If you live in a part of the northern hemisphere that gets snow, spring has finally sprung, which means it’s time to open up the glass and air things out. That’s easy enough to do in your home, but have you ever noticed how most sunroof switches aren’t great? Volkswagen used to have the best sunroof switch in the industry, but not anymore, and that ought to make everyone a bit sad. Here’s how it worked, and why it was such a great thing.
While a few hardcore apex hunters salivate over every ‘slicktop’ sunroof-less car out there due to less weight up high and a more rigid roof than sunroof-equipped cars, on the street, most people won’t be able to tell much of a difference. In typical driving conditions, you just won’t push a car hard enough to notice the benefits of going sunroof-less, but you’ll almost certainly be able to enjoy the thrill of a sunroof. There’s nothing quite like feeling the wind through your locks, and when the weather’s mild enough to not broil your dome, a little dopamine hit can bring a whole lot of good. However, not every sunroof works best when it’s wide open.
Unless your vehicle was specifically optimized to avoid sunroof wind buffeting, wide-open isn’t always the best setting for a sunroof. However, it’s often distracting to dial in sunroof retraction while on the move. While some automakers have a one-touch function for reduced wind buffeting, even that isn’t always optimal. Volkswagen’s old sunroof switch catered to the picky, all without requiring drivers to take their eyes off the road.
Instead of a rocker switch with two automatic detents, Volkswagen used a knob. Rotate it clockwise, and the sunroof slides back a little with each click. Rotate it counterclockwise, and the sunroof closes a little with each click. Want it open all the way? Just hold the knob all the way clockwise and it’ll do its thing. Back in the day on say, Mk4 Jettas and Golfs, the tilt function was variable by rotating the knob counter-clockwise past the closed position, meaning it was incredibly easy to dial in exactly how far you want the sunroof open by feel alone. Want to open the sunroof just a little bit to let hot air out on a summer’s day? One flick of the wrist will let you do that without even looking up.
Sure, the sunroof control knob took up some serious real estate in the overhead console, but it had virtually no learning curve and allowed for finite control without visual distraction, exactly what you want at autobahn speeds. However, around the turn of the 2010s, Volkswagen started to move away from the knob.
Here’s the sunroof control for the 2011 to 2017 Volkswagen Jetta. Sure, you still rotate it to slide the sunroof open, but the tilt function operates by tilting the knob like a more traditional sunroof switch. Is that needlessly reinventing the wheel when a solution already exists? Yes, and it was this switch that arguably marked the beginning of the end.
Now, if you get into a new Volkswagen vehicle, you’ll likely find a switch just like the ones almost all other manufacturers use, and that’s a shame. Sure, it takes up less space in the overhead console and will be instantly familiar to drivers moving over from other makes, but standardization doesn’t always build a superior product.
Just because everyone uses a certain design for controlling a non-essential function doesn’t make it automatically better. We’re seeing this phenomenon on a grander scale with every automaker chasing Tesla’s minimalism, neglecting user-friendliness in the process. If a difference isn’t an impediment to operation, it should be celebrated, because not only do differences make cars more distinct, but they can make cars better too.
Sadly, it doesn’t seem like innovative physical switchgear is about to make a massive comeback. Capacitive touch panels are cheap, consumers have proven they’ll put up with all sorts of insane decisions, and short of going to war against J.D. Power and his Associates, everyone sourcing parts from similar suppliers will fall into the quagmire of homogeny. Pity, that.
(Photo credits: Volkswagen, Amazon)
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Thank you! I had a Mk 4 Jetta and that switch was awesome! Oh what I’d give to have that same switch on my Mk 7 GTI. I do not like the current switch at all and find it confusing.
Ooh that’s nice. I hardly ever use the moonroof on my Juke, because it’s so tetchy to get it closed.
I loved the sunroof knob on the Mk4’s. I always thought that was such a good idea, but still not as much fun as the manual crank on my XR4Ti.
Not really seeing the improvement. On my BMWs, you press up, and it tilts up. Pull it down and it tilts down. You pull it back once and the shade retracts. Pull it back again and the sunroof opens. Pull it back to the detent and it opens all the way. Push it forward and it closes. Push it forward to the detent and it closes all the way (tilted or slide.)
