Good Evening Folks, Hope someone can help with how the front lighting works on a MK 2 late 2024 car i have searched this site and the worse than useless hand book. What i would like to know is how can i have side lights only? When i start driving the car it is switched to auto on the light switch the headlamps come on all the time {broad daylight conditions} despite trying to turn them off at the switch. My previous 2023 Superb did exactly what i would have expected during daylight the front sidelight would illuminate, at night it would bring on tail lights and headlamps Can anyone advise how this can be done on the Kodiaq?

Thanks in advance

Beetee

What do you mean by sidelights. On UK srec cars, you have DRLs and on 'sidelight' setting (one place on from auto on the rotary switch) the DRLs should be on but at reduced brightness with the tail lights on. There are no separate sidelights.

Hi Routmaster,

I understand that the DRLs function as sidelights however the issue i have is that i am unable to turn the headlamps off. What i mean is i cannot have DRLs only. This is a 2024 MK2 car with a push switch not the rotary used in the Mk1.

So my orginal question still stands how do i get sidelights or for the modern genertaion DRLs only without the headlamps also being on. In my previous superb all that was required was to turn the rotary switch to AUTO. If i do that in the Kodiaq the front of the car looks like a Christmas tree.

Surely it looks like a car with sidelights and dipped headlights. Scotland / January,. More should have that on IMHO.

Evolution 13

Yip its January and Scotland but we do get bright sun on occasion and i hate all these lights its not a 44t Volvo FH16 its a car

The DRL,s are brighter in the Sunlight. Day light / Daytime running lights. That is the point of those. To be in good light / sun light. Side / Position lights / dipped headlights on never bothered anyone did they? Maybe they do you! Hopefully someone can assist you in finding the choices the car has available.

Edited 5 January5 Jan by Evolution13

Thanks for that waste of time

I can't comment for certain on why your headlights are on all the time in Auto, but as far as driving on sidelights, not DRL is concerned, the car doesn't allow it.

If you set the light switch to Off or Sidelights then shortly after driving off it will jump to Auto. Your light switch isn't rotary, you press on it to cycle through the options. Is there a possibility you have set it to Headlights in error ?

The UK MOT requires the Sidelights front and rear to operate without the headlights being on.

Stewart M,

Thanks for this yes the switch is set to Auto however as soon as the car starts the front lights up like Xmas tree all lights on. Now this might suit some folk but as a tight Scotsman and professional engineer i see absolutley no reason for this! Think lamp replace yes i know they are LED but if these are on all the time the car is in use it wont take long for them to fail, yes i know the life expectancy of LEDs however in the real world they fail much sooner so now you can no longer stick in a new lamp (bulb for the non technical) its a new unit at somewhere in the region of between £1k&£2k replacement lamp £10/15

Evolution13

Where in the tester manual do it say they must be on without the headlmps?

@BeeTee You are right, the manual now has that the Headlights can act as Position Lights / Sidelights.

Have you tried adjusting the Light Sensor Sensitivity? (Picture is from a Superb but the system is much the same.)

Maybe it's just me, but everywhere I look, these lights are rated for at least 20k hours, so should outlive the vehicle. Isn't this to much concern for soething that will surely break after many other things?

Hi Koditzadispater,

I know all the blurb about LED lamps but as a professional engineer i take all this with a shovel full of salt. I have led lamps (Philips) in my kitchen which are less than a year old and are failing at significantly less than 20,000 hours lets assume they are in use 4 hours per day every day 365x4 =1460hours now perhaps you can see where i am coming from.

Hi Cedwing,

No i have not tried this but will do so now and let you know

Thanks for the advice

Beetee

3 minutes ago, BeeTee said:

Hi Koditzadispater,

I know all the blurb about LED lamps but as a professional engineer i take all this with a shovel full of salt. I have led lamps (Philips) in my kitchen which are less than a year old and are failing at significantly less than 20,000 hours lets assume they are in use 4 hours per day every day 365x4 =1460hours now perhaps you can see where i am coming from.

Yes, I know, and probably all of us take these things with more than a grain of salt. however, this does not pop up in the discussions anywhere, so the customer feedback supports the claim. Personally, I had a Hyundai Tucson for 7 years with LED DRL and nothing failed, and those were lit all the time.

If this is not a legal issue, you can chack if an OBD will allow you to change this setting, that is all I can think of, so you can avoid having the light on when you don't want them.

Hi Koditzdispater,

While this does not appear at the moment I would prefer not to be the first with the issue. These lamps i can bet will not be cheap to replace, my CLS Merc had to have a replacement lamp 13 years ago when only 18 months old and that was just shy of £4000

Perhaps now you will understand why i want the lights working as i believe they should DRLs only not all front lamps.