dstev2000

The most annoying part of all this is the overwhelming evidence I have provided: Video evidence of the system misbehaving, tons of technical information about how the system should work etc. etc. And I was merely fobbed off with a few paragraphs. In my opinion (and that of Hella), it requires a simple recalibration and it'll be good as new. VW's SSP 396 is another source of information on how the system should operate. The figure of 3.8m monitoring width is a constant across all information sources I have found. That's 3.8m from the sensor. when you add the space in the car's own lane, plus that of the adjoining lane, there is absolutely no way there should ever be a blind spot warning from a car in the 3rd lane. The exception to this is excessively narrow lanes such as road works and the odd spurious radar reflection. I am now looking to get it done myself, and reclaim the expenditure from Skoda in any way necessary. From delving into various technical documentation as part of my research (Hella, Bosch and VW themselves), the calibration process requires the use of a test rig with a doppler generator to simulate the position of another vehicle. The system expects a very specific radar return in order to be correctly calibrated. I have a fairly big VW main dealer close to me, I will approach them and enquire. Hella make their own test and calibration systems and VW have their own VAS test rigs. Sensor mis-positioning, sensor replacement, bumper repairs, incorrect paint application can all knock the system out of calibration. It only takes a little knock when the car is being shipped over from the factory, a quick repair and no subsequent recalibration to get the problems I am experiencing. Failing that, loads of Kodaiqs could have left the factory over the past 12-18 months with a minor calibration error on every vehicle - who knows? The most annoying thing of all is that I think my Kodaiq is a fantastic car, but at the moment this tiny little issue, and Skoda's dismissive and patronising attitude is really knocking the whole experience. I know it shouldn't but it just does.

I've had an update on this. Despite the information and evidence I sent to Skoda, and the manufacturer (Hella) suggesting this is not the correct behaviour for this system, and having experience of my previous car (Superb) with the same system - which behaved exactly as Hella suggested - they have again replied by saying this is a 'characteristic' of the car. They have given me no technical information to support their claim of it being a 'characteristic'. They have basically fobbed me off with b*ll****, expecting me to accept it and go away. I have to say I am extremely disappointed with Skoda, as they have shown little to no effort in attempting to address this problem. This is of course extremely irritating as I know damned well that it doesn't work as it should do. I will now take some time to consider a few options.

Last time Skoda got back to me was about a week. It was a phone call suggesting the issue is a ‘characteristic’ of my car, and that I should go away and never bother them again. Of course, the person at the other end of the phone got both barrels. I’ll keep adding updates as and when required, in case anyone else has issues with this system. Unless you’re very familiar with the system and/or have had it on a previous car (as I did), you may think it’s doing what it’s supposed to do. At some point I’ll put up the video clips a rear passenger got for me.

After firing off an email to Hella, they have come back and said they do not perform ANY calibration of the modules they send out to OEMs. This would suggest the calibration is done at the factory, and would therefore have to be specific to each model, as the modules are mounted at differing heights and angles relative to the thrust line/geometric centre of differing models. It's unlikely the calibration is performed at dealer level during PDI, as they don't possess the equipment to do it. The email from Hella also suggests - based on my description of the problem - the sensors are either not positioned correctly, or haven't been calibrated correctly. Hella's technical reference documents also require modules to be re-calibrated if removed/replaced for repair works and such like: Calibration To ensure that the lane change assistant works safely, it must be adapted after the following work: If one or both control units have been replaced If repair work has been carried out on the body at the rear If the position of the rear bumper has been changed If the mounting position of the control units has been changed due to fitting and removal I await Skoda's reply. It's been a whole week since I sent an email with the various bits of information attached to it. Hopefully this means they've escalated it to their technical department and/or the factory. Most likely outcome to this is to find a VW Group dealer with the correct calibration kit, or a Hella (or approved) service centre who can do the calibration.

Agreed, the matrix LED system on the XC90 is extremely effective. Here's some interesting stuff about LED lighting. It's probably a bit out of date, but the principles still apply today. I like Hella's technical pages: https://www.hella.com/techworld/uk/Technical/Automotive-lighting/LED-headlights-833/#

I've not experimented with different vehicle colours or sizes. It's where you find there's loads of Kodiaqs out there with incorrectly calibrated blind spot systems on them. I am guessing the modules have to be calibrated for specific models? purely down to where they are fitted to the car. I know the procedure is a PITA to carry out. It needs a special rig with a doppler radar to do it properly. the doppler simulates an incoming vehicle for an accurate setup. Are they pre-calibrated by Hella on a model by model batch method? or is the calibration done at the factory I wonder? It would only take a minor SNAFU to get things mixed up somewhere...... Incidentally, there are no faults on the system, and the measuring blocks don't yield anything particularly useful.

