The infamous Lupo pedal box

[Paul]

Well, the pedal box on my SDi is ready to go bang any day now

It's been getting worse each day by becoming very difficult to change gear, and the clutch pedal (that was once level with the brake pedal) is getting lower and lower. In fact, I can slide my foot straight from the clutch pedal to underneath the brake pedal.

Last Saturday, my local VW dealer confirmed that it was the pedal box that needed to be replaced and told me that they'd pass the case to VW's warranty department. It seems that they won't contribute to the replacement because my Lupo is over five years old and out of warranty. So I telephoned VW's customer services today, and soon afterwards they called back to inform me that they too won't contribute to the cost of replacement, because the car is over five years old. (My SDi was registered in December 2001, so is six years and two months old). I argued that this wasn't a wear and tear item but a design fault and that I knew of other Lupos that had been repaired for free, but the customer services chap was having none of it and kept telling me that as it wasn't a recall item, I wouldn't receive a contribution.

So it looks like I'm going to have to pay for this myself, despite knowing that other Club Lupo members have had their pedal box replaced for free. I'll be writing to VW customer services, but I'd like to know if anyone had their pedal box replaced for free when their Lupo was over five years old. If so, please could you reply here, or send me a PM?

Thanks very much everyone

[cardaft]

Im sure people on here have had their done at over 5 years old.

IIRC one SDI had over 100K on the clock and was over 5 years old when it got done for free

Id try another VW dealer and see what they say, i wouldnt stand for paying it though, not unless you have tried every other way.

Good luck with it!

[Paul]

Im sure people on here have had their done at over 5 years old.

IIRC one SDI had over 100K on the clock and was over 5 years old when it got done for free

Id try another VW dealer and see what they say, i wouldnt stand for paying it though, not unless you have tried every other way.

Good luck with it!

Thanks Chris

The SDi you mention was Eric's (Devon was his username) and Daryll (Canonman) bought it. But I don't know if the pedal box on that particular car was replaced after it was five years old.

As I've dealt directly with VW customer services, I'm not sure if it's worth trying another dealer because I've been told that as the car is over five years old I won't receive a contribution to the cost of the replacement

That's why I'm asking for information here so that I can write to VW customer services and try to claim back the costs.

She's booked in to be repaired next Wednesday, but I'm not sure if the pedal box will last that long to be honest...

[chris-R-]

i've had the same problem with my lupo my pedal is nearly touching the floor, gears are harder to change, the loser at the local veedub garage was having none of it and told me to phone customer services. so i went on my way and phoned them all i got from the guy on the other end is i've not been trained to answer the questions that i was asking and that my car is over 7 years old and weren't gonna do anything. the milage is under 29000 and its not a fault don't believe it for a minute.

[dougless]

I saved this as a word document as I thought I might need the information one day:

Clutch pedal lower than brake pedal

Stiff gear change

Crunching into reverse

Hard to engage first

Clunky when moving 5th to 4th, 3rd to 2nd.

Very Low bite point.

Any or all of these issues means you should get your pedal box checked out.

As far as I am aware this is only a problem with Cable operated clutches, not hydraulic.

THE CAUSE:

On the left side of the box there is section that is pressed and welded to the main pedal box. It forms the stop for when the pedal reaches the end of its travel and it also holds the guide for the clutch cable. Unfortunately the original design has only spot welds holding the pressing onto the pedal box.

This means when you are operating the clutch, large shear forces are placed upon the welds which eventually break. The top spot weld is also positioned badly on a fold line for the pressing which can lead to cracks in the pressing due to fatigue on the fold.

Any or all of the welds can fail which will cause the pedal to drop slightly and therefore shorten the clutch cable travel meaning your clutch never fully disengages.

THE SOLUTION:

The original design specification stated the pedal box must collapse in the event of a crash to save the driver from crushing on the legs. The design meets the spec but at the cost of reliability. There is a newer design of pedal box which has no less than 20 revisions to it. These revisions include extra seam welds on the back of the pedal box strenghtning the joint but also still allowing it to collapse in an accident. (I obtained this information from a VW parts manager)

VW are well aware of the problem (something some dealerships will deny). The revised design IS the same as the Polo pedal box which was subject to a recall.

The lupo box was never subject to a recall but a memo was sent to all dealerships making them aware of the problem and also stating that goodwill would be given at 100% for any pedal box issues. This is subject to the vehicle being under 8 years old or 999,999 miles, whichever comes first. I have read this memo myself, all dealerships are aware of it.

