Nasty Trick Played on Car.

[Vdubya]

I had a rather unpleasant experience with doing a wheel alignment which i detailed in my previous thread. For the last two or so weeks, i have been noticing that my car was behaving alot more sluggishly in terms of acceleration, almost as if the brakes were being applied at all times.

Found it abit strange how one alignment visit could result in this along with overall car "dog tracking" problems.

Had the siblings in the back of the car today upon taking them to school, had them notice that the "towing button" was engaged. Not only that, this mob happened to damage the plastic housing that surrounds it.

So basically i've been driving around with the "tow-away protection" engaged on for the last 2weeks, and its no wonder my engines been put under constant strain, and im abit afraid of the long terms affects.

So it was certainly a nasty trick they played on me, and i guess a word of warning to anyone to be careful who they leave their cars with.

[Maverick]

I had a rather unpleasant experience with doing a wheel alignment which i detailed in my previous thread. For the last two or so weeks, i have been noticing that my car was behaving alot more sluggishly in terms of acceleration, almost as if the brakes were being applied at all times.

Found it abit strange how one alignment visit could result in this along with overall car "dog tracking" problems.

Had the siblings in the back of the car today upon taking them to school, had them notice that the "towing button" was engaged. Not only that, this mob happened to damage the plastic housing that surrounds it.

So basically i've been driving around with the "tow-away protection" engaged on for the last 2weeks, and its no wonder my engines been put under constant strain, and im abit afraid of the long terms affects.

So it was certainly a nasty trick they played on me, and i guess a word of warning to anyone to be careful who they leave their cars with.

What towing button? What tow-away protection?

The R32/GTI have a standard alarm, this alarm has a button on the drivers B pillar (which is what I assume you are talking about).

All this button does is to disable the interior motion sensor and the tow away sensor (inclination sensor). This has to be set each time you arm the alarm by pressing it.

No brakes are applied (you have a handbrake that's on when you park and this doesn't stop the car from being towed away) and no other magic is performed.

All this is detailed in the user manual in the glovebox.

[kaoticice]

I had a rather unpleasant experience with doing a wheel alignment which i detailed in my previous thread. For the last two or so weeks, i have been noticing that my car was behaving alot more sluggishly in terms of acceleration, almost as if the brakes were being applied at all times.

Found it abit strange how one alignment visit could result in this along with overall car "dog tracking" problems.

Had the siblings in the back of the car today upon taking them to school, had them notice that the "towing button" was engaged. Not only that, this mob happened to damage the plastic housing that surrounds it.

So basically i've been driving around with the "tow-away protection" engaged on for the last 2weeks, and its no wonder my engines been put under constant strain, and im abit afraid of the long terms affects.

So it was certainly a nasty trick they played on me, and i guess a word of warning to anyone to be careful who they leave their cars with.

Is it those 2 buttons in the seat belts pillar?? on the right hand side?

THe newer model only have 1 button as an alarm setting in my understanding
I'm still getting use to the car as well.. (reading the manual 24/7)

[Vdubya]

What towing button? What tow-away protection?

The R32/GTI have a standard alarm, this alarm has a button on the drivers B pillar (which is what I assume you are talking about).

All this button does is to disable the interior motion sensor and the tow away sensor (inclination sensor). This has to be set each time you arm the alarm by pressing it.

No brakes are applied (you have a handbrake that's on when you park and this doesn't stop the car from being towed away) and no other magic is performed.

All this is detailed in the user manual in the glovebox.

Hi thanks for your reply. The button you noted is exactly the same as the one im referencing, just behind the "right hand driver side door", which is a two way switch, one for immobilizor and other with a diagram of a car going up a ramp.

I thought it was pretty nonsense myself, but strangely noticed a difference driving the vehicle after disengaging the switch, but it could be just my naviety. I'm not going to turn the button on again to see if problem returns as ill just be embarrasing myself further.

Thanks for the clarification though.

[Big Yellow]

the car on the ramp is the tilt sensor button. both those buttons on your older version are to do with disengaging those alarm features. nothing to do with towing etc.

plus u have a r32 dont you?? we cant tow in the R32 lolz.

[Vdubya]

Yep mines the R32, and i would have thought we could tow since the GTI has the option nevertheless.

Thats pretty much the button, to clear up any confusion. Yeah i think i came to a very dumfounded conclusion, its not like a BMW "M" button for goodness sakes.

[Big Yellow]

yeah gtis can tow, but we have our exhaust in the way

[geoff_gti]

Isn't that just supposed to be a motion sensor, ie if someone starts rocking your car in a carpark or if they tried to lift it on to a trailer etc, that would trigger the motion sensor, and you can turn the sensor on / off with this switch? Nothing to do with you towing something on the back of your car. The other button is the interior motion sensor or glass break right?

[qsilverza]

I think the bottom button is for the tilt sensor, I suppose for when YOU are being towed. The other is for interior alarm, say for when dogs or kids are in the car and you wish to lock the car so they are safe but not have the alarm going off every 5 seconds. I tend to think this also disables the dead-lock function for the car.

Isn't that just supposed to be a motion sensor, ie if someone starts rocking your car in a carpark or if they tried to lift it on to a trailer etc, that would trigger the motion sensor, and you can turn the sensor on / off with this switch? Nothing to do with you towing something on the back of your car. The other button is the interior motion sensor or glass break right?

[Maverick]

I think the bottom button is for the tilt sensor, I suppose for when YOU are being towed. The other is for interior alarm, say for when dogs or kids are in the car and you wish to lock the car so they are safe but not have the alarm going off every 5 seconds. I tend to think this also disables the dead-lock function for the car.

The interior sensor disablement is not for you to leave children or dogs in the car but to prevent false alarms if the windows are left open. Arming the alarm deadlocks the doors and prevents egress from the car. Although it serves the same purpose and they can't escape or run off

The tilt sensor disablement is if you are being towed and are arming the alarm or to prevent false alarms under some situations.

[bazzle]

Sadly I dont think anything was done by the dealer. Maybe one of the kids pressed the button?
Either way it would not of changed the way the vehicle drove.

There is also nothing I could envisage that a dealer would or could of done to make the car drive differently. Maybe you had a "crook" fill of petrol and the sensors adjusted for it?

As Big Yellow stated there are no towbars produced for the R32. The button is a common fixture.

Bazzle

[aristocrat]

Or perhaps since you only had the car for a little while, its just learning your driving habits and shifting up earlier, so that you 'feel' that the car is more sluggish. You might try removing the battery terminal for an hour or so and re hooking it back up and then taking it for a drive to see if there's any difference. Good luck.

[Vdubya]

Yeah it could certainly be a product of my imagination, i understand after a wheel alignment the car does naturally feel different, so maybe it needed time in bedding in. The notion that a single button which transforms the car is abit far fetched.

One thing that im not paranoid about is the mob that did snap the bezel surrounding the switch and left the switch dangling off. Im not quite sure how im gonna handle that as yet, but its certainly made me more wary who i leave my vehicle with.