Odd brake light question...

[SteveDinz]

Firstly, hello all!

I have been driving my new (3 month old but 'new' to me) A4 Avant S-Line Special Edition for two weeks, and I absolutely love it! But, I have an odd question...

When I brake, the middle row of LED's are activated. But, I have seen other B8's which utilise the outer LED's when braking. Why the difference? Can anyone shed any light on it? (pardon the pun :p)

Thanks, Steve.

[Guest 2]

Congrats getting the new car! I love those little A4s :)

As for your question, the braking behaviour can be changed using vcds an that's probably why you're seeing differences as owners have changed the setup :)

See this - http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=69276

[SteveDinz]

Congrats getting the new car! I love those little A4s :)

It doesn't feel little at the moment, i'm sure i'll get used to it eventually :)

Thanks for the info, I had a feeling it would be something that can be changed using the VAGCOM (or whatever it's called). I might have a word with my local dealer when I take the car in for it's first service as I prefer the 'outer' LED's as brake lights rather than the middle strip of LED's. I'm sure they'll want to charge me a fortune for the privilege!

[legendamongus]

The saloon and Avant models have different rear light setups don't they? I've noticed the same 'filling in' of LEDs that you describe on Avant models but my saloon only uses the ring of LEDs as both rear lights and as brake lights. Is this what you mean?

[ScottyUK]

Did you buy from a dealer? If so they should get all the lights showing brakes without charge.

It may have been coded but it's unlikely. Very few people have played with the rear light module due to the access security code only recently coming to light.

Mine lights up both the middle row and the outers when braking (assumming the fogs are off).

I made a video a few months back for the guys in the US as we have different light clusters.

You can see how the brakes don't operate on the inner cluster when the fogs are on.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-xox-Cv0PQ

Maybe your issue us to do with whether the DRLs are active or not? I've coded my car so the tail lights are on whenever the front LEDs are on.

Are you only getting the middle line with the tail lights on and off?

It certainly doesn't seem right to me. You need more illumination to warn people you're braking.

The clusters are very complex and can be coded in many different ways.

You can see that they differ depending on the fog light so it could also be depending on tail lights etc. Do some tests and let us know what does what ... or do a video.

And just to show you what you can do, this is my car when I was playing with coding it to US standard i.e. the tail lights become turn signals. You could also have fogs as turns etc etc etc You can see that the brakes are only the middle line and with fogs on, just the outer middle line. Not really that safe. I've coded mine all back to normal now but added LED bulb turn signals.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwMSJkbrYTI

[SteveDinz]

The saloon and Avant models have different rear light setups don't they? I've noticed the same 'filling in' of LEDs that you describe on Avant models but my saloon only uses the ring of LEDs as both rear lights and as brake lights. Is this what you mean?

That is exactly what I meant. It appears that the Saloon and Avant have different lights - I never realised! It was a Saloon I saw that had the outer ring of LED's.


Did you buy from a dealer? If so they should get all the lights showing brakes without charge.

It may have been coded but it's unlikely. Very few people have played with the rear light module due to the access security code only recently coming to light.

Mine lights up both the middle row and the outers when braking (assumming the fogs are off).

Thanks Scotty, I wrongly assumed that the Saloon and Avant tail lights were exactly the same. My mistake!! I guess you live and learn :Blush:

[ScottyUK]

So do yours light the middle bar and the outer as per my first video?

Was it you was just looking at saloons - which (I think) don't use the middle bar?

As I said it's unlikely anyones changed the coding on your car. Even on an enthusiasts site like this, I'm probably the only one to play with it so far.

If that's the case then all's good :) unless you want to start coding changes and made the middle bar inactive or do the turn signal etc etc etc ..... :biglaugh:

[SteveDinz]

So do yours light the middle bar and the outer as per my first video?

Was it you was just looking at saloons - which (I think) don't use the middle bar?

As I said it's unlikely anyones changed the coding on your car. Even on an enthusiasts site like this, I'm probably the only one to play with it so far.

If that's the case then all's good :) unless you want to start coding changes and made the middle bar inactive or do the turn signal etc etc etc ..... :biglaugh:

My Avant lights both inner and outer LED's, like the one in your first video, whereas the Saloon's that i've seen only light the outer LED's, I was assuming that Saloon and Avant both had the same tail lamp behaviour. I guess I don't really want to be messing around with any settings yet. All in good time :)