Passenger Air Bag and Heater Vent Rattles!! HELP!

[AidenUK]

Hi, joined this forum the other day, i am 19 year old and just bought my self an 02 reg GT TDI 130 with 47k on the clock in silver, I love the car but I have a few questions. just thought I would introduce my self first

I seem to have a strange rattle and a creaking noise coming from the passenger air bag in the front, if I press against the airbag it makes a stupid creaking rattley noise, it does this also when driving the car it seems to be a constant creaking noise? is there anything inside the airbag that could of come loose? Also there seems to be something knocking from the centre console air vents, I have checked for loose wires behind the stereo and loose vent pipes but so far I have found nothing, every thing that i can see behind the console are secure, the garage where I got it from have looked too and no one can find nothing. Hope someone on here could help me? as this noise is driving me nuts, i got rid of my 54 plate MG ZR because of crap build quality, these golfs 1000 times better but its just these little niggles that are annoying me, as most people will agree, if you pay 8900 for a car it wants to be right. Thanks in advance! Aiden

[benjie]

Hi, welcome to the forum - I did the same as you, got rid of an 03 Fiesta for a Golf a few years ago - build quality is so much better (in my experience)

You could try removing the air vents so you can get a torch in there and see what's going on. also, have you tried smacking the top of the dashboard really hard with your fist? I do sometimes and it gets rid of those really quiet rattles that no passengers can ever hear, but you can!

As for the airbag - if it was faulty, all hell would break loose in the car: alarms/warning messages etc. So the car obviously thinks nothing's wrong.

The way I am, I would take it back to where you bought it and say you want it fixed and don't take any fobbing off. They sold the car to you like that. If an airbag rattle was normal, it would be listed as a feature in the Golf brochure, but it's not. It needs fixing and it's potentially unsafe. If they don't know what to do, they can either a) take it to vw on your behalf to get it fixed, or b) you take it to vw and the garage you got it from can pay for it to be fixed!

If you got it from vw, keep hounding them to fix it - that's what a warranty is for. They are tight as a duck's bum and rely on people just coping with problems like yours.

Sorry, I've ranted and essentially told you nothing, sorry! Someone with brains will give you a good reply eventually!

Oh, has your cam belt been changed recently too?

[AidenUK]

Hi thanks for your reply i have had it back at the garage around 3 times now, its not a vw dealer i bought it from, it was just a car garage place so by law i got a crappy 3 month warranty thing from them, but guess what?? its only for major parts and labour warranty! The golf had its cam belt changed yeah so it should not need doing for a while yet, i love the car and its so much better than my 54 reg ZR despite the golf being older, the MG was falling in bits around me after 6 months (they are built so poorly but in my opinion look nice) Im not one for abusing my cars! i take good care of them, obviously i do open the engine up (where the law permits ) but i dont rag em about all the time. How would i get the air vents out so i can have a look down them and see whats going on possibly? as for the air bag im going to have to take it to VW, but i know with me being only 19 they are going to think im thick and try extract a vast amount of my well earned cash out of me! need some serious help tho these rattles are really annoying me! thanks again