I think what he’s saying is that he wants to be more precise about the amount of sunroof opening. Which is what the dial achieves.
This would have been fun when my brothers tried to use my Dad’s 1970 Benz sunroof to try and decrapatate the turd neighbor kid who lived next door. Good times. Thanks for the memories!
After that he quit coming over to bug us, so no harm, no foul. Right?
My 05 Cadillac CTS-V has a similar dial.
Thankfully VW’s rotary heated mirror switch hasn’t propagated to other brands.
Probably my least-favoured switch in a VW.
yeah… Sometimes I forget I pit it on and only remember when my mirror doesn’t tilt in reverse. Very annoying.
The rotating knob was great. When VW first started putting power sunroofs in their cars they used essentially a window switch. Relays would stop the mechanism between the tilt and slide functions. Then they started using a slide forward back / lift push control like Mercedes. Then in 1994ish went back to a flat 3 button arrangement with a middle button for the vent funcion.
On the W8, the overhead console like the one you pictured was backlit. On the other Mk4 era cars it was not. But VW sold it as an accessory! It included some red LEDs that shone down on the console.
Ah yes, I think I remember this switch from my mum’s Golf. And contrary to most of the comments here, it never leaked in the ten years(ish) that she owned it.
Switch design: 10/10
Every single other thing about VW sunroof design: 0/10
^^ This. Oh boy howdy, this. My ‘02 mark IV has had more than its share of electrical gremlins, but the sunroof losing it’s mind was the last straw. Round about December, the rainy season here, the sunroof just decided to open and close whenever it wanted to. Often many times per minute.
Le sigh.
Two points: the car does ALSO have a hand crank, thankfully. So the insanity can be defeated. But I followed a certain writer on this site, and instead bought a BMW I3. Which has been a real joy.
The Autopian should release an All-Star roster, but instead of lineup positions, it’s car controls: sunroof, cruise control, HVAC, etc.
VW clearly has a First-Team All Star for the sunroof switch. For cruise control First-Team All Star, I nominate Toyotas ubiquitous 90s/00s default cruise control stalk. You know, the short one sticking out of the steering wheel at either the 4 or 8 o’clock position and in the absolute perfect spot to be worked by your ring finger, with just the right amount of tactile feedback to be responsive without being tiresome and exactly the right control scheme to be intuitive within a minute of using it.
Yes! This is a great idea for an autopian feature and I second the Toyota cruise nomination. I still instinctively reach for that stalk to adjust cruise control, 15 years after I last drove a car that had one. Every cruise interface I’ve used since has been frustrating in comparison. It’s the platonic ideal of a cruise control control, everything else is shadows on the cave wall.
Love the Toyota cruise control dongle. So intuitive and can be operated blind.
Haha, yep, that ’98 Camry CC stick was the best.
And then if they get 1000 members in a month they should build it.
GM used a similar stalk design on my 2005 Envoy and it was fantastic. I think my late-model Subaru does pretty well too; it uses steering wheel controls like most modern cars, but each control has a very distinct shape that makes it easy to find the right one without looking. Much better than the Dodge vehicles I’ve driven that have four identical buttons so I always have to look down and make sure I’m pressing the right one.
The best wiper control is the multi purpose stalk Mercedes Benz had at the 80s, all the wiper controls were in the end of the indicator stalk. Very easy to use and the stalk was so sturdily built you could use the wipers without fear for unintended blinking.
The worst indicator stalk ever must be the flimsy shit GM used in everything in the 80s and early 90s.
I hate to be that guy as I’m one of the more tech-forward commenters here, but the best sunroof switch I ever had was the hand crank Webasto in my ’91 318i. I do remember that switch from my Mk4 Jetta though, and it is far superior to the one in my current VAG cars.
That was the Ultimate Sunroof Switch, Torch. Sheer perfection, far superior to scrolling through pages and opening/closing the sunroof with a smudge on the screen.