VWUK customer service will always act on information given by the dealership, not the customer therefore in order to obtain goodwill the dealership must diagnose the problem correctly. This is where it becomes a bit hit or miss. Some "honest" dealerships will instantly recognise the problem, recommend goodwill and your problem is sorted free of charge. Others won't and will instead diagnose the problem as being caused by a "heavy clutch" or some other clutch related reason.

A heavy clutch could not ever cause the pedal box to break. If it was that heavy you would probably have severe trouble pressing the pedal and your clutch cable would give up long before the box.

You may also be told that the heavy clutch is due to the clutch been worn and that it would also need replacing at a cost of near £480. This is a miss-diagnosis. It would be impossible for a technician to establish whether the clutch is worn while the pedal box is broken. The pedal box influences clutch travel so much you would not be able to tell without first fixing the pedal box and then testing clutch operation.

In the words of a VW main dealer, VW have decided not to issue a recall to save face, they would rather fix the problem quietly on a one by one basis. However, I also believe that pressure is put on dealerships to diagnose the problem as being caused by something other than the pedal box design in order to save money on replacing the parts. Hence why some dealerships are genuine about the problem and some not.

CONCLUSIONS

The information I have given above is from my personal experiance and recent dealings with two VW dealerships. The information on the design revsions and memo are from VW employees who have asked me not to mention their names or dealerships through fear of disciplinary action by VW (that says a lot I think!)

If you have a problem with yours get it seen to asap, it does affect your clutch wear if you drive for a substantial time with the problem.

It SHOULD be fixed for free, this depends on diagnosis. If the garage diagnose it as a straight pedal box issue ask for goodwill. If they try and play it off as something else walk away and find another dealership. I am not going to name a shame dealerships publically on here.

Regards,

Adrian

PS - Can someone pin this for everyones benefit. Thanks.

This post has been edited by elajf1: Jul 17 2007, 10:58 PM

[Mitchell]

1999 lupo v933 eef replaced as goodwill showing 60 thousand miles iirc, november 2007

[dash]

my jan 2002 sport had its done twice free of charge at over 50,000. first time i rang them up basically telling them they where doin it free of charge and when it went less than 5,000 later. lets just say i wasnt impressed and they managed to do it in and afternoon when its usually a 2 day job. i work in a car place so i know how to treat service staff, and if they give you any crap, get customer care involved.

[mikesdi]

had mine done at vw foc 2001 sdi 90k

[tnewson]

hi there,

I literally had mine done on monday... had slpit it and twisted up the welds.. the main problem is that with VW to change the pedal box you have to take out the whole steering colum to put the new box in... took my garage 3 hours...

new clutch + pedal box = 365 GBP.

good price really.

[BridLupo]

hi there,

I literally had mine done on monday... had slpit it and twisted up the welds.. the main problem is that with VW to change the pedal box you have to take out the whole steering colum to put the new box in... took my garage 3 hours...

new clutch + pedal box = 365 GBP.

good price really.

I didn't realise the diesel models were effected. Thought it was only the 1 litres and the 1.4 petrols

[Mitchell]

I didn't realise the diesel models were effected. Thought it was only the 1 litres and the 1.4 petrols

it can happen to most cable operated clutches.

sheeeet design.

[chris-R-]

it can happen to most cable operated clutches.

sheeeet design.

tell me about it...........my old corsa 1.2 sxi the clutch cable snapped 4 or 5 times due to the nylon bit that the cable connected to wearing down think it happend to 3 pedals but anywho.......

my loop is in gettin the pedal box dun brake servo hose n exhaust been quoted £160 labour for pedal box so a wonder what the grand total will come to?

[tnewson]

£160 labour sounds about right... the pedal box costs £88 from volkswagen

[chris-R-]

£160 labour sounds about right... the pedal box costs £88 from volkswagen

VW quoted me £25 for the box and around £270 for labour

gettin a smaller garage to fit it

[lunalupi]

I was about to say - £88 for a pedal box, I'm sure its more like the £30 mark...!

Perhaps they needed a few other bits too?

[Little Vik]

the dealer claim their money from Volkswagen, so its not the dealer carrying the cost to replace it. They need to get their money from VW to be able to do the work.

Keep on with VW UK (although from my experiance with work) they are an absolute shower of useless morons - but thats just my experience lol

You need to get them on side to pay for the work unfortunately

Which dealer did you take it to?

