Last night I had a sneezing fit whilst at the wheel...something I've read about before but never experienced until now....very scary. It resulted me in opening my eyes to find a red light at the junction ahead of me and I had to slam the brakes on and come to a complete stop. Very impressed with the brakes by the way. After a few seconds of regaining my composure I noticed the hazards had activated themselves.

I had a flick through the manual but couldn't find anything and guess it's some safety function which has activated thinking I've crashed. Anyone else had this or can confirm?

Yep, it happens under severe braking to warn those behind.  That's the thing with brake lights, they don't tell those behind how hard you're hitting the brakes.

Yep it's a standard feature though not seen it on mine yet, worked on my mkII though.

Ah ok that's good. Was worried it had activated a crash system which would need resetting.

Great feature and never had it on previous cars.

The hazards lights should switch off again once you set off.

Does the MK3 also have the brake light flash enabled by default?

 

That's where when you brake hard enough the brake lights rapidly flash and then the hazards come on.

 

Like this:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7GtBFTRb8A

 

Phil

Does the MK3 also have the brake light flash enabled by default?

 

That's where when you brake hard enough the brake lights rapidly flash and then the hazards come on.

 

Like this:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7GtBFTRb8A

 

Phil

 

I've not seen anything about it in the manual...

What did you break? Or did you mean "Braked so hard..."?

 

Either way "asked and answered", and a good idea IMO.

Check these out:

Check these out:

If I was stuck behind one of these people in heavy traffic I'd end up in court pretty quick.

The hazards lights should switch off again once you set off.

I was still sitting at the lights stationary so turned them off manually as didn't know what was going on but will remember that if it happens again.

If I was stuck behind one of these people in heavy traffic I'd end up in court pretty quick.

Dont worry, i'd tell the police you never left your vehicle!!

Horrendous things those strobes.

Edited 4 July, 201411 yr by JungleJames

Better than what I once saw in my pre-dashcam days: No working brake lights, just red fairy lights dangling out of the boot that sparkled when they pressed the brake.

Does the MK3 also have the brake light flash enabled by default?

 

That's where when you brake hard enough the brake lights rapidly flash and then the hazards come on.

 

Like this:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7GtBFTRb8A

 

Phil

 

My Octavia has this feature by default. Not sure, but I think it comes with LED rear lights.

My Octavia has this feature by default. Not sure, but I think it comes with LED rear lights.

 

Hmmmm...... Will have to have a look through the manual.

So the brake lights do flash according to the owners manual.

 

 

If the brakes are applied in full and the control unit for the braking system considers the situation to be dangerous for the following traffic, the brake light flashes automatically.

After the speed was reduced below around 10 km/h or the vehicle was stopped, the brake light stops flashing and the hazard warning light system switches on. The hazard warning light system is switched off automatically after accelerating or driving off again.

 

 

It is a great feature, I think many cars have it now. I nearly had a head on with a school bus a couple of weeks back and the hazards came on in the 3 series I have at the moment.

Check these out:

is that Peter Griffin off of Family Guy?

Who knows...

It was on a Renault Truck I got a ride in round the factory test track 8 years ago - when they did the braking test.  I think it comes on when the "Brake Assist" kicks in (when it brakes harder than you do as it knows you're trying to do an emergency stop).

Broke?!?!?!

 

FML.