My Renault 5 had the best sunroof, though. Being some weird kind of French plasticized canvas-like material, it unlatched and folded back much like a convertible top, then was held flat by two plastic straps. Didn’t leak, either.
Uh, not Torch. I agree that it reads like Torch and the subject matter is about VW esoterica, but this was Tom.
Well, ‘scuse me!
Yes, I made the natural assumption that this was Pure Jason for the reasons you mention. Didn’t know they had sunroofs in the Great Frozen North….
I had to go back twice before posting this to make sure I was right about the author, in the worry that it actually was Torch… 🙂
As someone who owns perhaps too many VAG products, that switch is a blessing and a curse. I love that it gives me frankly way too much control over something I either want fully open or fully closed. I also love that VW allows the panel to open fully, and that, at least in my experience with my Passat, the Phaeton, and my Touareg, the wind coming in isn’t like a hurricane of buffeting.
On the other hand, just having the sunroof means a headache of leaks one day. And when the sunroofs stop working correctly, that lovely switch becomes a suggestion box.
I’ve had two Saab 9-5s with a combined 450k miles on them, and both cars’ sunroofs still sealed and moved like new.
Given your love of Piech-era VWs, I’m still surprised you haven’t given GM-era SAAB a shot. It’s similar Autobahn-bombing capability and engineering quirkiness…but most things just work. Props to VW on the sunroof switch though. Definitely an upgrade from the usual rocker setup.
I love far more cars than I currently own. In the future, I’d love to experiment with GM-era Saab and classic cars. Lately, I’ve been dreaming about Corvairs and I’m considering selling one or two of my VWs (RIP the “holy grail” Passat wagon) to make it happen.
Edit: I’ve reached the point where I can no longer add cars, both from a space and from a money perspective. If I want something different, something else must go.
I have both a Corvair and a (pre-GM) Saab—both are so much better as driver’s cars than you’d expect them to be. The not-so-secret if you want to treat a Corvair like a driver’s car is to get a ’64 or newer, ideally ’66 or newer, and of course always pay attention to tire pressures. If you just want a classic cruiser, any vintage will work. It’s not always easy to find Corvair-savvy mechanics anymore, but parts availability is shockingly good, and generally quite affordable. Pre-GM Saabs are very stout, but many parts are getting very tough to find. GM-era models are better in this regard, but not nearly as easy to work on (i.e. the alternator on an NG900/early 9-3 is an engine-out job) or as durably built.
As a usable classic, either is highly recommended!
Do the Corvair! If nothing else the Corvair was part of trans history- in the early 70s they were cheap & reliable and became the unofficial trans woman’s car!
Oh, yeah, on so many Piech-era VWs when the sunroof leaks or the sunroof drain tubes get clogged the water gets into all the electronics (such as the ECU.) I kept scouring the local Pull-A-Part for several years for a dome light from a Mk4 VW but with one exception all the Mk4 VWs I checked had sunroofs, gah (the dome light I wanted was for a Mk4 Golf without a sunroof and the dome lights are significantly different depending on the sunroof option being selected.) Most if not virtually all of the Mk4s I found would have around 200k miles and many weren’t terribly trashed, either, which surprised me until I found out about the sunroof leaks damaging the electronics to the point of simply totalling out those Mk4s since people weren’t willing to spend a good four digits to repair the water-damaged electronics on 200k-mile Mk4s.
Yeah, all the more reason to be vigilant about maintaining the sunroof seals and clearing out the sunroof drain tubes!! Your VAG products are seriously cool 🙂
The B5.5 Passat has an annoying bug where a bad seal — I forget if it’s a sunroof drain or the cabin air filter seal — can cause water to flood the dead space between the front passenger carpet and the floorpan. The problem is the space houses the thick plastic box that the TCM lives in. The box is supposed to be waterproof, but it isn’t, and the water kills the TCM.
The last MkIV I had seemed to roll a D20 every time I turned the sunroof knob. If it landed on 20, the roof opened as it should have. If it landed on one, it would partially open and get stuck there. lol I love VAG products, but I’m not even going to try arguing in favor of their reliability.
Egad. Good luck with sorting it out with the Passat before things go even more awry.
