B6 Passenger Seat Lumbar Support - Should Feel Like What?

4286 Views 7 Replies 3 Participants Last post by hu vw, Apr 3, 2013

jshopper1

Discussion Starter · Mar 12, 2013

Friends,

Help me with some advice. I purchased my 2009 Passat 2 years ago as a CPO vehicle. For the entire time that I have owned the vehicle the front passenger seat manual lumbar control knob does not seem to do much when rotated. You can feel only the slightest difference in your back when rotated from one stop to the other. On the other hand the driver side pushbutton lumbar control works perfectly fine. I have nothing to compare the passenger lumbar control against and I wonder if this is correct? Should the passenger lumbar support feel any different than the driver’s? What does a broken lumbar support feel like when you turn the knob? I read in this and other forums that the lumbar controls break frequently. I wonder if mine has been broken since I purchased my car and I just haven’t realized it.

I recently visited my local dealership for the 50,000 mile service on my car. I mentioned the passenger lumbar problem to the service advisor and he had his tech check it. When I picked up my car he said that the passenger lumbar control is working properly, you just have to push your back into it really hard to feel anything. Hmm… does this sound correct to you?

What does the combined wisdom of this forum say? Baloney, hogwash or correct?

Thanks for your input.

DL

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hu vw

· #2 · Mar 12, 2013

I can't tell you exactly how the lumbar support works on the B6, but on my B5.5 there is a noticeable difference between the two extreme settings; which I'll call "full soft" and "full firm." The B5.5 system works through a system of springs/wires which, as you stated, are prone to failure. The lumbar support system on my B5.5 failed and I had to pull up the rear portion of the seat cover and was able to switch out the wire which was snapped. I had to acquire the part from a salvage yard as the faulty part is not available separately. After the part was switched both seats functioned identically which I would assume is also the case with the B6 seats, both should resemble each other.

If the B6 is the same as the B5.5 in the sense the part is not available separately, maybe the problem lies with the dealer not wanting to replace the entire seat assembly for one part. Maybe speak to the dealership again and show them the difference between the two seats.

Be persistent and good luck.

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spiffed

· #3 · Mar 13, 2013

In my 09 B6, the power driver's seat seems to adjust from no support to "phone book behind your spine" while the passenger side seems to only adjust out to "folded jacket". You can definitely feel it when the wheel is spun all the way one way or the other but it's not nearly as noticeable as the drivers side.

Maybe hu vw can confirm, but I remember the wheel spinning freely when the wire snapped on my B5; the lumbar knob should have definite stops. If you hold your hand against the seat back while playing with the adjuster can you feel it adjusting?

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hu vw

· #4 · Mar 13, 2013

spiffed said:
Maybe hu vw can confirm, but I remember the wheel spinning freely when the wire snapped on my B5; the lumbar knob should have definite stops.

Yes, when the wire snapped, the wheel did spin very easily from stop to stop.

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jshopper1

Discussion Starter · #5 · Mar 13, 2013

Spiffed and hu vw,

Thanks for the input. I really appreciate it.

You cannot feel a thing when the knob is spun in either direction, no stops along the way; just the mildest poke in the back at one extreme.

Before my first post I believed that the lumbar support was broken. I wanted to verify it with this forum before I return to the dealer with this thread in hand.

This should be fun. I will report back with my results.

Thanks for reading.

DL

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jshopper1

Discussion Starter · #6 · Mar 16, 2013

The Saga Continues

Yesterday I dropped off my car at my local dealership to have them replace the sunroof switch (under CPO warranty). They ordered the replacement switch a week ago when my car was in for the 50,000 mile service. The service adviser called me midweek and said that the switch was in. I also asked the service adviser to please recheck the passenger seat lumbar support based upon input from members of this forum.

The service adviser called me mid-afternoon and said that my car was ready to pick up. When I went to pick it up the service adviser apologized and said that they ordered the wrong color sunroof switch and they will reorder the correct one. It should be in next week. I asked him if he checked the passenger seat lumbar support, he said no.

Great! My car was tied up for a day and they neither fixed nor trouble-shot anything.

I am losing confidence and patience with this dealership. What do you think of this level of dealer service?

DL

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jshopper1

Discussion Starter · #7 · Apr 3, 2013

A Little Bit of Progress

It has been more than 2 weeks since I last reported. The dealer reordered the sunroof switch and received it. You may recall that he ordered a replacement sunroof switch a couple of weeks ago but when it arrived it was the wrong color. He finally replaced the sunroof switch at no cost to me (CPO warranty covered the cost 100%). The service advisor had the technician recheck the passenger seat lumbar support, and then he had the service manager check the lumbar support. The service manager agreed that the lumbar support was not operating properly. Hallelujah! I don’t' know why the technician could not verify that the lumbar support was not operating properly, I don't know why the service manager had to verify my complaint; a girl scout could tell it. The service advisor said that they would order the lumbar support parts and call me when they are received.

So to recap:

It took three trips to the dealership to install the correct replacement sunroof switch.
It took three trips to the dealership to get them to agree that the passenger seat lumbar support does not operate properly.
It will take at least one more trip to get them to repair the lumbar support., assuming that they receive the correct parts the first time.

Sheesh! What lousy service! This should have taken two trips, one to verify my complaints and one to replace the parts.

I love the car but cannot stand this CPO warranty service. I will keep you posted.

Best regards,

DL

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hu vw

· #8 · Apr 3, 2013

Good to hear you are making progress. At least with the lumbar support parts, there is no color code to misinterpret, unless they order the entire seat back!

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