My e brake for my Touareg would not come all the way up when released. Therefore, the e brake indicator light and alarm would come on when I started to drive. I bought a new shock from the dealer thinking it should not be too expensive. But it was about $65 which is about $30 more than I expected. I believe it could be had for less if one shopped around.
Installation was not very difficult. Just slide the clip towards the end of the shock like pictured below.
You then just insert the shock ends into place, then slide the fasteners back into place and they will lock.
Removing the old one is harder than installing the new one. Mostly because the clip is harder to get to so that you can slide it off. But once you move the clip, the shock comes right out.
As you can see, the upper mount is the hardest to get to.
The old shock was very worn. Very easy to push in and pull out. The new one, on the other hand, was very difficult to move in and out.