Interior lights leaving me in the dark!

[silver1011]

Having had several Skoda's over the years, this little issue on our Kodiaq is becoming more annoying now the nights are drawing in.

 

With all our older non-KESSY Skoda's the interior lights would come on as soon as the key was removed from the ignition, great for collecting your belongings before opening the door and getting out at night.

 

On the Kodiaq with KESSY, there is no key to remove, so when the engine and ignition are turned off using the button the interior lights don't come on, leaving me in the dark. I either have to open the door or turn the interior lights on manually, a bit of a pain.

 

I thought it might be related to me disabling the coming home headlights feature, but turning it back on doesn't seem to have made any difference to the operation of the interior lights.

 

Is this normal, or am I the only one sat in the car on the drive in the dark, hunting for my house key and mobile phone by touch!?

 

Edited 8 November, 2018 by silver1011

[BoxerBoy]

In a year and a half I’ve never noticed or thought about it.

 

I guess it’s just a “feature” as you’ve described above.

 

I suppose it would be nice if the interior lamps came on at switch off, but then again I can imagine that I sometimes wouldn’t want them to come on automatically.

 

You've got me thinking about it now so I’ll be looking out tomorrow to see if it bugs me or not 

[SurreyJohn]

Interesting question, does The infotainment screen stay lit until you open the door, and do you have the coloured mood lighting, if so when does that go off.  

 

 

[Kenny R]

Sounds like you need to invest in a “man bag” to keep all your items in one place

I keep my house keys and phone etc in my jacket pockets which I either hang up on the hook, on the back seat if nobody is in the back or in the boot if there is. If I’m not wearing a jacket I put my phone etc in the small cubby in front of the gear lever, which has a nice light so I can find them when I stop.

Edited 9 November, 2018 by Kenny R

[silver1011]

13 hours ago, SurreyJohn said:

Interesting question, does The infotainment screen stay lit until you open the door, and do you have the coloured mood lighting, if so when does that go off.  

 

 

 

I'm a little unusual. I turn off the infotainment screen before I turn off the engine, so all I get is the reminder to take my mobile phone with me.

 

Yes, we have the coloured LED strips in the doors, and yes these remain illuminated until the doors are closed and (I think) the car is locked.

[DryAsSticks]

It's not just you - I've just noticed the same thing since the clocks changed. I have the coming home lights setting turned on and don't have the ambient led pack but still sit in the dark until I open the door. Arguably I need the interior light to be on between the time I turn off the ignition and open the door, not when I'm getting out.

[silver1011]

Glad it's not just me. I posted the same question on the Skoda Kodiaq UK page on Facebook and got lot's of conflicting opinions, some say theirs come on when the engine / ignition was turned off, but I think they were misunderstanding my issue.

[fcaselli]

Have exactly the same issue.

Several weeks now that it's dark when I get home.

And thought several times: "why the hell the interior light doesn't turn on when I switch The engine off"?

I have to open the door to get the keys and everything else.

Thought it would be configurable.

Shame

[silver1011]

The design team at Skoda must have been having a bad day, or the interior lights were developed during  the summer 

 

I'd pen an email to Skoda UK but that'd be a complete waste of time.

[MrTrilby]

I was also a bit disappointed that the Kodiaq has no ambient lighting to give background illumination at all. Other cars I’ve had have used dim orange LEDs hidden in the ceiling to provide gentle lighting so the cabin isn’t pitch black.

[silver1011]

Thought exactly the same today. My other car is a 2011 Skoda Superb. It's has a pair of LED 'cats eyes' next to the interior light that provides a nice ambient glow around the gear lever and storage areas...

 

[Kenny R]

12 hours ago, MrTrilby said:

I was also a bit disappointed that the Kodiaq has no ambient lighting to give background illumination at all. 

Mine has the foot wells lit, which gives a nice ambient/classy  glow at night, when turned down to about 30-40%

Edited 18 November, 2018 by Kenny R

[Yogi-Bear]

2 hours ago, Kenny R said:

Mine has the foot wells lit

 

Think that's standard across the range... and I certainly prefer it to having lights (even just ambient ones) in the roof whilst driving at night. Less distracting if you ask me.

[silver1011]

My Superb has both, foot well lighting (adjustable) and the cats eyes.

 

Neither are distracting, they're only dim.

[TheRobinK]

5 hours ago, silver1011 said:

Neither are distracting, they're only dim.

