VW California Emergency Roof Tie Down Kit T7

thehoggmeister · Sep 16, 2025

On watching a YouTube video I saw that the reviewer had cause to manually lower the electric roof and use the emergency tie down straps. The hydraulic release is behind the right hand panel in the boot area.

On checking our T7 I cannot locate this kit anywhere. The online manual states it should be in the cutlery drawer or in an under seat storage drawer.

Have other users managed to locate this kit and if so where did they find it.

Rubinstein · Sep 17, 2025

thehoggmeister said:
On watching a YouTube video I saw that the reviewer had cause to manually lower the electric roof and use the emergency tie down straps. The hydraulic release is behind the right hand panel in the boot area.

On checking our T7 I cannot locate this kit anywhere. The online manual states it should be in the cutlery drawer or in an under seat storage drawer.

Have other users managed to locate this kit and if so where did they find it.

Mine was just left loose under the bed with the other accessories when I picked the van up.
I saw that review as well, great advert for the megabucks van, lets send it out for review for a week without updating the software, Genius

Rubinstein · Sep 17, 2025

here's the part number if you need one, hopefully you never will !!

HelenL · Sep 17, 2025

When our T7 hybrid died we had to manually lower the roof, the kit to secure the roof was not in the van so it was transported back to the dealership on the back of a low loader without securing it. As the failure was 12 days after purchase we rejected the vehicle.We have now had our refund and our T6 returned. Very relieved.

Rubinstein · Sep 17, 2025

HelenL said:
When our T7 hybrid died we had to manually lower the roof, the kit to secure the roof was not in the van so it was transported back to the dealership on the back of a low loader without securing it. As the failure was 12 days after purchase we rejected the vehicle.We have now had our refund and our T6 returned. Very relieved.

well that sucks, sorry to hear that. Good that the solution worked out for you though.
I wonder if this is an issue that affects the PHEV more than the other models as the one in the video was also hybrid

thehoggmeister · Sep 17, 2025

My dealer is getting the straps posted out to me.Thanks for the picture. They are also posting out the passenger window fly screens and Thule caps to put on the brackets should you need to take the awning off for any reason. They were very apologetic about the missing items as they had not seen them in any of their many orders from the factory.

They posted my rear passenger area carpet which is really good as it has a split at the fridge side and is designed to fold over on itself to slide the rear seats forward and make the bed up in the Ocean.

When our T7 hybrid died we had to manually lower the roof, the kit to secure the roof was not in the van so it was transported back to the dealership on the back of a low loader without securing it. As the failure was 12 days after purchase we rejected the vehicle.We have now had our refund and our T6 returned. Very relieved.

We did consider the hybrid but I could not justify the nearly £8000 additional cost over the diesel. It is a shame that it was not fit for purpose.

Rubinstein · Sep 17, 2025

thehoggmeister said:
My dealer is getting the straps posted out to me.Thanks for the picture. They are also posting out the passenger window fly screens and Thule caps to put on the brackets should you need to take the awning off for any reason. They were very apologetic about the missing items as they had not seen them in any of their many orders from the factory.

They posted my rear passenger area carpet which is really good as it has a split at the fridge side and is designed to fold over on itself to slide the rear seats forward and make the bed up in the O
We did consider the hybrid but I could not justify the nearly £8000 additional cost over the diesel. It is a shame that it was not fit for purpose.

I also gave the hybrid some consideration but gave it a swerve in the end and went for the diesel, Bit less tech for me to obsess over and I mostly do long runs, so can’t go wrong with diesel.

Lakes_Puma · Sep 17, 2025

thehoggmeister said:
My dealer is getting the straps posted out to me.Thanks for the picture. They are also posting out the passenger window fly screens and Thule caps to put on the brackets should you need to take the awning off for any reason. They were very apologetic about the missing items as they had not seen them in any of their many orders from the factory.

They posted my rear passenger area carpet which is really good as it has a split at the fridge side and is designed to fold over on itself to slide the rear seats forward and make the bed up in the Ocean.

We did consider the hybrid but I could not justify the nearly £8000 additional cost over the diesel. It is a shame that it was not fit for purpose.

Which fly screens are they sending out?

thehoggmeister · Sep 17, 2025

Which fly screens are they sending out?

The square fly screens for the rear passenger door sliding windows. I have the ones for the front window. They were mentioned on the order and are detailed in the brochure under the base equipment for the Beach. Ours is an Ocean so any other equipment listed is in addition to the Beach. There is a separate thread on this in the T7 Facebook group where some have had these delivered with the vehicle.

thehoggmeister · Sep 17, 2025

Rubinstein said:
I also gave the hybrid some consideration but gave it a swerve in the end and went for the diesel, Bit less tech for me to obsess over and I mostly do long runs, so can’t go wrong with diesel.

We have an electric car as well so I am used to the charging and have a home charger. The cost and probability of luxury car tax put me off. I also test drove one and found it under powered if you have to use the 1.5L petrol engine on its own. I did like the four wheel drive aspect which goes some way to explain the price hike over the diesel.

beczkarz · Sep 22, 2025

thehoggmeister said:
On watching a YouTube video I saw that the reviewer had cause to manually lower the electric roof and use the emergency tie down straps. The hydraulic release is behind the right hand panel in the boot area.

On checking our T7 I cannot locate this kit anywhere. The online manual states it should be in the cutlery drawer or in an under seat storage drawer.

Have other users managed to locate this kit and if so where did they find it.

Hello. Can You share the link for this manual? Thanks
I wonder where hydraulic release is located.....

thehoggmeister · Sep 22, 2025

beczkarz said:
Hello. Can You share the link for this manual? Thanks
I wonder where hydraulic release is located.....

It is in the online manual under the California section - Closing and locking the pop top roof manually.

The YouTube video link. The relevant part is at 39:50.