This is a quote from VW's website that describes the system's operation: The system is designed to alert you only when necessary: stationary objects or oncoming vehicles do not trigger warnings. It also ignores vehicles which are more than one lane across, so you're not distracted with frequent warnings. This is from the Kodiaq's manual: › Wizard for “blind spot” monitoring - operation At a speed of more than 15 km/h, the area alongside and behind the vehicle is monitored by the system. At the same time, the distance and the difference in speed between your vehicle and other vehicles in the monitored area are measured. When driving, the system monitors an area the size of a normal lane width to the left and right. If a vehicle is detected in the “blind spot” area, the system indicates this vehicle by the warning light  lighting up in the exterior mirror. The system is only supposed to register the presence of a vehicle that is less than 3.6 metres from the vehicle. A standard motorway lane is around 3.65m wide. If a typical car is 2m wide, that leaves an average gap between the car and lane edge of 800mm. Same for the car in lane 3. That's a combined width of 1.6m plus the standard lane width of let's say 3.6m. That's a total gap between the two cars of around 5.2m. that's a darned sight more than the 3.6m Hella are quoting. In my Superb, the only time I would get a trigger from a car that is 2 lanes away, is in a contraflow/narrow lane scenario when driving through road works. Also on dual carriageways with particularly narrow lanes, such as the A3 when driving into London (for those of you who are familiar with it). This is to be expected, as the system cannot distinguish a narrow lane scenario and adapt accordingly. The slip road issue is at the point where you merge with the traffic, so still in the slip road itself, but the car thinks it detects something directly alongside, when in fact it's still 2 lanes away. This is from Hella's website, and describes the overall operating principle of the blind spot system. My old car behaved exactly as described below. Also, my car doesn't give me an early warning of a fast approaching car (high speed differential). It lights up when the car is literally alongside me. Functional description of the lane change assistant The sensing area (A) of the radar sensors is approx. 50 m to the rear and approx. 3.6 m (B) to the side of the vehicle. The system uses radar sensors to monitor the traffic behind and next to the vehicle. The area monitored includes the "blind spot" which the driver cannot see on both the driver and passenger sides. If there is a vehicle in the monitored area and if a lane change is not taking place, the driver is informed by the LED displays in the right and left outside mirrors lighting up a little. The luminous intensity is lower so the driver is not distracted unnecessarily. In this situation, should the driver actuate the direction indicator lever for changing lane, he or she is warned by the warning lamp in the outside mirror of the corresponding side flashing intensively. If the system senses a vehicle, the control unit in question also calculates the time remaining before a potential collision. This evaluation is used by the system to distinguish between vehicles which are approaching, flowing with the traffic and falling behind.

The official VW name for it is 'Lane change assist/assistant' but it's colloquially known as 'Blind spot detection'. A little bit of a backstory: I had this system on my previous Mk3 Superb L&K. Drove the car for around 55,000 miles and had no problems with the system at all. It worked perfectly. I also have the same system on my Sportline. And when I mean 'the same system', it's identical with the small exception of the Kodiaq's modules being variant 'C', and the Superb's being variant 'B', but that's it. I've had my Sportline since September, and I've often noticed a bug with the blind spot detection system. If I am in lane 1 of a motorway, a car passing in lane 3 will be detected as being in my blind spot. It also (correctly) detects cars passing in lane 2. I often drive late at night and in the early hours on motorways. The 4 lane M25 seems to be full of drivers who like to sit in lane 3, when lanes 1 and 2 are clear (that's a rant for another day!). The upshot of this is the offside mirror LED for the blind spot detection coming on whenever a car passes 2 lanes away. I know for a fact this is not right. I trundle along at around 60-65mph at that time of night, usually with the adaptive cruise enabled, this manes a ton of cars pass by on a typical journey, this also means that damned LED is on and off all the time. The biggest issue by far is when I join a dual carriageway or motorway via the entry slip. As usual: accelerate along the slip road to match the traffic's speed, mirror, over shoulder safety check, indicate and merge when safe to do so. But...If a car is sitting in lane 2 (with lane 1 being empty) the blind spot detection LED blinks furiously, vibrates the steering wheel and applies a little opposite steering torque to guide me back into the slip road, as it thinks I am about to hit something. This can be very distracting and quite alarming, seeing as I've just checked my mirror and over my shoulder to find it's empty and safe to join lane one. It means I always have to check all of this a second time in a split second, in case something has quickly dived into lane 1 and straight into my blind spot. To date, this have NEVER been the case. I raised this issue with the dealer during a service visit - no dice. To their credit, they checked the measured values, checked for faults etc. and found nothing untoward. The issues started when I escalated it to Skoda customer services via email, with a detailed description of what's going on. I won't go into any more detail as it's still ongoing, but I will update this at some point in the future....... I would like to hear from everyone else who has this system on their Kodiaq, and how it behaves for them. As I say, I never had this behaviour on my Superb, and after doing some digging on the system - Made by Hella - I have found my Kodiaq's behaviour to be at odds with what Hella says. When you're repeatedly told there isn't anything wrong with the system, that other Kodaiqs 'behave the same way' and that it's a 'characteristic' of the car, you start to doubt yourself.

