Daytime Running Lights with rear lights

[barcudcoch]

Sorry I cannot find the answer here so:

I'd like to know if it is possible to have the rear lights come on with the DRLs?

[john999boy]

It should be as that's what I've had on quite a few VAG cars.

[barcudcoch]

Thanks @john999boy.

How can I achieve this?

[john999boy]

23 minutes ago, barcudcoch said:

Thanks @john999boy.

How can I achieve this?

As it only happens approximately every new car cycle I easily forget!

However check out the VCDS section in Superb 3 where you should find the details.

[barcudcoch]

Thanks again @john999boy. I'll check it out

[Phutters]

33 minutes ago, barcudcoch said:

Sorry I cannot find the answer here so:

I'd like to know if it is possible to have the rear lights come on with the DRLs?

You can do it with Carista.

 

It will also allow you to adjust the brightness.

 

I'm guessing you want the tail lights and not the number plate lights as well. If you do want the whole lot, Carista will do that too. It's called Scandinavian DRLs or something.

 

.

[barcudcoch]

1 hour ago, Phutters said:

You can do it with Carista.

Thanks @Phutters.

Had a quick look at costs for Carista and it seems a lot for a one-off exercise.

Any realistic alternatives?

[Phutters]

1 hour ago, barcudcoch said:

Thanks @Phutters.

Had a quick look at costs for Carista and it seems a lot for a one-off exercise.

 

 

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Can't argue with that.

 

I use it quite a bit on two other cars, so it's pretty good value for me and saved me quite a bit of time and money over the years, not least in being able to wind back the rear caliper motors to do disc and pad changes.

 

I've got the beta testing version. You can get old episodes of Hancock's Half Hour and The Goon Show on that 😎

 

.

 

[kodiaqsportline]

3 hours ago, barcudcoch said:

Thanks @Phutters.

Had a quick look at costs for Carista and it seems a lot for a one-off exercise.

Any realistic alternatives?

 

A cheap way of achieving this would be to turn on the sidelights.

 

"But that means the front sidelights as well as the DRL's are going... "

 

Does it really matter? I used to own Volvo's where the sidelights were always on - nobody seemed to have a problem with that.

 

 

[BoxerBoy]

Through winter I just leave the main lamp switch in the ON position in our Kodiaq & Polo.

 

Unlike some cars, the lamps turn off when you switch off, so no chance of running down the battery.

 

Love it.

[J.R.]

4 hours ago, barcudcoch said:

Any realistic alternatives?

 

Cease obsessing about what your vehicle looks like from behind, or if it is for safety reasons use your sidelights as has been suggested.

9 minutes ago, BoxerBoy said:

Unlike some cars, the lamps turn off when you switch off, so no chance of running down the battery.

 

Until the day you leave the switch in the sidelight position, which for me took years off the life of my then new battery.

[barcudcoch]

Thanks for all the suggestions. @kodiaqsportline, @BoxerBoy

@J.R. Not obsessed, just trying to be safer. Appreciate the point about leaving the sidelights switched on as I usually leave them in auto headlight mode.

 

17 hours ago, Phutters said:

 

I've got the beta testing version. You can get old episodes of Hancock's Half Hour and The Goon Show on that 

😎

@Phutters Wow

[Routemaster1461]

17 hours ago, kodiaqsportline said:

 

"But that means the front sidelights as well as the DRL's are going... "

 

 

On many cars, including the Karoq, the DRLs act as the sidelights, so there are none to go on. Frequently the DRLs in sidelight mode are less bright than when acting as DRLs, however, as far as I can see the DRLs have only one intensity.

[BoxerBoy]

16 hours ago, J.R. said:

 

Cease obsessing about what your vehicle looks like from behind, or if it is for safety reasons use your sidelights as has been suggested.

 

Until the day you leave the switch in the sidelight position, which for me took years off the life of my then new battery.

On the odd occasion I choose to park with either side lights or left/right parking lamps I can rely on the car to let me know.

 

Slight digression - I did jump out of a car in a foreign airport when I worked abroad with lamps in On position, must have missed the feeble buzzer, then returned 2 or 3 days later to a dead car. Very inconvenient. 

[J.R.]

Yes, I am at a loss to explain how I was not warned by the buzzer, I think it may have been because I left the keys in the ignition (switched off but not removed) during the afternoon before finally removing them and locking the vehicle.

 

I can't miss my buzzer.

 

Another possibility is that I switched them on for some reason after removing the key or switched from headlights (which would have been off) to sidelights.

 

Another of lifes mysterys.

[Routemaster1461]

With the position of the switch, I find that I can knock it off my normal auto setting with my knee when getting into the car, particularly when my wife had been driving previously and had had the seat well forward.

