Dashboard Lights Dimming

[GeoGeegeVW]

This is a bit of a saga, I'm afraid. I hope people will bear with it.

My car is a Passat Highline 2.0 TDI, bought in May 2013.

It's my third Passat. I like all the new technology in the car and was really enjoying 

driving it, but VW seem to have messed up with the auto-dimming of the instrument panel 

lighting. Actually I hadn't even noticed this "feature" until early September when it 

suddenly became very apparent, annoying and maybe even dangerous. I always drive with 

the side/headlights control switch in the AUTO position so the headlights turn on if 

ambient light level gets low. The car also has separate daytime running lights, by the 

way. If I drive into a long stretch of road with overhanging trees casting deep shade I 

would expect the AUTO lights function to turn on the headlights. It always used to work 

that way on my previous Passats. What happens now is that the instrument panel lighting 

starts to dim, going quite dark before the headlights turn on, if they actually do so, 

which they don't always. Most worrying are the times when the dashboard lighting dims 

all the way to off - no light on the instruments, driver cannot even read the 

speedometer. I have had this happen for periods of twenty to thirty seconds before the 

headlights have turned themselves on, at which point the instrument panel also gets 

re-illuminated. I had driven the car for four months before experiencing this effect, so 

I assumed something had gone wrong and telephoned my retailer. They said they had 

received a number of complaints about the dimming instrument lights, and not only on 

Passats. They have a technical note issued by VW saying this is not a fault, it's a 

feature, do NOT attempt to fix it. This is a deliberate design intended to alert the 

driver to low ambient light levels and prompt him/her to switch on the headlights. You 

can imagine how I reacted. The retailer would not do anything and suggested I call VW 

Customer Services, which I did. They were also of a mind to do nothing so I said I 

wished to raise a formal complaint, which duly happened and I got a "case number". Back 

to the retailer, now willing to see me and the car because they have a "case number" to 

deal with. To support my argument that something was wrong I prepared a 6-minute DVD 

showing the dashboard dimming effects and the inconsistency of the on/off switching by 

the AUTO lights setting. The technician did not want to watch that, requiring an actual 

test drive instead. OK, that's sort of understandable, I suppose. On the test drive, of 

course, we saw the dimming effect, but never all the way to blackout. Fortunately, we 

did see inconsistency in the switching on/off of the headlights, including times when 

the lights were on but clearly should be off. This was enough for the retailer to agree 

to book in the car for a proper check. It was explained to me that under the warranty 

all they could do was run VW-specified diagnostics because they wouldn't get paid by VW 

for anything else. Guess what, according to the VW diagnostics procedures - nothing 

wrong. Fortunately, again, two people at the retailer's had observed the inconsistent 

AUTO switching, so in spite of the diagnostics failure they offered to order a new 

rain/light sensors unit for the windscreen, this being, apparently, the cheapest 

possible component to replace, albeit, none in UK and 10 days to get one from Germany. 

Not so fortunately, after that diagnostics work the Coming-Home feature on the lights no 

longer works. It was fine before (and, yes, it is enabled in the MFD settings).

In the meantime I had been wondering what was going on at VW Customer Services. I had 

been told I would get a telephone call from the case handler. I didn't, but there was 

eventually an email from a Customer Relations Manager, who (benefit of the doubt) may 

have been having trouble with my ancient one-digit-short telephone number,asking me to 

call or send email. I sent an email detailing the situation and got no response for 9 

days, so I telephoned, left a message, missed a call-back, called again - you know how 

it goes. This person was not really interested in my stance that it was unacceptable and 

unbelievable that VW would build a vehicle with an AUTO lights control feature and then 

over-ride that with an independent, unlinked feature to prompt the driver to operate the 

lights manually. My focus was on getting VW to provide the best technical aid to the 

retailer to sort out my problem. VW Customer Relations Manager focus was to "close the 

case because there is no fault". However, since in addition the car now has the fault 

that the Coming-Home function has failed, the case has been left open. I am now waiting 

to see if, when I get the call from the retailer, they will still be on track for trying 

to fix the original problem or will have been ordered only to fix the Coming-Home issue.

Am I the only person who thinks VW have got the design of the lights controls 

all messed up here and just do not want to admit it?

[Volkswagen Owners Club]

 

This is a bit of a saga, I'm afraid. I hope people will bear with it.

My car is a Passat Highline 2.0 TDI, bought in May 2013.

It's my third Passat. I like all the new technology in the car and was really enjoying 

driving it, but VW seem to have messed up with the auto-dimming of the instrument panel 

lighting. Actually I hadn't even noticed this "feature" until early September when it 

suddenly became very apparent, annoying and maybe even dangerous. I always drive with 

the side/headlights control switch in the AUTO position so the headlights turn on if 

ambient light level gets low. The car also has separate daytime running lights, by the 

way. If I drive into a long stretch of road with overhanging trees casting deep shade I 

would expect the AUTO lights function to turn on the headlights. It always used to work 

that way on my previous Passats. What happens now is that the instrument panel lighting 

starts to dim, going quite dark before the headlights turn on, if they actually do so, 

which they don't always. Most worrying are the times when the dashboard lighting dims 

all the way to off - no light on the instruments, driver cannot even read the 

speedometer. I have had this happen for periods of twenty to thirty seconds before the 

headlights have turned themselves on, at which point the instrument panel also gets 

re-illuminated. I had driven the car for four months before experiencing this effect, so 