 

I'd agree - the "cats eyes" throw just enough downward light to be useful. They don't get you in the eyes . You'd have to be rolling around the floor looking up at the roof for them to be annoying. And if you are doing that, you're probably parked in a layby and ....

[hwr1983]

My Superb II had the Cats-Eyes above the gear-lever AND the configurable footwell lights.  The Superb III only has the footwell lights, and I agree the cats-eyes were better (I had red ones on my 2003 Audi A6 which were ace).

 

On the OPs original issue, could it be a fault on the Start/Stop button? As surely the switch is the same as removing a key?  Weird if it isn't the same.

 

Workaround = open door before grabbing "stuff"

[silver1011]

I don't think the button itself is the issue, seems like I aren't the only one being left in the dark. It sounds more software / programming?

 

That's what I'm doing now, opening the door, or manually turning them on using the buttons on the roof. It just seems like a backward step when all of our previous Skoda's turned on the interior lights with the removal of the key.

 

It's just a pain, especially with the kids trying to release their seat-belts and collecting their myriad of toys and stuff. I now just open the door, get out and leave them to it 

[Yogi-Bear]

11 minutes ago, silver1011 said:

It's just a pain, especially with the kids trying to release their seat-belts and collecting their myriad of toys and stuff. I now just open the door, get out and leave them to it 

 

MY kids are that bit older... so they open the doors the moment I stop the car, never mind turn the engine off!

 

Does mean the lights come on and so I can see what I'm doing though.

[lowedb]

On a car with a key, the lights don't come on until you remove the key. Until then the car you will notice other things still operate like the radio. It's like on other cars that have an accessory position. Also if you have automatic locking enabled, it only unlocks at the point when the key is removed.

 

So with keyless, there is no ignition lock to physically remove the key from. Basically the choice is to go straight to fully off when you press the start stop switch (interior lights on, radio off, doors unlocked, column locked), or do what it does and go to 'key out' mode only when you open the door. Personally I prefer it to do what it does. I would either press the interior light switch, or crack the door to get the lights on but I never have stuff to retrieve. As far as I know it's the same on all VAG keyless models.

[Guest]

That is a total step backwards. 

 

In my MkII Octy Scout you have two means of automatically lighting the interior of your vehicle;

 

The first is to remove the key from the ignition. 

 

The second is from the smug glow you get from knowing owners in their high falluting Virtual Cockpit fancy pants Kodiaqs cannot do this.

 

Next you'll be telling me Skoda have removed the blindspot glass in the side mirrors, the accelerator footrest when you're in Cruise Control, and the handy little button on the B Pillar for deactivating the interior motion detection? 

[Yogi-Bear]

2 hours ago, Fin69 said:

Next you'll be telling me Skoda have removed the blindspot glass in the side mirrors

 

I have fancypants orange lights in the mirrors to do that job.

 

2 hours ago, Fin69 said:

the accelerator footrest when you're in Cruise Control

 

There's plenty of room where the clutch pedal should be for resting both my feet, thank you very much.

 

2 hours ago, Fin69 said:

the handy little button on the B Pillar for deactivating the interior motion detection

 

I used that once in 3.5 years of having my Mk3 Octavia. Don't miss it at all.

[lowedb]

7 hours ago, WiggosSideburns said:

 

I used that once in 3.5 years of having my Mk3 Octavia. Don't miss it at all.

In my god knows how many years of owning various models, but for certain six years of my Superb Mk2 I haven't used it even once. Don't know if the Mk3 Furby we have owned for a couple of years has one either.

[silver1011]

On 24/11/2018 at 09:40, lowedb said:

Basically the choice is to go straight to fully off when you press the start stop switch (interior lights on, radio off, doors unlocked, column locked), or do what it does and go to 'key out' mode only when you open the door. Personally I prefer it to do what it does. I would either press the interior light switch, or crack the door to get the lights on but I never have stuff to retrieve. As far as I know it's the same on all VAG keyless models.

 

Given the way modern cars can be configured these days I'm sure some variety to your options above would be possible.

 

Turning off the engine could do everything is does now, but with the simple addition of turning on the interior lights, at night.

 

Better still, allow the driver to customise the option, allowing them to be set to off or on through the infotainment system.

 

Skoda clearly didn't see it as a big enough issue to warrant the programming.

[silver1011]

Karoq owners with similar feedback...

 

 

[C2atb]

It’s an absolute nightmare, I’ve asked if anything can be done coded etc but no answer either manually put light on or open the door . This is the first car when ignition is turned off the light don’t illuminate isn’t that the whole point of interior lights ??