Hello, I have just bought a 15 reg diesel Yeti and everything is fine except that the digital speed is showing km/hour.  The handbook seems to imply that you can't change this to mph, is this true or am I misreading it?   Sorry if this has been answered before but I did a search and got nowhere.

Thanks

If the car is UK spec, it is actually the law you must have BOTH mph, and kph! So that said, unless you had an import, it MUST be do-able. I remember Toyota getting round this with a loophole on digi-speedo's by pressing a dash button to switch between the two as analogue ones will be displayed at all times.

You should find all you need here
https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/229766-vcds-adaptations-how-do-i/

 

 

 

5 minutes ago, mrgf said:

If the car is UK spec, it is actually the law you must have BOTH mph, and kph! So that said, unless you had an import, it MUST be do-able. I remember Toyota getting round this with a loophole on digi-speedo's by pressing a dash button to switch between the two as analogue ones will be displayed at all times.

 

Not true.

 

The law states that the car must be capable of displaying both MPH & KPH.

 

Get someone to code the car to ‘Australia' and you will get the large MPH, all the info you need is in the link above.

 

46 minutes ago, Gizmo said:

 

 

Get someone to code the car to ‘Australia' and you will get the large MPH, all the info you need is in the link above.

 

And if it's done as Gizmo says it's then possible to display MPH or KPH as an option on the Maxidot.

...So being CAPABLE of displaying both makes it not true? I made the point it must have both, which iS true. The fact that the rules can be interpreted into saying one or the other, rather then both at the same time, is now quite doe-able but when the rules came in, 99% of vehicles had the old analogue, often cable fed, speedo in singular form. Therefor the display had both speeds running around the dial. Having just one was illegal. Even now, many cars use gearbox/wheel sensor pick-up but still have dials with both speeds. Digi-Speedo's, therefor loopholed by switching from one to the other. Not illegal, just not what the rules meant!

 

There is a similar loophole regarding indicator signals. The law stated the position to be in a certain area of the front of the car, above under or outside of the headlight. Then it became common practice, then law, to have an external, wing or mirror mounted signal, to be seen from the side. Many designers then cheated on the position of the front signal position, placing them inboard of the headlight. Flouting the original rule as the wing/mirror mounted signal now became deemed to be outside of the headlight... Loopholing!  It as widely debated among road safety experts as they stated design should not take precedence over function and they opined that learner drivers, in particular, took an additional second or two, to recognise signals and brake lights etc, thus placing them in a "Strange, unexpected" Position, meant a longer reaction time. (Even experienced drivers take an additional second to spot these inboard ones).

 

 

Construction & Use and EU Legislation is different from Law in England / Wales , Scotland & Northern Ireland and being Illegal.

Is there a check at a UK MOT to see that km shows on a speedo, or at a Road Side Check,  

which 'Law is broken that a prosecution will be made' if there is no Km displayed on UK roads.

I don't see what all the kerfufful about law is about!!!
If the car is coded with VCDS or whatever both MPH AND KPH are still available to view on the Maxidot as is the case with most new cars.

18 hours ago, mrgf said:

...So being CAPABLE of displaying both makes it not true? I made the point it must have both, which iS true. The fact that the rules can be interpreted into saying one or the other, rather then both at the same time, is now quite doe-able but when the rules came in, 99% of vehicles had the old analogue, often cable fed, speedo in singular form. Therefor the display had both speeds running around the dial. Having just one was illegal. Even now, many cars use gearbox/wheel sensor pick-up but still have dials with both speeds. Digi-Speedo's, therefor loopholed by switching from one to the other. Not illegal, just not what the rules meant!

 

It's not been a "loophole" - it's been perfectly legal since 1984.  See the The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986, section 35:

 

"...every motor vehicle shall be fitted with a speedometer which, if the vehicle is first used on or after 1st April 1984, shall be capable of indicating speed in both miles per hour and kilometres per hour, either simultaneously or, by the operation of a switch, separately."

 

(Cue the next barrack-room lawyer attempting to argue that a maxidot setting isn't a 'switch'...)

 

This stuff is trivially easy to find online.  Even ECE Regulation 39 (as referenced by the UK C&U regs) is a reasonably straightforward read.  It includes illuminating statements such as:

 

"The values of the speed shall be indicated on the dial at intervals not exceeding 20 mph and commencing at 10 or 20 mph."  (Paragraphs 5.1.2 an 5.1.4, about mph speedo markings.)  This is relevant in regard to the other related Briskoda Yeti Owners discussions about why there are no speedo markings at 30, 50 and 70mph.

