DRL charging - cheeky buggers

[robjones23]

I just booked my car in to get the DRL's turned off on a "while you wait" appointment.

They let me know that there will be a charge for this - £48.88! It's a lease vehicle with fees paid so I won't be stumping up any cash for it, the lease company will be, however I thought I should let you all know just in case you were thinking of getting it done.

Rob.

[arlurt]

Hi Rob,

Have you had the DRLs switched off now? All OK?

Mine was in a week ago, the DRLs are now off, but I've also lost coming-home-lights, and the autolights functions don't work.

Got back to the dealer who said that turning off DSL's also looses all the other lighting functions.

I then spoke to VW who said auto ligts should work but they'd investigate. Now been told by VW that's just the way it is, and as a one off goodwill gesture they'll turn the DRL's back on if that's what I want...

Dealer were going to charge me £58 for the switch off and a courtesy car for the day, but changed their mind when I got there.

[robjones23]

Hmm... it's getting done on Monday next week. Interesting that they've said you lose the auto lights etc....

Others on here have had it done but I've not seen reports of this before.

Can anyone confirm? do you lose the auto lights?

rob.

[drnick]

you don't lose auto lights, they're just trying to put you off. Cheeky buggers, they should remember it's your property now, not theirs!

[wigit]

drls are off and auto lights work a treat

[robjones23]

Thanks guys, it'll help for Monday.... I can see my dealer being a pain, already had bad experiences with them....

[arlurt]

Hi drnick!

Let me know how you get on...

If yours come out OK I can have a ride over to your dealer and see if they get on any better than mine here in North Yorks.

[ryancooke]

yeah, my drl's are off aswel (looked crap compaired with the xenons) and the auto lights work fine aswel

[robjones23]

**sigh**

I took the car in, sat around for an hour then the service dept advisor came over to let me know that they have to send some data on my car to VW so they can send the "codes". Each DRL switchoff is specific to each car apparantly.... I smell BS but I now have to wait for them to call me to let me know when I can bring the car back in again.... likely for another hour of waiting around.

VW service is nowhere near as decent as the Audi Service I had with my TT...

[arlurt]

Welcome to the wonderful world of VW DRL switch off...

Mine are switched off, along with all of the Auto Lights functions, thanks VW. But they have offered to switch the DRLs back on to recover Coming Home lights. No deal thank you....

[prometheus]

The specific code thing is real I think, my dealer supplies all of our company cars and is really up front about that kind of thing; he said he had to get a code from VW for mine. Have to say though that my other lighting functions are working fine.

[Atlantis]

Got my Scirocco today with the DRL's disabled. My auto lights work fine and so does the leaving home function. For coming home I have to flash the lights before getting out of the car for them to activate (which is a bit of a pain). Don't understand why these don't just work automatically when you turn off the engine like they did on my MK5 GTi. Gonna have a read of the manual in a sec to see what it says

[easybreeze]

I think this is in the convenience menu... well, on/off is there anyway - mine is the same as yours (as long as it's dark), but I have no need for it so not tried to get it working.

[true]

I've managed to switch my DRLs from the headlight to the sidelight using VAG-COM. Kind of defeats the purpose of DRLs in the first place (a bright noticeable light!) but for those of you that don't like the DRLs this might be an option? Auto lights and coming/leaving home all still work, although coming/leaving home is a bit temperamental!

[robjones23]

It gets WORSE!

Just had a call from the dealer - they said that VW had got back to them to say that changes to EU legislation mean that by 2011 all new cars will have DRLs and they advise that the DRLs should be left on as they cannot be taken off.

Told her that the law applies to new vehicles, not current ones so I wouldn't ask to get them turned back on again anyway and that I wanted them taking off. It's annoying because I know full well that you can turn them back on again.... What a load of nonsense... it's things like this that really annoy me.

So now shes... "going to go back to VW to tell them" .... *more* waiting.....

[true]

It gets WORSE!

Just had a call from the dealer - they said that VW had got back to them to say that changes to EU legislation mean that by 2011 all new cars will have DRLs and they advise that the DRLs should be left on as they cannot be taken off.

Told her that the law applies to new vehicles, not current ones so I wouldn't ask to get them turned back on again anyway and that I wanted them taking off. It's annoying because I know full well that you can turn them back on again.... What a load of nonsense... it's things like this that really annoy me.

So now shes... "going to go back to VW to tell them" .... *more* waiting.....

Have you tried the deactivation process as described in the handbook? (indicate left + flash main beam + turn ignition... or something, need to check) Apparently this works with the Mk6 Golf.

[robjones23]

Of course It doesn't work - the handbook is useless too, on the same page as those instructions it says that deactivating the DRL's must be done at the garage...

[true]

Of course It doesn't work - the handbook is useless too, on the same page as those instructions it says that deactivating the DRL's must be done at the garage...

Yeah I noticed that too - the handbook is useless! Just thought it might be worth a shot seeing as it works in the Mk6.

[JohnC]

Still waiting for my car, in the meantime I came across the following article concerning other VW's, suggesting that the DRL's are controlled by a relay.

Unplug/adapt the relay and they don't come on, which makes some sense to me.... are the relay functions listed in the manual?


http://www.infive.com/NB.drls.html

[robjones23]

AAARRGHHH!!!

I just had an answerphone message from the dealer - they say that VW have come back to advise that the "PTI" (could be something else the sound wasn't clear) states that no after-factory modifications can be made so VW are refusing to send them the info they want to take off the DRL's. She said my only route now is through VW customer care.

I'm waiting for a call back for confirmation of what it is that states they cannot make chages to the DRL's, I'll also mention that I know other dealers are doing the switchoff.

This is rubbish..... Is there anyone in the manchester area with a VAG-COM that I can come and see to get this done?