Your '02 Passat deck lid won't latch you shut it and it does not grab the warning light informs you your baggage compartment is open but no matter how firmly you close the lid it doesn't latch?

Answer 1

Congratulations - you have a short in the electronic locking mechanism. Probably also causing your interior lights to stay on and problems with the alarm? Good luck - my VW dealer in Richmond, VA took three tries to get this repair right, but then again they are morons.

AnswerI just received a new latch and am going to see if that fixes things. My alarm doesn't give the 'armed' sound if the deck isnt' latched but my interior lights are not stuck on (at least). AnswerHey, let me in on this one! I have an 2001.5 GLX with the same issue. I am starting to hear that beep in my dreams now! Add in the fog lights that decided to stop working, the high price of gas and now the trunk! But I still love it regardless, so has anyone had any luck with fixing this? Thanks! AnswerHi. I had this thing driving me insane as well. I found on mine that it was the rear load cover that was not allowing the door to shut and grab the second stage of the locking catch. With the load cover still in place, but turning the handle-flap down towards the floor, it now shuts properly (with a nice clunk sound) and the alarm doesn't go off at all. Hope this helps... AnswerHere's how I fixed mine:

1. You need to remove the carpet liner of the trunk. The carpet and the hard black plastic strip on the front edge are actually all one piece.
2. • First remove the two screws that are "hidden" inside an indentation on the inner part of the trunk, just behind the two rubber bumpers (you do not need to remove the rubber bumpers!). These take a "star" screwdriver bit.
   • Pry the carpet and black plastic away from the trunk lid. It takes a bit of work, but eventually the whole thing will just pop off (No screws on this 2002 Passat, vs. other VW models).
3. Remove the latch mechanism using a 10mm wrench.
4. Carefully pop out the wire connecting the soleniod to the latch
5. Remove the black plastic cover from around the latch by popping it off of the two pins on the bottom; it then "unwraps" from the latch mechanism.
6. I found that a small spring inside the mechanism had broken; using a couple of bar-b-que skewers, I replaced with a small rubber-band.
7. Reverse the above steps to replace the black cover, the wire, the mechanism assembly and finally the carpet liner. You'll need to give the liner a pretty good whack to pop it back in.

This sounds more complicated than it really is. Toughest part was finding a small enough rubber-band :-).