How to open the bonnet?!

[DougS]

Hi All,
I hope this is a daft question and someone can answer it without laughing too much!
I have a UK 70 plate Leon estate 1.5 130 xcellence that has been sat for 4 weeks and the car battery has completely drained. How do I open the bonnet to jump start the car if I cannot open the passenger door to allow me to pull the bonnet release lever? Am I missing something obvious?
Thanks
Doug

 

[MattN]

Why can you not open the passenger door? If the battery is totally flat open the driver's door with the key then open the passenger door internally. It doesn't need to be opened too far

 

[DougS]

Cheers for the reply Matt, that was my first thought but the passenger door will not open from the inside. I assume the central locking isn’t working as the battery is flat.
Doug

 

[MattN]

Ah yes. Deadlocked. Can you not see a way to pull the cable above the lever manually from where it disappears through the trim heading towards the bulkhead.

 

[DougS]

No, there is no cable visible. I can’t believe I’ve had to ask this question…

 

[Alex667]

You can get car chargers that’ll work via the cigarette lighter socket. Might be worth a shot if you can get inside. This also assumes there’s a fuse position that’ll make the socket live full time (without the ignition being on).

 

[DougS]

Cheers Alex, I’ll look into that.
I can see me calling a breakdown service to sort it out or take it to a main dealer.
I can’t believe the battery has died after 4 weeks!!

 

[Bear]

I am sure this must be a stupid question, but why does the passenger door need to be opened to release the bonnet catch handle?

 

[DougS]

Hi Bear. I don’t think there are any stupid questions when it comes to the mk4 Leon, it keeps surprising me with its stupidity. I assume it was designed for lhd cars where it would make sense to have the driver door open while the bonnet is up.
The lever bangs into the door card of the passenger door, it’s ridiculous.

 

[Bear]

Hi Bear. I don’t think there are any stupid questions when it comes to the mk4 Leon, it keeps surprising me with its stupidity. I assume it was designed for lhd cars where it would make sense to have the driver door open while the bonnet is up.
The lever bangs into the door card of the passenger door, it’s ridiculous.

Ah, thanks Doug, that's made things clearer, wish I could help mate, best of luck!

 

[Richiepoos]

I've read elsewhere (possibly on this forum) that you can force the bonnet release lever around the door card. Not saying I would like to have a go at doing that but may be worth a go...

 

[DougS]

Morning Rich
That is what one of the salesmen at the main dealer suggested when I phoned on Sunday afternoon. I had a go but it’s never going to flex that far.
I was hoping there was a secret lock hidden under a cover on the external door handle like there is on every other VAG car.

 

[SRGTD]

Hi Bear. I don’t think there are any stupid questions when it comes to the mk4 Leon, it keeps surprising me with its stupidity. I assume it was designed for lhd cars where it would make sense to have the driver door open while the bonnet is up.
The lever bangs into the door card of the passenger door, it’s ridiculous.

@DougS - Agree that it was probably designed that way for safety reasons specifically with LHD cars in mind; as you’ve said, it’s necessary on a LHD Leon for the driver’s door to be open to use the bonnet release lever, so the car will always be stationary when the lever‘s operated and there‘s no risk of it being inadvertently pulled while the car’s being driven. That’s fine if you have a left hand drive car, but as you’ve discovered, that logic falls down if you happen to have a right hand drive Leon.

It’s a good example of an inconsistent approach across VAG brands - my RHD VW has the bonnet release on the driver’s side, so it can be only operated when I open the driver’s door. I’m assuming that LHD VW’s have the bonnet release lever in the same location as it is in your car - i.e. on the left hand side.

Hope you get it sorted without too much hassle.

Just thinking about your battery; it’s not unknown for batteries in VAG cars to fail within the first three years (there are reports of this happening on some VW forums on the Golf), so as your 70 plate car’s still under the 3 year factory warranty, in your position I’d be looking to get a replacement battery under warranty. Another thought; do you have a dash cam that’s left running in parking mode when you‘re not using your car? If so, then that might have caused your battery to drain.

 

[DougS]

Hi SRGTD
No dash cams installed.
I’ll be phoning my breakdown cover today and hopefully they’ll sort it or get it to a dealer.
cheers for the reply.

 

[DougS]

Right, AA came this morning and managed to open the bonnet by forcing the lever past the trim of the passenger door. New battery fitted.
Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[Alex667]

Right, AA came this morning and managed to open the bonnet by forcing the lever past the trim of the passenger door. New battery fitted.
Thanks for the suggestions.

Good to hear. Hopefully you don't have something draining the battery...

Did they let you keep the old one as it should be under warranty?

 

[DougS]

I didn’t ask if I could keep it to be honest. I didn’t want something else in my garage that would trip me up.

 

[someuser08]

I didn’t ask if I could keep it to be honest. I didn’t want something else in my garage that would trip me up.

It's too late for you, just for benefit of others - I have seen reports of SEAT refusing free warranty repairs of anything connected to the electrics if the battery is not the original, so it's always best to keep it...

 

[Yanski]

Hey Doug S. I have exactly the same problem now. How do you mean the AA forced the latch? I don’t want to break anything but need to get this bonnet open

thanks

 

[DougS]

Hey Doug S. I have exactly the same problem now. How do you mean the AA forced the latch? I don’t want to break anything but need to get this bonnet open

thanks

Hi Yanski
He pulled the bottom of the lever out just enough so that it would clear the door trim when the lever was operated. Hope this helps.
Doug.