[chris-R-]

i just took it to a wee local garage same service cheaper prices.......getting the exhaust changed and the brake servo hose too.........should get it all dun for less than £400 hopefully:D

[Lupo*]

How can you defo check they actually replaced it? they did mine 3 months ago, but the way they were about the situation was weird. as they said they wasn't paying, till i argued then had to do it 3 of charge. just wondering how you can check if the used the newer pedal box or just chucked an old style one in? where would i look to check, and look for what?

thanks

[Paul]

Thanks to everyone for your replies and PMs

Unfortunately, the pedal box on my SDi did go bang

I took her to my local VW garage on the morning of 13 February for them to replace the pedal box. I had a phone call in the afternoon to say that the wrong part had been delivered to them, but they'd put my car back together and as soon as the right pedal box was delivered, they'd fit it.

So I collected my car on the evening of 13 February and 2.3 miles later, at these traffic lights, I put the clutch down to engage first gear and heard a concerning bang. The clutch pedal fell from underneath my foot and I couldn't engage any gears.

The clutch pedal that had been sinking towards the floor was now in this position:

As you can see, the clutch pedal is in the foreground, brake in the middle and accelerator in the background. Usually, the clutch and brake pedals are roughly level with each other...

So my Lupo was collected on a low-loader

and taken back to the VW dealer that was now closed

I telephoned the garage the following morning (14 February) and had to go there to drop off the keys. They hadn't got any spare cars for me to borrow, so I had to pay for car hire from Enterprise.

I picked up a Chevrolet Kalos 1.4SX

and discovered that it was designed by Giugiaro, and not Stevie Wonder's dog, as I originally suspected.

Anyway, I had a phone call from the VW garage this morning (19 February) to inform me that the correct pedal box had been delivered and fitted and that my Lupo was ready.

The pedals now look like this

and I've got my Lupo back

The total cost was £352.02 but I'm trying to reclaim that from Volkswagen UK...

Thanks again to everyone for your help and advice

[jcarroll]

Well that sucks paul. Threaten them with trading standards!

My accelorator pedal has dropped a little bit, but not a great deal. The others feel ok although i do sometimes have to push it right into reverse...could be my carelessness though i suppose.

Hope you Beat VW..Seat wont even do it under warranty without a fight from what ive heard.

[cardaft]

At least its all done now Paul

I hope you didnt have to pay for the recovery truck? If you did then you will have to give VW the bill since its their fault you had to collect it before it was fixed.

Nice hire car could have been worse, could have been a matiz!

Hope you get your money back from VW,

[tnewson]

lmao....

mine was so bad that i had to push it onto the road, force it into 2nd gear, start the car and whack on the throttle and it would move off... luckily i didnt need to stop on the way to the garage.

VW said to me that they only sell the pedal box with the brake pedal box.. thats why it costs £88 apparently.

thank feck its sorted anyways.

[x.Amy.x]

The pedal box on my Lupo went the other day. Didnt see the point in taking it to VW as most people seem to be having no luck with getting a contribution.

Took it to Alan Orr's garage in Renfrew. He welded it and its working like new now. Great price and really nice, helpful guy.

Anyone in renfrewshire, I really recommend him.

[Paul]

At least its all done now Paul

I hope you didnt have to pay for the recovery truck? If you did then you will have to give VW the bill since its their fault you had to collect it before it was fixed.

Nice hire car could have been worse, could have been a matiz!

Hope you get your money back from VW,

All fixed now Chris The bite point seems a little high, but I've adjusted that a bit and it seems better now.

I've been a member of the RAC since 2002, and they provided the recovery truck. Although I didn't have to pay for recovery, I've now lost the 10 per cent discount I receive for not calling them out.

To be honest, I would have probably preferred a Matiz to the Kalos, because I found it a bit too big as it was 14-inches longer than the Lupo The biggest problem I had though was adjusting to a petrol engine. Having driven a non turbo diesel for three years, revving an engine to get anywhere was a bit strange. Reaching the dizzy heights of 6,000rpm was all new to me!

I'll let you know if I hear from VW about getting my money back

[lillzee]

Hello everyone

My first post here and not a good one sadly!

Picked up a bargain VW Lupo 1.0 E 2005 reg and 2500 miles on the clock (I know criminal) from a sweet old lady in Glasgow who had decided to give up driving as she was now getting on a bit.

Guess what? Within the week it’s all over the place. VW say the pedal box is on the way out thankfully its still under warranty so they haven’t given me any grief about sorting it. Although they did try and make me wait two weeks for a courtesy car and then charge a tenner day! I told them to stuff it as I still have my old 106 to run around in.

So I think it’s pretty obvious it’s a design flaw if the problems are appearing after 2500 miles of light town usage.

My main concern is that it’s going to happen again and after the warranty runs out VW will lose interest. Having never dealt with VW before would anyone like to suggest how I should play this one? Do they guarantee their work parts? Is their anything I should push for while I still have the warranty to beat them up with?

Apart from all that what a cool little car! )

Cheers

Paul