[Gizmo]

On 03/02/2023 at 19:41, kodiaqsportline said:

Does it really matter? I used to own Volvo's where the sidelights were always on - nobody seemed to have a problem with that.

 

I suppose that depends on if it matters to you that the front rear of the car is always as visible as possible or not? 
By turning the sidelights on the DRL's then dim down to approx 50% brightness.

 

On 03/02/2023 at 20:49, BoxerBoy said:

Through winter I just leave the main lamp switch in the ON position in our Kodiaq & Polo.

 

Unlike some cars, the lamps turn off when you switch off, so no chance of running down the battery.

 

Love it.

 

 

As above the only issue with this is by turning the sidelights on the DRL's then dim down to approx 50% brightness.

 

 

On 03/02/2023 at 20:59, J.R. said:

 

Cease obsessing about what your vehicle looks like from behind, or if it is for safety reasons use your sidelights as has been suggested.

 

Until the day you leave the switch in the sidelight position, which for me took years off the life of my then new battery.

 

But this way you have increased the rear visibility but only by decreasing the front visibility.

 

To answer the question, yes the rear sidelights can be coded to come on with the front DRL's (at the full brightness).
The cheapest way for this is to find someone with VCDS and give them a 'drink' for coding them.

 

 

[Ootohere]

Those 'brighter than just as sidelights' DRL's are Daytime / Daylight Running lights for road users pedestrians to see a vehicle coming towards them Daytime, even in the sunshine.

 

So location location location the length of the UK in winter and maybe daytime / daylight in Winter.

Maybe Sidelights front and rear are enough if the visibility is not poor enough for Dipped Headlights and the rear side /position lights to be on. 

No need for the very bright DRL's that many have on yet no rear lights.

 

I liked my Volvo's Dim Dip headlights.

Loathed the Fabia Mk2 vRS DRL / Sidelight units that many including Police officers thought were Fog Lights as that was their positioning and Skoda never offered them with front Fog Lights yet websites showed they had them and salespeople would argue they had.

MOT testers still fail Mk2 Fabia vRS for no 'Sidelight / Position' lights.

 

Edited 18 February, 2023 by toot

[Routemaster1461]

 

'As above the only issue with this is by turning the sidelights on the DRL's then dim down to approx 50% brightness.'

 

This isn't necessarily true. When this first came to my attention I tried my Karoq (Edition with LED lights) and the DRLKs do not dim when switching to sidelights. You do get the rear lights on, but unfortunately you have lost the auto function.

 

The way DRLs and sidelights work differ with cars from the same manufacturer. One car I had, the DRLs dimmed as sidelights, and on our other car the DRLs go out and a separate pair of sidelights come on. In this case the rear lights are actually on with DRLs so the rears are on all the time.

[Ootohere]

Edited 18 February, 2023 by toot

[kodiaqsportline]

I'm just loving this sidelights are better because they're 50% brighter. It's style over substance in my book.

 

1. many older cars don't have DRL's - is that a problem?

2. Sidelights are perfectly visable, if not get your eyes tested.

 

but best of all

 

3. I wonder how many people say that 50% is better also have argued about brake lights ( when auto hold is engaged )' blinds them. There are many cars where oncoming DRL's momentarily blind me. The size of some DRLs is ridiculous. As I say, style over substance.

 

I'd also argue that in some cars, the design of DRL's is such that it's very difficult to see when a car is indicating simply because of their intensity. It's only quite recently they've recognised this and one DRLs dims or switches off completely when the indicator functions.

 

Back in the older days before I had Volvo's I used to drive with my side lights on which for some obscure reason used to upset some people...  they argued it binded them, armchair experts said it drained the battery and caused less MPG ( yes really...  that's what they said ! )   Oh how times and opinions have changed. 🤣

[Skyl1n3]

This is one of the first things I had a go at when I got my Karoq, I’ve used Carista for years and took it for a spin in the Karoq, I found ‘Scandinavian Mode’ and activated it and it did what I wanted (activated rear running light’s permanently) but the downside is that the LED headlights are also permanently on which I didn’t like the idea of so I disabled it again.

[RCC49]

I used OBDEleven to activate Scandinavian DRLs, and I can report that the headlights are not permanently on.  They only come on when the ambient light level drops sufficiently.

[Skyl1n3]

On 21/02/2023 at 16:40, RCC49 said:

I used OBDEleven to activate Scandinavian DRLs, and I can report that the headlights are not permanently on.  They only come on when the ambient light level drops sufficiently.

Hmm, I may have to test during brighter hours, if that’s the case I’ll gladly enable it again.

 

Do you just leave your headlights in Auto?

Edited 22 February, 2023 by Skyl1n3

[RCC49]

14 hours ago, Skyl1n3 said:

Hmm, I may have to test during brighter hours, if that’s the case I’ll gladly enable it again.

 

Do you just leave your headlights in Auto?

Yes, I do.