Despite what the technicians at your local drive-up oil change shop try to sell you, replacing a car's cabin air filter is usually a very simple task. Most cars' cabin air filters are deep inside the glove compartment or somewhere easily accessible under the hood, but sometimes automakers decide to squirrel it away somewhere infuriatingly difficult to reach. Unfortunately, the latter applies to Volkswagen's ultra-cool if slow-selling ID Buzz, which for some reason practically requires disassembly of the entire front of the car in order to replace the cabin air filter.

I loved driving the ID Buzz when I lived with one for a week, but now that I've learned how absurdly difficult Volkswagen made it to replace a simple part that requires relatively frequent replacement, I have mixed feelings. When automakers do things like this, it forces most owners to take their vehicle into a service center to have a simple filter replacement performed, which of course requires them to pay more than they should. Come on, Volkswagen, the ID Buzz is already expensive enough!

In this TikTok, a technician documents the lengthy process of swapping out the cabin air filter on a 2024 ID Buzz. First, you have to pop the Buzz's comical front service flap, disconnect an electrical connector, disconnect the windshield wiper fluid reservoir, unclip one of the cables, ans unscrew two bolts against the bulkhead. Next, you have to open the front doors to unscrew an upper trim piece from the side of the Buzz before unscrewing a bolt that fastens another panel above the front hood flap and repeat that process on the other side of the Buzz. Once that's done, you lift that upper front trim piece off the vehicle and unplug another connector from it before unfastening a fabric flap that covers the cabin air filter housing. Then you can finally remove the panel that hides the air filter and replace it with a new one. Once you're done, you of course have to replace all of the trim pieces you just removed, plug all of the electrical connections back in, reconnect the windshield wiper fluid reservoir, and shut the hood flap. It's as simple as that!

Obviously I'm being sarcastic. This process is infuriatingly overcomplicated, and it leaves massive margins for error whether it's misplacing bolts, scratching exterior panels, or reconnecting things improperly. I get that the ID Buzz is shaped differently than all other cars on the market, but I see no feasible justification for such a convoluted approach to locating the cabin air filter. One thing's for sure: it'll keep Volkswagen dealer's service departments in business.