I haven't been right through this thread, so I apologise if I repeat anything/everything that's been said. I've come from a Mk.3 Superb, which had the very snazzy (and often misunderstood) Smart Light Assistant - that's the one where the main beam is always on, but parts of it are masked off to prevent dazzling oncoming vehicles. It was very clever, but had its flaws..... It also had the standard AFS swivelling dipped xenon/HID beam system which was very good. Anyway.... My Sportline also has AFS lighting, albeit LED. I think it's a system done on the cheap, as the primary LED beam does not swivel with the steering input. I really notice it as my last 3 Skodas' dipped beams swivelled. I find the lack of swivelling light irritating, and a step backwards. The AFS aspect is - from what I can deduce - an additional LED in each light unit (in addition to the pair of main beam LEDs) that dims up and down when a larger steering angle is introduced, and when reversing. The LED fog lamp is purely there for low speed turns, as has been the case for a decade or so. Also, the extra AFS LED lights up at lower speeds when driving through urban areas, to widen the beam pattern. I don't think this additional LED brings anything extra to the table as it's simply not powerful enough. Yes, you can see it in action, but you really have to look out for it. Oh, and 'Static cornering light' is the foglight that comes on when turning at low speeds, the 'Dynamic cornering light' is this silly additional LED. In my superb, adjusting this in the drive selection menu made the beam swivelling more aggressive. In the Kodiaq, I have no idea what benefit this setting has for the LED system. Maybe the dimming profile is more aggressive, perhaps? In general, the LED headlights are better than the previous xenon/HID units. The lack of swivelling beams is a step back IMO, unless there is a regulation that doesn't allow for swivelling LED beams due to the light intensity? I haven't checked to see if you can get them on any other car.

It’s an odd software bug, because my 2016 Superb always remembered it was in Eco mode when it was next used. I use the off-road button double tap method.

We keep all of the KESSY fobs (4 of them, including spares) in a copper clad lidded biscuit tin. I've tested it by pulling the door handles with the tin right next to the car - nothing. The only thing is my neighbours probably think I'm a bit mad....... It's a thumbs down for the so called 'RFID shield/Faraday cage' type pouches you can get on Amazon, ebay etc. The ones I got were a total waste of time.

Thanks It was also an eye-watering price. But it's a huge amount of car for the money.

I've just defected from the Superb camp, over to the Kodiaq brigade! Sportline 2.0 TDI 190PS 4x4 DSG 7 seats, Velvet Red, Blind spot detect/lane assist, Adaptive cruise, Heated steering wheel with paddles, Area view camera system (+ park assist + front sensors), Rear side privacy blinds, Panoramic roof, Canton sound system, Heated windscreen + washers, Running boards, Spare wheel, High beam assist. Electric memory front seats. Virtual pedal.

I sent Skoda UK a very long email with as much detail as possible, and received a fairly standard copy and paste response: Upon reading the response, they have clearly NOT even read my initial email properly, as I told them I am well aware of the lights being ventilated etc etc. I also asked specifically for my email to be passed onto technical for further consideration. I don't think they bothered. To be honest, that's a really ****ty response, and a **** poor demonstration of Skoda's customer service. Not at all happy. Thank you for your recent enquiry regarding condensation in the headlamps of your ŠKODA Superb. Please accept my apologies for the delay in my response. I understand from your enquiry that you are experiencing misting in the headlamps of your Superb. Misting is the gathering of condensation on the inside surface of the lenses of the headlamp. It is the same as the misting which can occur in windscreens and windows. The headlamps are not sealed, they are ventilated through openings in the back of the headlamp unit when the car is in motion; consequently condensation can settle on the inside surface. When the headlamp is switched on, the internal temperature of the unit reaches up to 200 degrees centigrade. The higher the temperature, the more the air inside the headlamp will absorb moisture. When the air within the headlamp starts to cool it releases some of this moisture into the environment. The rest of the moisture starts to settle as condensation on the coldest points within the headlights, usually on the inside of the lenses. After the headlights are switched off, the temperature and air humidity will drop again and the amount of condensation on the inside of the lenses will increase. When the headlamps are switched back on again, the temperature increases and the air starts to absorb moisture, drying out the inside of the lenses causing the misting to disappear. Condensation inside headlamp is a natural occurrence, which is unavoidable in the British climate; there is therefore no need for this to cause any concern.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. But the rattle hasn't completely gone away. It seems to be where the plastic latches lock in place when the cover is completely closed. The hard plastic is probably the cause of it. To be honest it's the least of the car's problems at the moment so I've not investigated further.