VW Amarok Spare wheel broke off -

[vw_bvh]

Today I had a new experience with my Amarok. Driving home and suddenly I hear a thumping sound and initially though it was something on the back rolling over. Soon I realised it was something more severe and upon inspection found my spare wheel dragging behind my Amarok, still attached to a 'safety catch type of cable'.

Luckily it didn't come loose and went flying into someone passing by / Unluckily it ruined my Amarok... tail gate got a proper dent, bumper damaged and damaged unused spare wheel.

It can be clearly seen that a cable securing the spare wheel to the body has simply broken off.

Anyone else experience this before?
Who is to blame for something like this?

Bakkie is 80,000km 'young', never touched the spare wheel (so it should be like new from the factory), of the 80,000km the bakkie has seen little dirt roads (unfortunately)...

[Greenhorn]

Maybe someone else touched your spare wheel.

[mvcoller]

Agree with Greenhorn. Someone tried to steal the wheel and was interrupted bofore completing the foul deed....

[grips]

The supports in encircled in yellow have scuff marks from the tyre showing a loose spare for sometime. The red circled bracket have broken off due to metal fatigue over time. For some reason the spare came loose or were not properly secured.

I do not know the history of your vehicle. It could have been a loose fit from new. Traveling bad dirt roads working loose the spare.
Maybe even stretch in the cable over time.

If I were an Amarok owner I would inspect my spare to see if it is still secured.

[AlexP]

I have never had a spare wheel come loose on it's own.
Nor have I ever seen a multistrand wire rope fray out of the blue.
Even if the wheel was slightly loose that it could scuff the surrounding metal work under the truck, I doubt that it would fray the wire rope to complete failure.

So as stated by other cynical patrons of this forum, I would bet a silver Dollar that someone tried to steal the spare wheel beforehand.
*****

I have had a spare wheel stolen twice over the years. A costly affair, and time consuming looking for rims ect.
Now I have a big brass padlock through the chain, and fastened through the rim.
The padlock is wrapped in a plastic bag tightly, and the entire plastic packet is wrapped in layers of pvc insulation tape. This stops dirt and water getting into the lock itself.
I carry a "Stanley"blade in the cubby hole to cut the tape and plastic off should I need the spare wheel.

[Beurvoort]

I have now been driving just short of 400 000 km split between my first and second Amarok. My routine during this time involved driving on dirt roads on a daily basis. I have never had an issue with the spare wheel coming loose on any of the two vehicles. Sorry about your unfortunate experience. Insurance should cover your damage if foul play was involved.

Groetnis

Koos

[grips]

I have never had a spare wheel come loose on it's own.
Nor have I ever seen a multistrand wire rope fray out of the blue.
Even if the wheel was slightly loose that it could scuff the surrounding metal work under the truck, I doubt that it would fray the wire rope to complete failure.

So as stated by other cynical patrons of this forum, I would bet a silver Dollar that someone tried to steal the spare wheel beforehand.
*****

I have had a spare wheel stolen twice over the years. A costly affair, and time consuming looking for rims ect.
Now I have a big brass padlock through the chain, and fastened through the rim.
The padlock is wrapped in a plastic bag tightly, and the entire plastic packet is wrapped in layers of pvc insulation tape. This stops dirt and water getting into the lock itself.
I carry a "Stanley"blade in the cubby hole to cut the tape and plastic off should I need the spare wheel.

And the metal fatigue on the bracket that broke of which I have encircled in red?

[Quack]

Common on the later models, happened to me as well!

[Tyron1993]

@vw_bvh how did you sort this out? This obviously happened before VW recalled the part but did you at all try and claim the costs from VW for the new winch mechanism? And possibly for the tail gate repair/replacement?

It's just happened to me and I am trying to figure out how be st to tackle this with VW?