Vagcom tweak -- emergency flashing brake lights

[dbonyad]

Hi,

I have a 2009 Audi A4. I have performed many of the Vagcom tweaks available (I have my own kit). Every single one of them works absolutely great, and every change I make is instantly effective.

The only problem I'm having is with the emergency braking tweak. I think this is an important feature for safety reasons but I can't get it to work. In Vagcom I have enabled BOTH the flashing brake light and hazard light activation on heavy braking.

Over the past months there have been a few situations where I've had to perform very heavy (emergency) brakes -- that is as much force to the pedal that I can physically apply. These have been at a variety of speeds.

In none of these situations have the hazard lamps activated (you can see on the mirrors whether they are on). Obviously I can't see the brake lamps but I assume these are constant and not flashing if the hazard lamps aren't activated.

Does anybody know:

Why these are not working? Is there something extra I need to do decide tick the two boxes in the Vagcom software?
Is there a certain speed range where this feature becomes active?
Have any of you managed to get this feature to activate?

Thanks a lot for any advice,
Davood

[ScottyUK]

You're not alone. Many (including me) have activated it without it working :(

[dbonyad]

I really don't know why Audi don't make this the default mode on cars sold in regions where this is legal.

Has anybody had any success activating this feature? Any ideas on what we could try to enable it?

Thanks

[phil miller]

A while ago i saw a mk6 astra at lights with the brake lights flashing, at the time i thought what a great idea and posted up on here asking if it was poss to do on a mk5, i dont know why you cant get it to work but if you do or someone knows how please post it up as i think it would be a great safety feature

[dbonyad]

I'm not sure about that car but I thought I read that the hardware on the B8 A4 was capable of this.

Anyone?

[MFGF]

Is it worth setting just one of the two options (either hazards OR flashing brakelights) to see if they work in isolation? I'm just wondering whether having both bits set may not be appropriate?

MF.

[kite]

I drove a car with the emergency flashing lights on an experience day.
You would be amazed how hard you had to brake to get the lights to flash
....

[ScottyUK]

When I tested mine the ABS came on on dry roads so I think it was hard enough. ;)

[dbonyad]

I've never tried setting the options in isolation, so I will have a go when I get chance.

Scotty, have you tried this?

With regard to the braking force, it is possible to apply 100% braking force by just pressing the brake pedal as fast and as hard as possible. There is no way to apply a more intensive braking force than this. If that doesn't activate the lights then nothing will.

[ScottyUK]

I toggled both bits together and not one by one.

Be interested to see your results :beerchug:

[Zafi]

Over the past months there have been a few situations where I've had to perform very heavy (emergency) brakes -- that is as much force to the pedal that I can physically apply. These have been at a variety of speeds.

May I suggest that you should look further ahead, further than the display on your Vagcom unit ;)

[dbonyad]

I'm working away with a courtesy car at the moment but as soon as I get back I'll give it a try and let you know.

Has anybody tried this already? Please post if anybody has had any success with this feature by any method.

[Bratty]

Is "emergency braking" not applying the electronic hand-brake and holding it up?

That might not get your lights flashing but it WILL! get something else to move very quckly;).

Dunk

[dbonyad]

Is "emergency braking" not applying the electronic hand-brake and holding it up?

That might not get your lights flashing but it WILL! get something else to move very quckly;).

Dunk

We're talking about the footbrake only.

[Bratty]

Are you sure?

I do not know:confused: and can only hope that you achieve your end goal!

Do the Spams not have flashing brakes:confused:, sometimes.

Dunk

[dbonyad]

Are you sure?

I do not know:confused: and can only hope that you achieve your end goal!

Do the Spams not have flashing brakes:confused:, sometimes.

Dunk

What are Spams?

[dbonyad]

I have tried the setting mentioned above (hazard and brake light flashing in isolation) but it unfortunately did not work. The lights still don't activate when emergency braking.

I'm sure I've read before people on the forum with this same car that have hazard light flashing during heavy braking. How did you do it? Was it enabled by default from the factory?

Thanks

[ScottyUK]

Thanks for trying them in isolation.

It seems it's on for some markets and not others. I don't know anyone who's got it working.

[dbonyad]

So the car must have the hardware ability to do this then?

[kite]

A few yrs ago I drove an S6 with this mod @ Silverstone experience day.
We done an emergency braking exercise and was judged on wether the flashing brake lights came on or not.
I think i managed to get the lights to flash once in 6 stops.
I think it works out how quick you come off the throttle and how quick your on the brakes.
It was bloody hard to get them to flash..

