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I went to some trouble to prevent this problem on my Skoda Superb before any water got in.
The "replacement gasket" from VAG is in fact a length of D section mastic strip which comes with a non stick paper backing in a roll. It's an exact fit in the pollen filter housing recess. The gasket you can see when you remove the pollen filter element is in fact an air seal and is not the one which causes the leak.
The original water seal VAG gasket fitted to vehicles as built is made of open cell foam which both holds the water and degrades. The upturned lip of the body aperture usually cuts right into it. Coupled with hopeless detail design and inadequate drainage slope (especially when the vehicle is parked nose-up in the rain), this design masterpiece is guaranteed to cause an expensive leak.
Blocked plenum drains are a further complication, making the vehicle unsafe, as the servo unit housing rusts through in a pool of water and brake assist is lost. The final icing on the cake is that the ingested water enters the engine and wrecks it. The self-blocking bungs need to be removed so that the plenum chamber drains work effectively with a few dead leaves in there.
Amazingly, "Skoda" have not recalled these vehicles - shame on VAG.
If anyone fancies taking on the "VAG denials department" the TSB is VW branded ref. 443/06 and the part number of the mastic strip is AKD 497 010 04R 10.
I just fixed it - life's too short.
659.
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