Finally got time to wrestle (very apt word) with this problem. After liberat applications of bolt-buster and wrist-crunching hammer blows and 1/2 hour of back twisting contortions with a lug nut tool of unknown source (not VW but a perfect fit), I got the bolt off. Bolt says DERA 88 on the head if that means anything. I breathed a sign of relief and visions of bikini-clad babes on a tropical beach wafted before me. Then I pulled the plastic pull-tab thingie to release the mechanism and... snap. This pathetic piece of inadequate German engineering snapped in two. What a sorry excuse for a mechanism this is!. Now I am in need of even more urgent help as to how to release the spare tire. I now dare not even risk driving the van to a tire shop. I'm hoping there is some arcane trick to operating the release. H-E-L-P!