[lascarcapac]

Hello,
I am a new member of the EOS community and would like to express my dissapointment about the poor quality of the gauge /thickness of my black EOS's body.

Couple weeks ago I noticed 2 nice dings in the upper left side of the car near the rear window. No scratch just 2 nice curvy dings.

I was just petrified as my car is just 8 month old.
As I was looking closely I was wandering how possibly this had happened.

Naturally , I decided to evaluate the gauge, the thickness and the resistance the metal memory of the body by just pushing very vey lightly with my thumb beside the first 2 dents.

I was totally amazed that by just pushing a little on the body of my EOS I was able to create another dent!!! The sheet of the metal on the car had no memory no resistance at all. It'a almost like you are pushing on aluminum soda can!
I understood immediately the reason why I had 2 dents on my car !!

I also understood that something was very wrong with the gauge/thickness of the car and I decided to look at the body of my car attentively then, I had discovered 5 more very small dents and another bigger one ! ( Hard to see on a black car)

I was totally petrified and decided immediately to show and explain the problems to my car Director dealer.

In his presence , I pressed the car with my thumb again to show to the VW dealers then I created another dent! The dealer was totally speechless and of course he couldn’t make any comments. The only responses he made was that “If you want, I could recommend the very good body repair shop " and he gave me the business card a body shop !

I asked him that if he could show me any technical informations about the gauge/thickness of the body metal of the VW EOS but unfortunately he was not able to provide any informations on that matter to me.

The day after, I called the customer service of VW USA and I took an appointment with their representative for a week later.
Again I explained the problems to my dealers and to VW representative/inspector as pushing with my thumb again on the car near the rear left window and I created another dent very quickly in front of the VW inspector.
His response was that " I cannot do anything. I'm a just the USA dealer." He took some pictures of the car and he said that he would submit them to the factory in Germany.
I said to the inspector that the body of the car has the gauge of close to an " aluminum of Coca-cola can" and it was totally unacceptable.
But he was not able to make any technical comments on that matter !!

I just returned to my home without any propositions from VW.

I called the customer service couple days later to find out what they had decided. Their decision was that everything was normal and there was nothing they could do for me!
They advised me to call the BBB. So I filed complain with BBB.

I went to the BBB yesterday and I'm waiting for an answer from them.


I explain that I do not want to drive that car anymore and wanted to return it.

First of fall because I do not like to drive a car with 7 dents and second I do not want to be responsible at the end of my lease of all the dents the car will have.

Prior my EOS I drove for 3 years a BMW X3 and return the car at the end of my lease with NO dents at all !

Are there any regulations about the gauge metal thickness of cars ? What is the thickness limit ? Customer should be informed.
People who are in the business of fixing the dents know that the metal gauge of the car today are thinner and thinner and noticed that by just leaning on the car you could easily create a dent. (Please read information I found on Internet)

I stopped by at FORD dealership and the body repair shop and explained and showed to them my car. They were all amazed about the poor quality /thickness of the sheet metal of the VW EOS. They all said that this was not normal at all.

In front of me two Ford dealers tried to push their new Ford cars with their thumbs but they were not able to create any dents on any of their Ford cars!

The person at the body repair shop I stopped by was just speechless to see how poor the VW EOS body metal was.
They told me that I could try on the most of the car around them but I would probably break my thumbs and I would never be able to make any dent on any of their car.




Thank you very much for your attention and please let me know if you are experiencing the same problem.
Thank you .

Pascal

 

[Eos_Up]

Black's a bad color for dings...

No dings on my car after 7 months. I'm very careful where I park with pull in parking. From my experience, ANY car will suffer a side ding UNLESS in has a mean trim strip down the side to protect it.

I don't know how deep your dings are, but there is a new service (or at least I think it's fairly new) that uses suction to pull out side dings. I saw it demonstrated at the auto show and was impressed. Very reasonable charge also.

As per the sheet metal used in the Eos, I don't have anything to compare it with. However, ALL auto makers are doing everything they can to lighten up their vehicles in order to increase their MPG/KPL mileage.

 

[genusloci]

its not my experience at all .. i have had 5 VWs and always thought they where well built. The EOS is so far the best of the lot . .. I have kids and they do give it a good old kick now and again ..so far no dings! …or dints.. the problem I have is people keying my cars has happened to every Golf GTI I have had and even to my Torran ???

let us know how you go ?

by the way the Eos is not built in Germany.

