# 2013 Beetle. Trunk latch wont lock?!



## hiimjeremy (Mar 17, 2016)

Hey guys,

New to the forum. 2 weeks ago out of nowhere on a cold day, my trunk lock on my 2013 VW Beetle stopped working. There is obviously power going to the mechanism because you can hear it trying to trigger the lock, the lock horn beeps when you manually close the lock and all the lights work as they should when it's in this position. The issue is it just wont latch shut! 

I wanted to reach out to the community and find out if anybody has had a similar issue, and if there is a go-to fix or a way to diagnose the issue. I really want to try and avoid bringing it in to the dealership or a shop and paying $250-$300 for something that could be extremely easy to fix. 

I appreciate you taking the time to read, and any help you can provide!:banghead:


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## Blue316 (Feb 11, 2016)

I did have a trunk in another car model did that on me. Found that the latch prematurely closed. Had to reopen the latch mechanism for it to work. Cannot say if that is your problem. Could also be broken latch piece or broken spring... or even something simple.
Good luck.
Blue 316


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## mydogmandy1 (Sep 2, 2013)

*Found my problem!*

Funny thing - Not long after I read this post my trunk started acting up on my 2013 Beetle as well.

Out of the blue, when I pulled up on the latch to open, it made a loud rat-a-tat-tat noise, like when you set the torque on a drill.
The trunk wouldn't latch, and the remainder of my 2 hour Easter trip back home was filled with dings reminding me the trunk was open.

I looked up some possible solutions online & thought it might be able to be fixed, but this one is a sealed unit.

Here are some pictures of the process I went through in case anyone experiences this as well, and I think you might based on the cheap plastic build of the latch motor

Remove the plastic panel from the trunk. I just pried open a spot near the latch with one of those orange panel removal tools, then worked around the edges with my fingers until it was off. Here is a picture of the panel removed so you can see where the clips are:

















As you can see, the latch unit is sealed, so there was nothing for me to do but order another one.









There are 2 bolts to remove - both M8 12 point torx. I didn't have anything like that, so I had to buy a set for $5.99.
The unit itself was ordered from Parts.com for $183.54.

Very easy to replace, so when I did, I pried open the original unit to see what went wrong. What I found was that the latching part was still functional, as it was made out of metal. What really makes me mad is that the plastic screw that moves the latch open & closed had crumbled. Everything else moved freely.
I have never had a car latch fail before due to a cheap plastic part breaking. Thanks VW!


















Have it installed now and it works, but now the hatch is loose, despite the 2 parts being identical. Ugh.


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## hiimjeremy (Mar 17, 2016)

mydogmandy1 said:


> Funny thing - Not long after I read this post my trunk started acting up on my 2013 Beetle as well.
> 
> Out of the blue, when I pulled up on the latch to open, it made a loud rat-a-tat-tat noise, like when you set the torque on a drill.
> The trunk wouldn't latch, and the remainder of my 2 hour Easter trip back home was filled with dings reminding me the trunk was open.
> ...



Sorry to hear about your problem! It's quite frustrating, even though the trunk has no way to fly open and it's pretty much sealed. When you say the hatch is lose, is that the locking mechanism basically?

Also, when you opened the plastic panel which area did you start at? That is one of my biggest concerns. Either cracking the plastic, or messing it up to where it won't go back the same way and become lose & rattle. Was that part of the process pretty easy?


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## mydogmandy1 (Sep 2, 2013)

hiimjeremy said:


> Sorry to hear about your problem! It's quite frustrating, even though the trunk has no way to fly open and it's pretty much sealed. When you say the hatch is lose, is that the locking mechanism basically?
> 
> Also, when you opened the plastic panel which area did you start at? That is one of my biggest concerns. Either cracking the plastic, or messing it up to where it won't go back the same way and become lose & rattle. Was that part of the process pretty easy?


What I mean by the hatch being loose, is that once it's shut & latched, it still has about 1/4 inch of play in it where before it was tight.
When I opened the panel, I started next to the latch. If you can pry it open enough to get your fingers in there, firm & steady pressure will get the clips to release.
It all seemed pretty sturdy as far as the clips go. If you can use one of those orange plastic tools to pry it open, it isn't too bad.


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## Blue316 (Feb 11, 2016)

Maybe adjusting the catch on frame of the car... down...might fix your problem.
Blue316


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## mgeist89 (Sep 11, 2019)

*Broken wires*

I took my beetle in for servicing and told them that my trunk wasn't opening and they told me that some wires at the trunk hinge had broken and that they could fix it for $300. I told them "no thank you" and then went home and found the broken wires and then did a bit of rewiring to reconnect them. The trunk now works again just as designed! The wires are on the left hinge and are attached to the hinge by a plastic holder. It was obvious once I knew where to look that the wires were broken. The wires aren't very well color coded and fortunately for me only two wires were completely broken as there are four white wires and one brown one. I connected the wires and tested the trunk to see if the keyfob would open it again and then redid all the wires as they were all ready to break. Then I put them all back into the bracket and taped it all together again. 

It is very nice to have a functional trunk again!


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## ribbit (Jun 4, 2012)

It's always frustrating when a Co. uses cheap small parts that cause expensive repair bills or lots of time to correct. I had a Toyota sequoia that had a hood latch that had a plastic part the broke on the hood release and needed to be completely replaced. It happen 2 more times.:banghead::banghead:. This is what makes people change to another car co.


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## martenf (Aug 28, 2020)

*Latch Failure*

I have a 2013 Beetle Fender and the boot latch failed as well. The cause usually is the small plastic cog mechanism which has a screw shaft that breaks off. This is presumably because the plastic becomes brittle.
Apparently this is common and VW could have prevented this by having made the part out of metal.
It is possible to pull the assembly apart and replace the broken plastic part. I saw someone had the part 3D printed which is what I will do next time it fails. I was not able to this time as I had opened the assembly too many times and ended up damaging the two metal tags that hold the unit together.


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## Meadowdrive5 (9 mo ago)

mydogmandy1 said:


> *Found my problem!*
> 
> Funny thing - Not long after I read this post my trunk started acting up on my 2013 Beetle as well.
> 
> ...





mydogmandy1 said:


> *Found my problem!*
> 
> Funny thing - Not long after I read this post my trunk started acting up on my 2013 Beetle as well.
> 
> ...


Hello MyDogMandy1
You wouldn’t happen to have any of your photos still available would you? We have had a critical failure of the same part on our ‘13 Bug it seems and would love to see what images you had posted with your OP. Thank you for your assistance!


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