Hi guys i have just sorted mine out, mine is an 02 passat estate. I replaced the selonoid and also the soft touch boot release, both brand new from vw dealer @ £35, everything works fine now..i will talk you through the process of getting to it as vw tends to hide screws etc. The first two screws are easy and are at each top corner where it meets the rear window surround the other two are hidden behind small plastic covers on the boot lid its self inside the resessed section you pull the boot down with..remove those 2 then start to tug...it is well clipped in so you will need to pull hard, when this is off you will see the selonoid remove this and then slide out the black cover this will let you see the boot release, everything is quite simple from there on...oh 1 tip the boot release is held on with 2 flat brackets that have a bolt at either end with a sping in the middle, these don't have to be fully removed...just loosen off and it will come off, saves loosing anything, I hope this helps and it would be nice if someone does fix something that is an inherrent problem that they post to the rest of us so we have an idea, that way we will all be richer and save having to pay the *********** to do things...regards tannerman