Creaking dash, windcscreen stress fracture

[chelly62]

I have posted before regarding the creaks emanating from the dashboard on my Altea, which come and go from different places. When you hit a bump it feels as though it's going to fall apart at times. I have now noticed a 3" stress fracture in the windscreen (very top left, passengers side). I also note that there is a bigger gap between the door and dashboard on this side of the car compared to the driver's side (may just be poor fit and finish). I am starting to wonder if there is a serious structural problem with this car. I have read on here of an Altea having to be replaced due to defects in the A-pillars (that also car creaked and rattled). I may be wide of the mark, but it has got me thinking. It's going to the dealer tomorrow and an e-mail to Seat Customer Services is on its way too. I am becoming rather disillusioned with this car, so any thoughts on this would be helpful.

 

[Tell]

Doesn't sound good. Assuming the windscreen hasn't been hit by anything and the windscreen is part of the structure of the car, then it does sound like you have a structural problem doesn't it. Best of luck.

Mine is one of the Alteas, and there must be a lot, which don't have creeks and groans form the dashboard, only on cold mornings as reported here.

 

[loadswine]

I give mine a bit of stick and travel over many speed humps daily and it doesn't creek very much at all. On a long run its really quiet.
A stress fracture of the screen is a concern though, should be interesting to hear Seat's explanation of this one!

 

[LEON_FR]

I had my screen done on the leon 2 weeks after picking it up from new. Took it back the dealers and they did it under warranty.

 

[ALTEA DUDE]

I've just covered nearly 2000 miles in my Altea in one week! During that time a small rattle came and went from the dash, another small rattle came and went from the electric window control panel on the drivers door. And then a very loud squeaking came from the back which turned out to be the shelf at the top of the boot under the parcelshelf which is held on by rubber mounts. A quick spot of WD40 has cured that.

All in all, I think the Altea is very well built and you have been very unlucky. I would harass your dealer until your problems are sorted, it doesnt sound like a typical Altea at all.

 

[hibitdat]

I could be missing the mark here, but it seems to me that people who report no major creaks and rattles with their Alteas are those who have relatively new ones. Mine is a 54 plate, and it is beset with creaks, groans and rattles - to the extent that mine too sounds like it's going to collapse at times!
I have spoken with my friendly dealer a few times and they always mention a number of other Alteas with the same problem. I wonder if they have improved the more recent ones?
What worries me with mine is I never go over speed bumps (none round here thankfully - I don't think it could handle them!) and althought it's done 21k now, I had intended keeping it for a long long time. Right now, it doesnt fill me with the confidence that it will last that long.

On a final point, the lovely Cordoba that went before it (in the pic<) was far, far more solid and better finished than the Altea sport is...

 

[ALTEA DUDE]

Mine is a 54 plate and its fine. Think theres too many folk out there that fail to remember the price they paid.

Considering what it cost, how brillliantly it goes, how much equiptment it has; a few little rattles here and and there is nothing.

Believe me - I am on my 2nd company Merc now which is twice the price with twice the rattles, half the equiptment and half the performance!

Oh and four times the servicing bills!!

And I dread to think what Mercs eqivalent; the B-Class would cost in top diesel and trim spec.

 

[loadswine]

Mine is also a 54 plate and really isn't too bad. I negotiate many humps every day and it copes extremely well. Yesterday morning I drove from South London to Kings Lynn and back with only a 10 minute turnaround, and it has to be the best mile muncher I have driven. Smooth , fast and , yes pretty refined. Very cold conditions can cause a few creaks in my car, but not much to complain about.
But that's just my particular car. If an owner has problems , then Seat should sort them out, no excuses.

 

[hibitdat]

It does seem as though its a bit of a lottery with these problems, having been in a brand new one yesterday (reference sport) that is as bad as mine! I guess there might be a few quality control problems at the plant. Will be interesting to see what happens with the poor guys cracked screen.

 

[Tell]

I could be missing the mark here, but it seems to me that people who report no major creaks and rattles with their Alteas are those who have relatively new ones. Mine is a 54 plate, and it is beset with creaks, groans and rattles - to the extent that mine too sounds like it's going to collapse at times!

Mines 54 plate and doesn't creak and groan except for the first few minutes in cold weather as reported. I mentioned the interesting sound yesterday from the mechanics somewhere which lasted for a few seconds, possibly DSG related, only happened once. The rear suspension groans when you get in it, if you bounce up and down. I haven't been pestered by creaks and groans, 10k on the clock now.

 

[chelly62]

Windscreen is getting replaced on Tuesday under warranty. There was no quibble from the dealer or Seat who agreed it was a stress fracture. Hopefully that will go OK.

 

[chelly62]

Windscreen replaced but only after major hassles due to dealer incompetence. First windscreen was wrongly fitted. Second windscreen which is now fitted does not bear the SEAT badge, bit is labelled Guardian. This is most annoying as I had pointed out that I wanted an original SEAT brand windscreen fitted. The cutout at the base of the windscreen to show the chassis number is also off centre. Anyone else had a non-SEAT labelled windscreen fitted by their dealer?

 

[markirel]

No but when I bought my car at 4-months old from an independent garage (Seat demonstrators were over-priced and they couldn't compete with a trade-in on my V5), there were chips in the screen and I insisted that a replacement be fitted. To my suprise and satisfaction they sourced an OE Seat item.

No creaking but it is starting to exhibt the white cloudiness at the edges as the laminate is separating. Time for a return trip to the dealer.

 

[chelly62]

Turns out that the windscreen is not SEAT-approved and SEAT UK want to replace it with an OE SEAT one at the dealer's expense. Reluctant to let the muppets anywhere near my car again as they managed to create several paint chips on my bonnet. Difficult one to know what to do best on.

 

[chromeless]

I had something pretty similar with a Honda (at a Honda/Seat dealer fwiw), when they managed to dent a panel, scratch up the dash and kerb a wheel when they were just supposed to be fixing a dash rattle (for about the fifth time).

Having lost faith in the dealer I got Honda UK to come and pick the car up, drop off a replacement and not come back until it was all fixed to factory standard. I don't think that this is unreasonable, since the garage have already shown that they're not entirely competent, and why should you be further inconvenienced, and worried about what kind of job they're going to do on your car this time...

That said, Honda also managed to cause some damage to the car whilst it was in their "care", so it's not guaranteed to be completely satisfactory

 

[Tell]

Well Halfords managed to gash my DSG rubber gear shift when they were fitting my MD changer by dropping the headend on it or allowing it to swing around and also scratched the bit where it says D, M etc. You would think that people might take more care..... yeah I know it was the wide boys of Halfords, but they did fit it after I told them what parts to order fot the interface.