather than forking out $130 for a new lid with a latch that will likely break again, I just installed some micro neodymium magnets and that did the trick.










These are closeup images. Looks fine from normal distances. And the magnet strength is terrific. Strong enough to keep the lid from popping open when raised up, yet forgiving enough to require only modest force to open.


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## Audi'sRevenge (Mar 24, 2008)

Been quite a while since I've been on Fourtitude, but yeah obviously I wasn't the only one with armrest issues! Half my latch broke on my '13 now too  "Dumbest latch system evar"! 

Mine is still working with just the half of it (kind of difficult to explain what I mean) but it's on its way out, obviously. Good news is, it looks like you can by these from China now, for cheap. Minus the 2-month wait time it might be an option. They even have a metal one fabricated which looks like it might be a lot better--anyone tried that one? The magnets look cool but I'd rather stick to the stock latch, if I can.

Hopefully these are not like the damn fake China sunvisor clips I bought though--those are nowhere near Berlin in fit or quality. Well they fit the car, but the visor has no chance of clicking into it. Also they are cheap shiny plastic (not matte like original) and clearly knock-offs despite the claim of being OE parts  I mean I expected fakes at the low price, but I also at least expected them to work. Now have to find a real one at some stupid price, I'm sure!


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## MisterJJ (Jul 28, 2005)

I modeled up a replacement latch, available here:

http://shpws.me/OIUq



Waiting for someone to try out a Shapeways one. A FDM printed one seemed to work fine. My original still works.


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## Audi'sRevenge (Mar 24, 2008)

MisterJJ said:


> I modeled up a replacement latch, available here:
> 
> http://shpws.me/OIUq
> 
> ...


Oh wow that's pretty cool. The blue one looks like it might be nifty. As for the steel one...they can 3D print in steel? Only disappointing thing is it costs as much to ship (Canada) as the part cost itself.


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