Oh, yeah, LOL about the reliability of some VAG products though I’ve been pretty lucky myself. Two of my all-time favorites out of all the cars I’ve ever owned or driven have been my ’02 Golf TDI, owned from new for fourteen years, and my ’85 Jetta 1.6D, acquired when it was 32 years old and DD’d for many years (both were totalled by a rear-ender and a red-light-runner, respectively, bah humbug) and the TDI was actually highly reliable whereas the Jetta did require a lot of sorting over several years before it finally became reliable. So I’m keen on those VAG products though it’s become well-nigh impossible locally to find decent examples of the Piech era and earlier eras that haven’t rusted out or been thrashed within an inch of their lives in addition to the aforementioned sunroof problems. The sunroof was a confoundingly popular option around here, gah.
The real problem is the one way drain valves in the battery tray. Pretty easy fix. Just pull the battery (annoying) and vacuum all the leaves and shit out of it.. when I do this, I follow up with some simple green, a brush, a hose and a good fingering of the body plugs to make sure water gushes thru. You can pull the plugs out and trim them so the opening is bigger (there are 2 different designs, one is basically on open hole with a rubber grommet and one is pinched into a 4 pointed star shape. either way, they all eventually clog up).
But yes, when these clog up, the battery tray fills with water and comes thru the cabin air inlet.
I had a B7 Audi S4 and the VW AG sunroof switch always struck me as a genuinely excellent design. Intuitive, simple, and in my case failure free. Every automotive design school student should have this design as a case study for excellent UX engineering.
There’s no setting on the dial for “leak” since it will do that in every position.
Hey, now, that’s not fair. It’s not really leaking when you’ve intentionally opened it. The leak setting is the closed position.
I get scared when I buy a VW and the roof isn’t leaking. Somehow, the Phaeton stays dry. I’d knock on the wood trim, but it might crack if I do that.
My Volvo V90 has the worst sunroof switch. If you hit it a little too hard, it doesn’t just close the sunroof, it closes the sunblock fabric as well.
my 78 rabbit had a hand crank and the moon roof was metal, not glass. I loved it but it did remove some headroom.
My sister’s Jetta had that switch. Like everything else on that pile, it was a sticky, decaying-plastic mess that no longer had any visible markings on it.
False. The manual crank on the VW Vanagon moon roof was the best switch, at least according to my father who always had one of us kids open and close it.
Ah yes, like remote control television; when parents had the kids change the channel.
Exactly! I was going to reference “just like how he made us turn the dial to change the TV channel” but didn’t want to mix up my old-timey analogies.
You’re going to confuse all the young’uns when you start talking about dials on the TV. Especially when you were trying to tune in PBS on the UHF dial to watch Doctor Who.
My kids never understand my descriptions of watching a 10″ black and white CRT TV and turning two different dials (along with two separate antennas) to tune in either VHF (Fox, NBC, ABC, etc.) or UHF (low-budget, oddball) TV stations. It always makes me feel ancient, even though I’m not really that old – I just grew up poor.
Old-school voice commands, well before all these ChatGPT cars.
“Look at the size of that boy’s head. I’m not kidding. It’s like an orange on a toothpick. Head! Pants! Now!”
Was that just the headlight knob just repurposed for the sunroof?
My MKV GTI had a similar knob. Spin one way for tilt up, the other for slide back open. THe neat thing was you could push it past it’s “open” setting to have it retract even further (farther?). Problem was, it’d buffet like a MF’er if you did that.
Yes, had a Mark VI GTI and remember the buffeting well. IIRC, 45 mph was the magic number before all hell broke loose.
My Sis had these knobs in her Passat wagon and her Golf Sportwagens.
Brilliant pièce of work.
Now we get “Dial-A-Gear” knobs for drive selectors –
Not a fan.
My ex-wife had a Mk IV Golf and that dial was great. Annoyingly, I had an ’07 A3 which clearly had a circular inset for the dial but a square rocker switch was used instead.
The problem of course is that in Mk IVs it was a 50-50 proposition whether the switch and/or sunroof itself would operate correctly.