holllee frack.

tldr: if you have a sunroof on your car and the floor is wet, check your sunroof drain lines.

for the past year my wife and i have noticed a damp, musty smell in our vehicle that happens randomly. sometimes there was condensation on the windows, so we chalked it up to the humidity. i've noticed dampness under the floor mats, so i assumed it was people's wet shoes soaking through.

this morning i woke up to an AIRBAG ERROR warning on my instrument cluster. this means that the airbag(s) has been disabled due to some electrical problem or sensor malfunction. (after my near-miss strawberry jam incident on my bicycle yesterday, i'm not taking any chances driving around with disabled airbags)

the usual advice is to check all of the electrical connections between the airbag and its associated systems (e.g. the door, the seatbelt, and the chair). they all looked fine at initial inspection

i went to the passenger side, and dug under the chair to find the electrical connections, and the floor mat was wet. VERY wet. i lifted up the floor upholstery, and between it and the floorpan was half an inch of water sloshing around. it was so deep that it soaked all of the electrical connections between the seat and the passenger airbag.

i vacuumed it out. two gallons of filthy, stinky water. how the flying fuck did i get that much water in our tiguan?

one vw forum search later i found the probable culprit: the sunroof drain lines, which are notorious for getting clogged with dirt.

it took some digging around, but i found the rear drain line at the rear, where the turn signal is. it was not clogged. it was completely disconnected from the exterior drain, and was funnelling every drop of water from the moonroof onto the floor. this has been happening for a *year*.

#carRepair #diyRepair #volkswagen