Spider webs and bongs!

[JoeGTI]

Hey guys,
Thought this might be of interest to some on here. My Dad has a 21-plate Tiguan that’s been plagued with the bongs and warning lights that a lot of MK8 owners here have endured. He’s had the car back to the dealers several times, sometimes for weeks at a time. The steering wheel was replaced in February which seemed to do the trick for a few months but the bongs returned worse than ever.

Latest visit back to the dealers and this is what he’s been told is the “final definite” fix! They found a nest of spiders / spider webs behind the VW badge / sensor in the grill. They’ve cleaned that up, replaced the badge and are confident this is the fix 

Does this seem at all plausible, that this could really be the problem all along? How did they not check this sensor before now is what I wonder to myself. I’m very skeptical, but to be fair the dealers seem to be doing their best and have tried everything.

Interestingly, my MK8 CS is approx the same age as this Tiguan and it’s been virtually bong free.

[ar899]

Makes a change from the door mirror I suppose 

[Adam T7]

Well that is where the IT expression ‘Bug’ came from when a moth shorted a relay in an early computer in the late 1940’s, so who knows?

[gavinl1967]

How do we get under the badge to check, does it just clip in?

Not that I’m going to do right now, as the approaching biblical rain may wash any spiders away…..

[JoeGTI]

How do we get under the badge to check, does it just clip in?

Not that I’m going to do right now, as the approaching biblical rain may wash any spiders away…..

The dealers sent him that photo, so they had unclipped it. It does look like it just unclips easily enough.

[kevodaly]

Hi all - first post here. I have a mid 2021 Clubsport. I have had the same issues with my car, with very similar timings to Joe's father's Tiguan.

First Travel/Emergency assist bongs started in November 2022, and it had a new steering wheel fitted in February 2023 which cleared up the alerts until some time in July. Since then it's been in and out of the dealers trying out different 'fixes' - including software updates, replacing the Infotainment Control Unit/Module (went from H56 to H58) and replacing the front radar (which I was also told was the 'definite fix').

Anyway, none of those things made any difference, and the frequency of the alerts has gotten much worse in recent weeks. I also get the Infotainment system rebooting from time to time, which had been cleared up with a prior software update, but when they fitted the new Infotainment unit, the software version reverted to 1896 and the reboots reappeared.

Next step is the technician wants to take my car for at least a week to try get to the bottom of it - I'll keep you posted if I have any luck, but I don't hold out much hope!

Here's a picture of my current system information.