FFS! he isnt asking wether you like 3 flashes or 1 give it a rest!

Quite!

I agree the triple flash is bloody annoying.

If anybody ever lets me, or a truck indicates it's safe to overtake, I would always in my old car have given a 1 flash left, 1 flash right, 1 flash left as a thanks and acknowledgement of courteous driving. Since buying the Octy I have had to get used to doing a quick flash of the hazards instead.

This is precisely the reason that I disabled the '3 flashes' behaviour (or tried to - it works most of the time!)

You can still do the left-right-left indicator flash by puhing the stalk all the way up and down, the 3 flashes only activates if you push the stalk halfway (i.e. before the click)

I have found by experimentation that this is not quite the case. You have to hold the stalk half way or push it all the way (doesn't seem to matter which) until the first flash has been completed, otherwise it does its own thing (i.e. 3 flashes or in my case 5 if it's in a bad mood)

This can be altered/checked with someone with VCDS.

IIRC the minimum you can set it to and keep active is 2, max 5. But you can disable it.

You do know you can cancel flashes by pushing the stalk in the same direction dont you? As others say a single flash is useless and quite dangerous to others who will likely miss it. Not sure why holding the stalk is deemed better. Was my biggest bug bear with a recent X1 loan car - lack of lane change flashers - on a £30k car! Told it was a £300 'option'.

Thanks 'gadgetman', I did not know that. And thanks to all who have replied to the original question. I'm going off along the motorway now, so I'll have a play. If you see a yellow Octy on the M4 with its indicators doing all sorts of stupid things, that'll be me! :yes:

Quote:

You do know you can cancel flashes by pushing the stalk in the same direction dont you?

I tried that and it doesn't work on mine. If I push it a 2nd time after 1 or 2 flashes it just gives me another 3 flashes.

It makes me laugh when following people who have this setting turned on but don't understand it. They indicate to pull out, can't understand why the indicators are still flashing despite the lever being in the off position so try to cancel them by indicating left, the left hand side indicators then begin their three flashes so the driver again tries to cancel them by indicating right, and so the debacle continues

Errrm that was me !

Can't stand it.

Indicators don't need dumbing down in my opinion; certainly I had already acquired the necessary skills to use them.

I also decide when to put my lights on and when to put the wipers on . . . there is probably no hope for me.

Quote:

You do know you can cancel flashes by pushing the stalk in the same direction dont you?

I tried that and it doesn't work on mine. If I push it a 2nd time after 1 or 2 flashes it just gives me another 3 flashes.

Yes, I tried that today and it didn't work for me either. Never mind, nice try!

Errrm that was me !

Can't stand it.

Indicators don't need dumbing down in my opinion; certainly I had already acquired the necessary skills to use them.

I also decide when to put my lights on and when to put the wipers on . . . there is probably no hope for me.

No hope for me either

Quote:

You do know you can cancel flashes by pushing the stalk in the same direction dont you?

I tried that and it doesn't work on mine. If I push it a 2nd time after 1 or 2 flashes it just gives me another 3 flashes.

Works on my Pre-FL car, so perhaps this no longer works on the FL?

Back to holding in place it seems if you want control over this.

Some features on the Octy are governed by which key is in use at the time. In other words, if a feature is enabled or disabled when key 1 is used, it may not work as expected if key 2 is used. Just a thought.

Mac

I should have posted this long ago, but never mind. The end result was - Mac, you were right! thank you for your 'just a thought'.

The fault was triggered by using a different key. However, it didn't follow the key! By that, I mean that it wasn't the case that one key gave 1 flash and the other gave 5. But the strange '5 flashes' behaviour was triggered by changing which of the two keys was used. I found that by changing the setting (using MaxiDot) with each key in turn, correct behaviour was restored, i.e. 3 flashes or 1, whichever was selected, and never 5.

A year or so ago I lost one of the keys, so had to go through the nause of buying a new one and having it programmed. Gues what - the fault reappeared. So I set the option again using each key in turn and it has behaved properly ever since. Obviously a software bug somewhere, but at least we now know how to work around it.

,,,

It makes me laugh when following people who have this setting turned on but don't understand it. They indicate to pull out, can't understand why the indicators are still flashing despite the lever being in the off position so try to cancel them by indicating left, the left hand side indicators then begin their three flashes so the driver again tries to cancel them by indicating right, and so the debacle continues

Hands up; did it twice but worked it out eventually. Still very embarrassing.

Hands up; did it twice but worked it out eventually. Still very embarrassing.

Not as embarrassing as the first time I rode a bike on the roads. I'd ridden off road loads (since about age ten) so blogged a hire bike whilst on holiday. Obviously hadn't used motorbike indicators before and hasn't had any bike lessons so had to work that one out for myself

3 flash very useful in Germany, and other countries where changing lanes should/must be accompanied by signals + always likely to be someone overtaking you at much higher speed.

On newer cars, when doing the adaptation from 3 flashes to 5 flashes with VCDS you have to go into Maxidot and scroll to the reset 'lights and vision to factory settings'. If you don't the adaptation doesn't take.

Edited 9 March, 201313 yr by Metblackrat

On a similar note, I very much like the way the indicators cannot be cancelled mid-flash, i.e. you always get a full flash.

My OCD doesn't help but when I see another car cancel it's indicator and the bulb is extinguised mid-flash I think it looks a little low-rent

That must be annoying, especially if you’re not expecting it. You could almost try to explain it if it occasionally reverted back to three flashes, but five!?

Defo a trip back to the dealer, although I guarantee it will behave itself when you try and demonstrate the fault!

It makes me laugh when following people who have this setting turned on but don't understand it. They indicate to pull out, can't understand why the indicators are still flashing despite the lever being in the off position so try to cancel them by indicating left, the left hand side indicators then begin their three flashes so the driver again tries to cancel them by indicating right, and so the debacle continues

Yes done it got the t-shirt .But i like it now

Only thing I find annoying is u can't cancel it after a mistake!

Eg.

I signal left by accident, naturally I cancel by signal right,

Now I have to wait for 3right signal to cancel even though my nx turning left is another 100metres away!

You can cancel it. Just hold indicator lever for an extra half second, rather than just a very quick flick. This cancels it instantly.

Mike

Think I tried this on my 2010 Superb. Different?

I hate this feature. It should be down to the driver to indicate when and for how long as is necessary. 3 flashes isn't enough. It's mirror, then signal, THEN manoeuvre. So either the indicators flash 3 times and stop before they've even crossed the white line to start the manoeuvre, or more usually it's a case of start manoeuvre, signal for a bit half way through, mirror if you're lucky. This means that the driver behind gets no prior warning that the pillock in front is about to pull straight on him, oh but of course it's OK because he did indicate a bit in the middle.

I suspect the same people that like comfort indicator are the same ones that don't know how to use indicators on roundabouts