I won't be buying any more Volkswagens -- LOUSY carseat customer service!

[Quirky]

I am so ticked off at Volkswagen I can hardly see straight....although I have liked my 1999 Passat wagon and dh's 2002 Golf a lot, I can tell you I won't be buying any more! LOUSY LOUSY LOUSY customer service when it comes to car seat safety!

Here's what happened: in 2002, when I was pregnant with my first, I took my VW to the dealership to have LATCH retrofitted. The dealer installed lower anchors, but told me at the time (incorrectly as it turns out) that top tethers could not be installed.

Well, thanks to the awesome CPS techs on this board, I recently learned that VW's technical bulletin issued in 2001 stated that a) top tethers could and should have been installed at the same time as the lower anchors and b) that VW would reimburse dealers for 2 complete LATCH retrofits in the outboard positions. So my old dealer was completely wrong and I should have gotten the top tethers back in 2002.

So now that we've moved from MD to NJ, and there's no feasible possibility of taking the car back to the old dealership to have them correct their screw-up, and now that I've gotten an estimate of roughly $700 PER anchor, VW says -- not our problem, we refuse to help you, and we won't reimburse you or the dealer for any top tether retrofits. I took it as high as I could within the company, to no avail.

They've just lost my business permanently! And given how many extremely expensive problems I've been having with my Passat lately (and it has less than 70,000 miles on it) I would recommend staying far, far away from VWs.

	LATCH LATCH stands for Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren. It is a system mandated by the Federal government in an effort to standardize and simplify the installation of child restraints without using the vehicle's seat belt system. New vehicles and child safety seats manufactured on and after September 1, 2002 will be equipped with the LATCH system. Cars, minivans, and light trucks will be required to have anchor points between the vehicle's seat cushion and the seat back in at least two rear seating positions, and a top tether anchor (with the exception of convertibles). Child safety seats will have a lower set of attachments that fasten to the vehicle anchors. Most forward-facing child safety seats will also have a top strap (tether) that attaches to the top anchor in the vehicle.

	Top-Tether A top tether (or top strap) is the supplemental attachment now standard on almost every new carseat in the USA. Top tethers can be used with either the seat belt or with the lower anchors (as part of the LATCH system). In other countries, their use may be required by law. A top-tether is simply a strap that connects the top of the carseat to an anchor mounted in the vehicle at a location behind the carseat, usually the parcel shelf or a point on the floor of the cargo area. It is designed to prevent the forward movement of the top of a forward-facing carseat in a frontal crash. This reduces the head excursion of the child, and can reduce the chances of injury. Almost all current carseats can only meet the tougher new federal safety standards when the tether is used, even though they must still meet the minimum safety standards without a tether.

	Forum Speak DD: Dear Daughter DS: Dear Son DH: Dear Husband DW: Dear Wife SO: Significant Other BF: Boyfriend GF: Girlfriend

[Papooses]

I'm sorry for your frustration.... In all honestly, though, you're not likely to find much better customer service from other vehicle manufacturers or dealers either I always have to explain that I am a CPST (far too often no one understands what that means) & demand to speak with a manager whenever I call any dealership or manufacturer -- sometimes they call back, sometimes they don't. I almost always end giving them a guess at an answer that I'm actually seeking from them Maybe it might help if a CPST were willing to call on your behalf? No guarantees @@