 

[tishysmith]

I got a nasty dent/crease in the side of my eos when our wheelie bin ( think you call it garbage can) fell and hit the car. Its made from plastic too not metal! My husband did comment on the fact he thought it had dented far too easily. Hope you get it sorted.

 

[Stephb]

I have a dent in the passenger door of my eos thats 3 months old someone had obviously opened their car door on my car and left it

Steph xx

 

[genusloci]

i have been working my way round the car ..nothing better to do ... and it seems very dependant on where you push if you can make a dint ..

 

[davidp]

by the way the Eos is not built in Germany.

Its made in Portugal
check out the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVm7_AqshaQ

 

[Eos_Up]

i have been working my way round the car ..nothing better to do ... and it seems very dependant on where you push if you can make a dint ..

So, what's your criteria for dents? If you push in and it pops right back out, does that count? Or does it only count if the metal doesn't pop back out?

Sounds like tricky business to being trying to dent your ride in this manner.

 

[GaryS]

Interesting... I'll definitely keep an eye out for any on mine, and will be extra careful around it, but I won't be doing any thumb-testing.

On the lighter side... If you keep demonstrating, people are going to start thinking you drive a Golf (ball). I know, it's not funny; I just had to say it though.

 

[eos3]

... people are going to start thinking you drive a Golf (ball). I know, it's not funny; I just had to say it though.

It is VERY funny

 

[evolvingpowercat]

Hi my other vehicle is a 2007 Ford Escape and if anything the sheet metal on the Escape more dent-able. I have several dings on the Escape, none yet on my Eos except on the plastic front and rear plastic bumper covers, it seems that on my Eos the paint comes off them easier than on my other cars I have owned with plastic bumper covers. All my recent cars I have owned are very un-forgiving of things being put on the hood or trunk and I am sure the Eos is no exception.

Personally I don't think VW has a problem with their choice of sheet metal thickness on their new cars including the Eos. Personally, I prefer the lighter weight and better gas mileage.

 

[SiJ2000]

I agree with evolvingpowercat...

 

[GOgg]

The worst thing I have found is the paint (shadow blue) is so thin that it marks / scores very easily especially on the plastic bits like the boot (trunk). It seems little more than a molecule thick. Perhaps I just got a lemon but I doubt if I'd go for another VW again because of my problems with the finish. Its just not as robust as any of my previous marques.
The metal bits seem to be fine to me as well.

 

[Todd_A]

I have not tried this, nor do I intend to try to make dents in my baby. You know what the doctor said? "Does that hurt? Then don't do that."

 

[cambourne7]

i am scared and wondering should i put another layer of cotton wool around my baby incase any thumbs go near

My previous car was a ford focus and it was indistructable and impossible to dent or scratch unless my husband drove it

 

[xstatic]

I think thin steel is a good idea, but they should use some sort of spray like they do under stainless steel sinks to reduce noise and limit denting.

 

[Lucari]

I was watching the Discovery Channel the other day and they were explaining how Golf Balls worked. Without the dimples, the ball would only travel half the distance. Its something to do with air turbulance. In theory, the more dints a car has, the less drag it creates due to the cushion of air. This might explain why I get better fuel consumption after a few months.

 

[Tintin]

I was watching the Discovery Channel the other day and they were explaining how Golf Balls worked. Without the dimples, the ball would only travel half the distance. Its something to do with air turbulance. In theory, the more dints a car has, the less drag it creates due to the cushion of air. This might explain why I get better fuel consumption after a few months.

That's hilarious and has made my day, thanks Lucari.

 

[SiJ2000]

Classic! Very funny!

 

[That Guy]

dents

Mine too has several dents, a few of which were there when i bought it. Most of them are small, but, theres a pretty good one half moon shaped right behind the passenger door, obviously someone opened their door into it. I got this cool thing called Ding Shield in my warranty though, gonna be callin that number in a few days, get em all out for free . Also noticed some, i dunno how to describe it other than... specks in the paint, bairly noticeable, but there just the same. Id hate to see what would happen to this poor thing in a wreck, lol. I had an 89 Sentra once, got rear ended, totalled the car that hit me and the car that i got pushed into. i dont remember what hit me, but it was a Miata that i slammed into. All that happened to my little white tank you ask.... bent my license plate, lol. And broke my jaw in 2 places on the steering wheel... apparently seatbelt technology in 89 wasn't the greatest, lol.