Faulty roof seal – new trouble on the horizon

Volkswagen does not yet “officially” want to know anything about this and is talking about isolated cases, but once again something seems to have gone completely wrong in the production of the Grand Californias.

If you look at various forums on the Internet, you can’t help but notice that the number of posts about water ingress, including at the A-pillar, increases, especially in the winter months.

The third brake light, which Volkswagen has already identified as a possible source of the fault, is quickly cited as the cause.

We ourselves have already had three leaks at the third brake light, and only after the light and camera were completely sealed with Sikaflex did we no longer have any problems at this point. The shock was all the greater when, despite the sealing, we found water seeping in again at the A-pillar. Where should the water come from? We were able to rule out the windshield very quickly, as well as the awning holders, where everything is dry. The last remaining source appears to be the roof itself and a look at the seal revealed the problem.

The sealant used appears to be completely unsuitable, the sealing seam is completely porous and cracked all around. There are even really large cracks in the front area. It is therefore not surprising that water finds its way into the interior.

It can’t be down to a lack of care, we wash our Cali regularly 🧼 and always make sure that the vehicle is meticulously clean. However, we soon noticed that the white seal had a yellowish discoloration. Now, after less than two years, the cracks have formed everywhere.

An interesting point seems to be that it is only the white seals that show these cracks and discolorations. For vehicles with other exterior colors, Volkswagen apparently used a different, UV- and weather-resistant sealant. For comparison, here is a Grand California, also two years old, with a black seal:

This is extremely annoying for a number of reasons. Firstly, the problem usually only occurs after a long period of time and, in many cases, outside of the warranty, which, together with the associated damage to the interior, can very quickly run into thousands of euros. There is no need to assume that Volkswagen is admitting to a production error at this point.

In September, we conducted a survey on the subject of the third brake light and the associated water ingress. At the time of writing, 40 percent of the participants stated that they had experienced water ingress via the brake light. Of these 40 percent, 22 percent still had a further water ingress after the repair by Volkswagen. If these figures are applied to the entire Grand California fleet, over 4000 vehicles would be affected. That’s just crazy!

Unfortunately, we don’t get any figures directly from the manufacturer as to how many Grand Californias were delivered with a white roof seal. We are therefore launching another survey at this point to collect data with your help.