[ru55]

I have also done the Audi driving experience at Silverstone and getting the hazards to flash was one of the tests in a 3.2 TT, I recall. I would agree that it was pretty difficult and needed the brake pedal to be hit as hard as possible and then not everyone was successful. Being really aggressive was made easier when it was not your car!:biglaugh: Not tried it my A4 yet .....

[Plife]

Works fine on mine. I only set the hazard lights and braked hard using the foot brake only and hazards came on as expected. Was doing about 60 at the time. :biglaugh:

[legendamongus]

Works fine on mine. I only set the hazard lights and braked hard using the foot brake only and hazards came on as expected. Was doing about 60 at the time. :biglaugh:

Maybe it only works above a certain speed? Can't really see much use for it low speeds.

[dbonyad]

Works fine on mine. I only set the hazard lights and braked hard using the foot brake only and hazards came on as expected. Was doing about 60 at the time. :biglaugh:

Do you have an A4 B8? Did you have to press the brake as hard as you possibly could at 60mph?

Did the hazards go off automatically when you stopped, or did you have to manually switch them off with the button?

Thanks a lot.

[Plife]

Do you have an A4 B8? Did you have to press the brake as hard as you possibly could at 60mph?

Did the hazards go off automatically when you stopped, or did you have to manually switch them off with the button?

Thanks a lot.
Yes I have a B8 bought in Dec 08. I did an emergency stop so pressed as hard as I could. Once stopped I had to turn the hazards off with the button.

[dbonyad]

Did you turn on the feature yourself using vagcom?

Did you activate both brake light flash and hazard light flash simultaneously, or just the hazard light setting alone?

[Plife]

Did you turn on the feature yourself using vagcom?

Did you activate both brake light flash and hazard light flash simultaneously, or just the hazard light setting alone?
Yes activated myself uisng VCDS and have just ticked the hazard light flash box. Here is my coding

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2487/3757513859_62ea669c82.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/23526509@N05/3757513859/)
Emergency Brake lights (http://www.flickr.com/photos/23526509@N05/3757513859/) by P.Life (http://www.flickr.com/people/23526509@N05/), on Flickr

[dbonyad]

Thanks. Maybe the rest of us will have to perform a more intensive braking manoeuvre to observe this.

[theblacksurge]

An emergency stop at 35mph did it for me, and the hazards continued to flash 3 or 4 times after coming to a halt , but went off by themselves.

[dbonyad]

An emergency stop at 35mph did it for me, and the hazards continued to flash 3 or 4 times after coming to a halt , but went off by themselves.

Did you enable both hazard flash and brake light flash together, or just hazard flash?

Thanks

[theblacksurge]

Did you enable both hazard flash and brake light flash together, or just hazard flash?

Thanks


At that point I had only enabled the hazards, I've since changed it to brake flash only, but as yet I don't know if it works.

[dbonyad]

So it's true that nobody has had success with both options enabled? I'd like to hear if someone has had success with both boxes ticked because this is the option I'd prefer to leave on my car for maximum safety.

[ScottyUK]

I had both on and as expected it didn't work.

I just turned off brakes lights and it still didn't work :aargh4:

I was on cruise at 45mph and I did a full blown stomp on the brakes.

I wondering if it could be either :

[1] on 6MT cars, whether the clutch is up or down (doubtful but possible)
[2] if it's triggered by an accelerometer. Today it's drizzly and it took a while to stop. Perhaps thats not enough to raise the signal. If true then of course it's not worth having as it's always ******* raining!!

So I'm still no further forward. :(

[Plife]

As mine is working I will conduct a few tests when I get a chance and share the results.

[dbonyad]

That would be great thanks. It seems that it only ever works if a single setting is enabled.

[dbonyad]

Does anyone have any updates?

I've been trying to trigger the system but still haven't had any success so far...

[theblacksurge]

No Luck, I've found that the flashing hazards work fine but if you set it to the brake lights alone, thumping on the brakes does nothing other than leaving a fault code.

The fault code states 'Emergency Flashing Warning Lamps Malfunction' or words to that effect.

[dbonyad]

No Luck, I've found that the flashing hazards work fine but if you set it to the brake lights alone, thumping on the brakes does nothing other than leaving a fault code.

The fault code states 'Emergency Flashing Warning Lamps Malfunction' or words to that effect.

That's very interesting. So the brake lights don't seem to have the ability to flash. Do the hazards work with the brake lamp setting enabled? Or does enabling this setting stop even the hazards from flashing?