 

Also:

 

"The indicated numerical speed value intervals need not be uniform."  (Paragraphs as above, plus 5.1.1 and 5.1.3.)  I did notice that the 'markings' on the virtual LCD speedo dial on the Golf that I rented in Italy recently were closer together at the higher speed end of the scale.  Not something I'd ever consciously noted before.  I did wonder why.  Is this something that has any practical purpose - OK, maybe in a supercar with a top speed well over 200kph, but in a four door hatchback with a 1.6TDi engine???

No digital numeric displays in 1984 then ?

Oh yes there was. In my MG Maestro...

@ejstubbs - "Maxidot" is a computer program. QED.

^^ allegro as well? - possibly vandem plas!

52 minutes ago, Frenchtone said:

^^ allegro as well? - possibly vandem plas!

I had one of the last Allegro's (finished production in 1982) and that was not digital nor was the VP.

ok, a recollection the vp had them initially but they were problematic so reverted to an analogue system!  its age related you know!  ; - D) it could have been a bar system!

Edited 26 June, 20188 yr by Frenchtone

18 hours ago, Sad555 said:

No digital numeric displays in 1984 then ?

 

I'm just quoting the law.  If you don't like it, take it up with HMG.

I only asked!

The early Au'tin Oxymor Maestro VdP had digital instruments and a voice warning system.

....So being able to switch from one to the other, IS the loophole. If you took the time after digging up regs to suit your argument  and read further then your quoted paragraph 1,  paragraph 2 stated 

 

(2) Paragraph (1) does not apply to—

(a)a vehicle having a maximum speed not exceeding 25 mph;

 

I think I am correct in saying the vehicle in questionDOES have the capability to travel at more them 25MPH? 

 

Then there are varying clauses/subclauses and even Santa Clauses... The point is, you are mean to have both. I have known of motorcyclists who have imported bikes, sticking overlay stickers on to comply and have been told fine, others have been told its ok temporarily but the speedo must be changed. This is either due to having just KPH from a Euro machine or MPH, from an American one. It can and does cause issues, period! oH, and you tried to pre-empt replies about switching by belittling people by referring to them as, quote,   (Cue the next barrack-room lawyer attempting to argue that a maxidot setting isn't a 'switch'...). This suggests you are aware that it takes more then just flicking freely from one to the other AS MY YARIS DOES, rather then running through a list, finding a setting and storing it, returning to the main menu. Repeat as necessary. 

Great, if you are trying to drive. The switch was meant, in the spirit of things, to be instantaneous, as if switching on or off the lights, not a protracted procedure. 

 

Usually rules (Which are considered law, despite the fact you won't go to prison for flouting them) will always have a way to get around them if you look hard enough. That is how MANY motoring issues are deal with as the rules/laws are often complicated and often contradict themselves. 

 

But i digress... We are moving away from the actual question, squabbling like a couple of old ladies. 

 

My apologies to dorsetskodayeti. Hope at least, you got your actual situation sorted. 

 

Thanks for all the responses, reading between the lines (and all the irrelevant legal and historical stuff) it looks like it can't be changed without finding someone who can make changes to the on board software.

  ^ not true, you need Australia activating by vcds or some other system - then you can choose!

For info' mine has had the reprogram and shows big MPH in the MFD.

 

It has been MOT'd since and passed and when I asked he said it is not an issue as long as it can show both. To change it back you just need to tick a box. The enabling of this box is the change that comes from the reprogramming.

 

You can also have other cool stuff like needle sweep on start up, brake light flash on emergency braking, tear drop wipe for back and front wipers, 5 flashes for the lane change indicators etc.

With all the options on the maxi dot with some that aren’t really needed perhaps the option of a  DIGITAL MPH/KPH would be good and easy to have.

17 hours ago, mrgf said:

....So being able to switch from one to the other, IS the loophole. If you took the time after digging up regs to suit your argument  and read further then your quoted paragraph 1,  paragraph 2 stated 

 

(2) Paragraph (1) does not apply to—

(a)a vehicle having a maximum speed not exceeding 25 mph;

 

I think I am correct in saying the vehicle in questionDOES have the capability to travel at more them 25MPH? 

 

 

In which case, paragraph 1 DOES apply!

Well thanks for all that, I guess the answer is no it can't easily be done.  Interesting though, we have had Land Rovers for some years and I am on one of their forums.  The help and feedback you get there is much more positive and direct with  less debate about thenfiner points of motoring law and more instruction on on how to fix things and take things apart but perhaps that says something about Land Rover needing more attention.