Auto Headlights on & off

[Mister_E]

Dear fellow Tiggy owners with auto headlights on/comfort package. Only received my car on May 11, 2012 and have run in 347km so far.

I've noticed an unusual issue whereby my headlights do not turn off in broad daylight. The headlight switch is set to "Auto".

1). Drive out of a parking lot, the headlights auto turn on. [CHECK]
2). Drive out of the parking lot in broad day light, the headlights, supposedly do not turn off. They remain turned on and the headlight switch remains on "Auto" [FAIL]
3). I have to physically turn the headlight switch clock wise from Auto to Headlights and then turn it back to Auto for the headlights to turn off.

The Auto headlights feature works when i pass through a tunnel, the headlights do turn on. They eventually turn off. So the issue i'm reporting is random, but I've noticed it's happening a lot more frequently now, whereby, if you start the car in a parking lot, the headlights turn on, but when leaving the car park in broad day light, the headlights remain on until manual intervention.

Hope someone can shed some light [no pun intended] or assist with my problem.

[blutopless2]

check that the windscreen up in front of the rear vision mirror is clean. It sounds like the sensor might be being "fooled" into thinking it is still dark.

[Mister_E]

check that the windscreen up in front of the rear vision mirror is clean. It sounds like the sensor might be being "fooled" into thinking it is still dark.

Thanks. I'll check that area of the windscreen. I did give the car a quick wash the other day though.

[donweather]

The Auto headlights feature works when i pass through a tunnel, the headlights do turn on. They eventually turn off. So the issue i'm reporting is random, but I've noticed it's happening a lot more frequently now, whereby, if you start the car in a parking lot, the headlights turn on, but when leaving the car park in broad day light, the headlights remain on until manual intervention.

Hope someone can shed some light [no pun intended] or assist with my problem.

I also get this same issue when starting the car in an underground carpark and driving through the carpark for a little while. When I then go outside into broad daylight I've noticed my lights also don't turn off. Like you, going through a tunnel doesn't have the same impact of the lights remaining on once I've exited the tunnel.

So I think it has something to do with the car park/car starting in there effect?

So in summary, I don't think it's a fault with your lights, or if it is, it's common to not just your car.

Perhaps some smart German Engineer has a reason for the lights remaining on if you start the car in and drive it around an underground carpark for a while?

[Mister_E]

So I think it has something to do with the car park/car starting in there effect?

So in summary, I don't think it's a fault with your lights, or if it is, it's common to not just your car.

Yes, it seems this auto headlight on/off issue starts off from when headlights auto turn on in a car park. The lights don't turn off by the time you hit daylight. A mate of mine has a Golf and has the auto headlight feature, but it works seamlessly. Anyways

[R36 DSG]

Had a similar issue with my R36. I advised the local dealer who ended up recoding the sensor. Seems good now, still comes on a little early during subset but I guess that's the way they are programmed, probably could play around with the sensor sensitivity with VCDS but I would not recommend.

[Sanman]

The headlights are set to come on
- for dark
- driving into bright sunlight (safety feature)
- windscreen wiper use
- driving above some set highway speed
- heavy braking (I think)

Its in the manual, but it means the headlights are on a lot. On the whole, its a good safety feature.

[Mister_E]

Had a similar issue with my R36. I advised the local dealer who ended up recoding the sensor. Seems good now, still comes on a little early during subset but I guess that's the way they are programmed, probably could play around with the sensor sensitivity with VCDS but I would not recommend.

Hi R36_DSG

I went into the dealership this morning to at least investigate and the head mechanic basically said the "sensor" on the windscreen isn't full proof. The best he could do was either check for an error fault or replace the sensor.

We did a test and started the car up inside the Service Centre and the Bi-Xenons fire up. I reverse into broad daylight and yeah... the headlights turn off... In any case, this issue is totally random. I'll just keep monitoring it.

[Diesel_vert]

According to the internet, repeatedly turning gas-discharge bulbs on and off can severely shorten its life (and maybe the ballast as well).

If the engineers at VW are as clever as we are led to believe, they may have programmed in a delay code into the software.


Do folks with halogen bulbs experience the same delay?

[Lindsay]

I've got halogens and mine behave perfectly. If I had HIDs I would probably prefer they stayed on for a while, I presume globes for them are not cheap!

[HaywireTig]

On the topic of headlights going wrong.... Can anyone help me w my potentially broken aftermarket headlamp adjuster...?

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/forums/showthread.php?t=71845

[Deadly_headmen]

I though they where meant to be permanently on when set to auto? A Euro Feature?
That's how it worked with our mk6 golf with comfort package.