I assumed something had gone wrong and telephoned my retailer. They said they had 

received a number of complaints about the dimming instrument lights, and not only on 

Passats. They have a technical note issued by VW saying this is not a fault, it's a 

feature, do NOT attempt to fix it. This is a deliberate design intended to alert the 

driver to low ambient light levels and prompt him/her to switch on the headlights. You 

can imagine how I reacted. The retailer would not do anything and suggested I call VW 

Customer Services, which I did. They were also of a mind to do nothing so I said I 

wished to raise a formal complaint, which duly happened and I got a "case number". Back 

to the retailer, now willing to see me and the car because they have a "case number" to 

deal with. To support my argument that something was wrong I prepared a 6-minute DVD 

showing the dashboard dimming effects and the inconsistency of the on/off switching by 

the AUTO lights setting. The technician did not want to watch that, requiring an actual 

test drive instead. OK, that's sort of understandable, I suppose. On the test drive, of 

course, we saw the dimming effect, but never all the way to blackout. Fortunately, we 

did see inconsistency in the switching on/off of the headlights, including times when 

the lights were on but clearly should be off. This was enough for the retailer to agree 

to book in the car for a proper check. It was explained to me that under the warranty 

all they could do was run VW-specified diagnostics because they wouldn't get paid by VW 

for anything else. Guess what, according to the VW diagnostics procedures - nothing 

wrong. Fortunately, again, two people at the retailer's had observed the inconsistent 

AUTO switching, so in spite of the diagnostics failure they offered to order a new 

rain/light sensors unit for the windscreen, this being, apparently, the cheapest 

possible component to replace, albeit, none in UK and 10 days to get one from Germany. 

Not so fortunately, after that diagnostics work the Coming-Home feature on the lights no 

longer works. It was fine before (and, yes, it is enabled in the MFD settings).

In the meantime I had been wondering what was going on at VW Customer Services. I had 

been told I would get a telephone call from the case handler. I didn't, but there was 

eventually an email from a Customer Relations Manager, who (benefit of the doubt) may 

have been having trouble with my ancient one-digit-short telephone number,asking me to 

call or send email. I sent an email detailing the situation and got no response for 9 

days, so I telephoned, left a message, missed a call-back, called again - you know how 

it goes. This person was not really interested in my stance that it was unacceptable and 

unbelievable that VW would build a vehicle with an AUTO lights control feature and then 

over-ride that with an independent, unlinked feature to prompt the driver to operate the 

lights manually. My focus was on getting VW to provide the best technical aid to the 

retailer to sort out my problem. VW Customer Relations Manager focus was to "close the 

case because there is no fault". However, since in addition the car now has the fault 

that the Coming-Home function has failed, the case has been left open. I am now waiting 

to see if, when I get the call from the retailer, they will still be on track for trying 

to fix the original problem or will have been ordered only to fix the Coming-Home issue.

Am I the only person who thinks VW have got the design of the lights controls 

all messed up here and just do not want to admit it?

 

 

Welcome to the club by the way! Sounds like VW really messed up this one! Any luck sorting it?

[GeoGeegeVW]

Update on this topic.  The retailer fitted a new sensor module (the twilight and rain sensor unit on the windscreen behind the mirror).  Coming Home function working OK.  Dashboard lights dimming is STILL happening and STILL needlessly going too dark at times for my liking, but it has not gone to complete blackout since the sensors were changed. I think the headlights are OK now, i.e. I haven't noticed them ON when they should be OFF, but that's actually quite difficult to tell unless you happen to come to a stop close behind another vehicle and can see which lights are reflected there (daytime running, or headlights or both).  I have continued to hassle VW Customer Services about the dimming "feature" being disconnected from the AUTO function and there apparently being no way to calibrate it. The Customer Relationships Manager, I think, did not understand when I queried why there was not a defined light level ( x lumens) at which the dashboard dimming should start and another (y lumens) at which the AUTO should turn on the headlights, with x and y being closely coordinated and testable/controllable in some way by VW technicians. Anyway, I thought, as long as it doesn't go completely blackout I may just have to live with it.  Since the central, small MFD display always stays bright and includes the "alternate speed" I can at least see that, even if the main speedo dial does blackout. It would be better if I could change the MFD setting from Kilometres to miles, which the Owner's manual says I can do. Actually I can't - the relevant MFD menu item described in the manual is not there. Another difference from my old Passat. The VW Customer Services person just pointed me to the disclaimer in the manual which says VW may change the specifications at any time and the manual may not fully reflect the features of my car.   Likewise no response to this question -"In three years time when the car has to have its first MOT, if the dashboard lights go so dim that the examiner cannot read the speedo, will he fail the car?"

I have been wondering whether to spend some money on the VW erWin site and see if there is complete information about my car on that.

Has anybody used erWin?  Is it worth the money?

[Volkswagen Owners Club]

Interesting thoughts about the MOT. I guess if it's a major problem come this time then VW may be forced to come up with some sort of fix. After all they can't have all their cars failing their first MOT's due to a manufacturer fault. That would be kind of embarrassing for them! Haven't tried the erWin site though I'm afraid!