Volkswagen’s Safety Just Got a Little Too Safe for Me…
April 7, 2008 – 7:40 am by Becky Singson
Filed under Car Care, Volkswagen New Beetle
I walked out of work on Thursday to find a flat tire on my rear driver’s side. Some colleagues were gracious enough to change for me. Thank goodness for that full-sized spare because sometime between then and now, I lost the lug nut key to unlock the safety bolt.
Friday AM I dropped off the tire at Bob Sumerel Tire & Service to see if the flat was fixable. Indeed it was just a nail, so they were able to take care of it for me.
Saturday AM, I went back to Bob Sumerel to drop off the car and have them swap the spare back out with the original newly-fixed tire. I get a call saying they can’t find the safety lug nut “key” required to unscrew one of the five lugs. Somehow between Thursday and Saturday, I seem to have lost it. They spent this AM tearing through my trunk to find it. They then called me and I went back up and tore apart the rest of my car in an attempt to find it. No luck.
So I go back to the source: I return to my office parking lot where the flat was replaced. My colleagues and I got the tire off and had the key at that point. Maybe I dropped it in the lot? Maybe we forgot to take it off and I drove away with it on, then it fell off at some point? Regardless, not in the parking lot.
So I call a friend who drives a 2003 GTI, assuming that the lug key was the same for all Dubs. Ha! Of course not – that would be too easy. Her lug key was too big for my tires. Of course the VW dealer service shop isn’t open on weekends, so here I am, stuck with the ghetto black spare on my rear left until I can get a replacement key from the Dub dealer on Monday (if they even have it in house for me to purchase!).
Now, it’s my fault I lost the key. But what was supposed to be a safety feature just became a huge inconvenience. What really grinds my gears about the situation is that they have a different lug key for each model and year of the car. If someone really is in awe of my New Beetle’s tires to jack it up and get it off, then fine. Do it. There are plenty of car makes out there that don’t provide this “safety feature” on their tires that still manage to keep all four tires on, day in and day out. I am definitely more peeved that I can’t get my tire replaced in a 24 hr period than I am relieved that Joe Schmo can’t just come up and steal my tires due to this “innovative safety feature.” Grumble.
[PS - my personal kudos to the service gents at Bob Sumerel for being very patient and accommodating during this fantastic inconvenience. The friend who replaced my tire referred me to their Hyde Park location and they have been a delight.]
Volkswagen’s Safety Just Got a Little Too Safe for Me…
April 7, 2008 – 7:40 am by Becky Singson
It’s a security feature—not a safety feature. It doesn’t make your car any safer, but it helps prevent the theft of your wheels. That’s why they’re called wheel locks.
Lemme guess, you leave your front door unlocked so it’s not an inconvenience if you lose your keys? I mean, plenty of people leave their doors unlocked and they don’t get robbed, so what’s the big deal?
I’m assuming tekmassa is replying to the first commenter? lol :] Anywho, how did everything go Beckers? Get it taken care of?
Oh, J, I didn’t know that the nuances between security and safety meant so much to you – my bad. Whoosh.
Regardless, here’s how the situation netted out:
Took buggy to the Dub dealer to get a part. He had to dig through a box of 20 “master” security adapters to find the right one (lesson learned: there is no rhyme or reason to how they pair the lock to the car; it’s just random assignment). Put the part on order, look 3 days to get that in. Took part back to Bob Summerall, they swapped the tire, end of story. $18 for the part; $25 for the service at Bob Summerall; a week of my life to get a flat fixed. That’s sad.
Seriously, if I had high performance tires, that’d be one thing. But I don’t. Make the locks an option, Dub Masters.
[PS - the new site looks supa-bad, Vizzle!!]
Cool, glad it got fixed ok. Yay, $18 for some insignificant little part that you don’t really need. :P
I have always been a fan of my VWs, infact, I just bought mine out of my lease. Literally, JUST did it. And thats about the time, say 10pm on a week night that my tire blows out when I’m on my way to the hospital… not a big deal, i’m a big girl, i can get a tire on and off a car… that is, if the last service center who sold and installed a tire for me didn’t rip the kit from me… so, all i have is this piece of crap jack which wouldn’t get the car up an inch…so, in handy comes my roadside assistance, who shows up pleasantly within the time expected only to find out that not only can he do nothing for me, but that the tow hook is also in the kit that i no longer have in my posession (who checks for these things?!) and in order to tow it, I would have to have my front bumper taken off… so, lesson learned, I get it…. never trust anyone who works on your car to leave it the way they found it….
Sorry you had a bad week however a second option would be to remove the 4 locks and replace with lug nuts to avoid future time loss, I have alot of customers who do just that and feel the same way you do, nevertheless if you need any more assistance I am sure Hyde Park will take great care of you.
Tim
Assistant Manager
Bob Sumerel Tire Co.
I just bought an ’02 Beetle and I’m running into the same problem with my tires. I just took my car to have the tires rotated and I waited 3 hours for them to tell me they can’t take the tires off without the key. At first I was thinking to myself what key, then they told me there is a key that is required to take the tires off. They said they checked where the spare was supposed to be, turns out I didn’t even have a spare tire, and it wasn’t there. So now I’m hoping my tire doesn’t blow on my 4 hour drive through the mountains to go home.
I’m completely with you, whoever thought the locking lug nuts was an awesome security feature needs to look at it at this point of view. If I get a flat in the mountains, hours from civilization, I wont be able to do anything about it because my tires are locked on. Great security feature, I’m just glad I found out about it before I took my 18 hour trip home.
I bought my ’05 Passat 4 months ago and tried to rotate the tires yesterday to find I have no key. So I went back to my dealer because surely they would just give me one since I bought it from them. Nope, they didn’t even have the adapter. The parts guy had a tool help identify which one I needed (#5) then told me he can’t order just the key, he has to order an entire set of lugs at $175. So I am contimplating hammering a socket over the round lug and forceing it off to replace it with a regular one. Love my VW, hate the lugs.
Excellent post, I will be sure to save this in my Diigo account. Have a awesome evening.
I love this post. And, unfortunately, I’m going through the same thing right now. Darn VW’s!!!!
well to be honest i ran into the same problem had a flat in the middle of the night shops are closed luckly the tow truck driver had a kit for all the keys and he got it right off