Avocet

One of the more frustrating things about homologation, is that whilst the regulations use very specific terms, the car manufacturers then use their own terms to describe the same things, so unless you know what they mean in their own "brochure language", it doesn't help much! The Certificate of Conformity will be the definitive document. They're legally obliged to supply one with each car. It just looks like a really boring single sheet of A4.

That sounds bad! The systems aren't supposed to work that way. There are two systems with confusingly similar acronyms - DDAW and ADDW. The first is Driver Drowsiness and Attention warning. The second is Advanced Driver Distraction Warning. The first was mandatory on new cars first registered in the EU from July 2024, the second, from July 2026. Neither is a legal requirement in GB since Brexit (although there are plans to make is a requirement soon. However, the manufacturers generally can't be bothered removing the system from GB cars. Field 54 on your Certificate of Conformity that should have come with the car, will tell you which of those it was fitted with. Some useful descriptions of each system here: Smart EyeDDAW and ADDW Systems Are Now Mandatory in New Cars: Here...New vehicles are now required to have ADDW and DDAW technology that detects driver drowsiness and distraction. Here's what you should know.

I backed the three screws out until they were only in by about 4 or 5 turns and then thumped the head of each screw with a hammer! As the new bearing came with new screws and I wasn't worried about the threads on either the screws or the old bearing, it was fairly easy.

Dunno? It's only done 72,500 miles and the bearing itself was absolutely fine. No roughness or play. The ring doesn't appear to be bonded to the bearing in any way at all. It's just held there by its own magnetism. I can peel it off and stick it back on anywhere. No evidence of any kind of adhesive behind it? I'm hoping VW have done their sums properly on the three screw fixing. just intuitively, it doesn't look like a bad arrangement. There's a spigot on the bearing housing that locates into the upright. I imagine that and the friction from the tightening torque, will take most of the load, rather than the screws themselves?

No, they're different fasteners. There are three smaller screws that hold the bearing pack to the aluminium upright. Those are "a" - the "70 Nm plus 90 degrees" ones. Then there's the big M16 x 1.5mm screw that goes through the wheelbearing and into the end of the driveshaft. That's "b" - the "200 Nm plus 180 degrees" one. To be honest, both felt "about right" when I was tightening them.

Update folks. It's fixed! There was nothing wrong with my ABS sensor, the problem was indeed the magnetic ring on the inside face of the outer bearing race. The "bits of plastic" I thought I could see when looking down the hole for the ABS sensor were exactly that. The dark brown curve at the top of the photo is all that remained of a complete ring - basically, a glorified fridge magnet, that just sticks to the inner face of the outer bearing race and rotates with the wheel. Little inclusions within the thickness of the plastic, generate the fluctuating signal for the sensor. It should be a complete circle of brown material and as you can see, half of mine is missing. I'm now left wondering how far gone the other three are...☹️

If it's of any use to anyone, various bits of cross-checking online seem to indicate that the most common answers were: (a) 70 Nm plus 90 degrees of rotation. (b) 200 Nm plus 180 degrees of rotation.

Hi All, Does anyone know the tightening torques for the front wheel bearing pack, please? (a) the three splined screws that hold the bearing pack in from the back of the hub and; (b) the big, 24mm, 12-point hub nut that goes into the end of the driveshaft

No. Some of them cannot be disabled at all (Like Event Data Recorders). Others can be disabled by the driver, but must automatically re-enable themselves at every "key-on" (i.e. "startup"). Sadly, all the most irritating ones (Lane Keep Assist, Emergency Lane Keep Assist, Intelligent Speed Assist), are ones that have to be disabled on every startup.

I can't fully answer this for GB cars, because it's really complicated. First of all, we had (in the EU), "General Safety Regulation 2", which incorporated a whole load of driver aids, some of them more helpful than others! Things like Advanced Emergency Braking systems for solid objects and other vehicles - that feature that randomly jabs the brakes when you least suspect it. From the 7th of July this year, all new vehicles first registered in the EU, need to have that system, but augmented to be able to detect pedestrians and cyclists. There are other features like Lane Keep Assist (mandatory from 2022) and Emergency Lane Keep Assist, and Intelligent Speed Assist, Driver Drowsiness and Attention Warning, Event Data Recorders...etc. I can get a complete list and the implementation dates if you want... There are two complications though. 1. Vehicles manufactured before the deadline but not registered before the deadline can, at the discretion of the EU Member State it is being registered in, apply for an "end-of-series derogation". This would give them an extra 12 months after the deadline to register those cars. That makes it really difficult to know which cars are likely to have which of those features, if only judging by the registration date. 2. The UK left the EU, (except Northern Ireland, in effect), so none of these measures are mandatory in GB yet. However, it is not illegal to fit them, and a lot of manufacturers can't be bothered making a different spec of car for GB alone, so they fit them anyway! The GB government does intend to align with the EU regulations and bring this in shortly, but hasn't done so yet. If you can get to see a Certificate of Conformity for any vehicle that you're interested in, Field 54 contains a load of acronyms and abbreviations of what driver aids that particular car is fitted with.

Ah! Just looking on YouTube, and what I thought were plastic flaps, are probably actually bits of the magnetic ring on the bearing! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeILfoNK9q0 (That's a Karoq, but I think it looks very similar to our Kodiaq)!

So... ...that went well...🙄 Replaced the ABS sensor this morning, and now I've got FOUR warning lights! ABS, ESC, steering and TPMS... OBDeleven is still saying right hand front ABS sensor. When I took the old one out, I could see a few fine scratches on the tip, and peering down the hole it came out of, I could see quite a lot of flaky rust, so I scraped that off with a small screwdriver, whilst slowly turning the hub. I also noticed what seemed like a number of small, black plastic "flaps" on the vertical face just outboard of it. No idea what that face is?

That's very interesting indeed, thanks! I might risk another sensor then. As you say, they're not silly money - even genuine ones!

Thanks. I'm certainly hoping that's the case, but surprised that a poor signal would trigger a tyre pressure warning fault, yet not trigger an ABS warning fault? (The latter being more safety critical). I was wondering whether perhaps to trigger a tyre pressure warning it needs much less of a difference in wheel rotational speed than for an ABS intervention? I'm just guessing though!

Yes, OBDeleven does that. You can also set it to display "live data" and go for a drive. It's definitely the right hand front ABS sensor that is giving the inconsistent readings.