Obscure Features

[Jakeys]

I just found out the bottom of the rear seat in my R36 wagon slides forwards and up so the rear seats fold completely flat. This has blooown my mind, have had the car for a year and a half and moved house using it without knowing this. So I wondered what else I had missed and figured it might make a good idea for a thread. What weird VW features have you discovered in the course of owning your Passat?

[kamold]

Will have to check that, haven't ever tried.
There is a button to the right of the driver's seat, on the B pillar, with a picture of an airbag or something on it.
It is illuminated.
I have no idea what it is for, haven't looked in the manual yet.

[Jakeys]

Will have to check that, haven't ever tried.
There is a button to the right of the driver's seat, on the B pillar, with a picture of an airbag or something on it.
It is illuminated.
I have no idea what it is for, haven't looked in the manual yet.

Yep in hindsight it's obvious, there are visible black pull tabs on the front of the seats. I have seen them but sorta didn't think much of it at the time I guessed it was to aid in trim removal for maintenance or something. I assume this is wagon only but all wagons would do it. I have to vacuum there now because it had gum wrappers and stuff from the previous owner under the seats, haha.

On the button, I can help you! I found that but I looked it up in the manual. It disables your cabin motion sensors so if you have something moving in the car or your windows down, it will stop the alarm being tripped. You press it every time you get out and it occurs until you next unlock the car.

[kamold]

Cool thanks for bothering to RTFM for me !

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

[3C4M Guy]

One of my pet hates is leaving the car for a service and getting it back only to find the mechanic adjusted the side mirrors during a test drive. (I guess its' necessary for safety reasons) For years I adjusted each mirror back separately starting with the driver's side mirror. I had no idea until recently that there's a way of doing the passenger mirror first that will adjust both at the same time!

[Hillbilly]

Yep in hindsight it's obvious, there are visible black pull tabs on the front of the seats. I have seen them but sorta didn't think much of it at the time I guessed it was to aid in trim removal for maintenance or something. I assume this is wagon only but all wagons would do it. I have to vacuum there now because it had gum wrappers and stuff from the previous owner under the seats, haha.

On the button, I can help you! I found that but I looked it up in the manual. It disables your cabin motion sensors so if you have something moving in the car or your windows down, it will stop the alarm being tripped. You press it every time you get out and it occurs until you next unlock the car.

My Passat does that but you have to take the headrests off to get the seat backs right down to make the floor really flat. There is a way to place them though so they arent just lying around The manual if you choose to read it tells you how LOL

The length of the floor is that position is approx 1900mm

[Jakeys]

My Passat does that but you have to take the headrests off to get the seat backs right down to make the floor really flat. There is a way to place them though so they arent just lying around The manual if you choose to read it tells you how LOL

The length of the floor is that position is approx 1900mm

Yeah there are holes on the top of the seat bottom part to mount them. It's pretty genius, really.

[kleung]

I had no idea until recently that there's a way of doing the passenger mirror first that will adjust both at the same time!

Wait 'till you discover that not only can your mirrors remember their position, but you can also have them linked with your key, so when you press the 'unlock' button, your seats and your mirrors move to their preset positions. :)

Other cool stuff I like:

Self-adjusting perpetually backlit instruments
Two-speed auto mode on the climatronic
Cruise control set speed can be adjusted up or down in 1km/h or 10km/h increments
Self-parking wipers with one-touch service mode
Indicators that always do a full flash (ie even if it self-cancels halfway thruogh a flash, that flash completes.

[3C4M Guy]

Wait 'till you discover that not only can your mirrors remember their position, but you can also have them linked with your key, so when you press the 'unlock' button, your seats and your mirrors move to their preset positions. :)

Other cool stuff I like:

Self-adjusting perpetually backlit instruments
Two-speed auto mode on the climatronic
Cruise control set speed can be adjusted up or down in 1km/h or 10km/h increments
Self-parking wipers with one-touch service mode
Indicators that always do a full flash (ie even if it self-cancels halfway thruogh a flash, that flash completes.



Thanks for those tips kleung. Thanks also to Jakeys for starting this thread. The thread is a good idea.

I had the car years and was always frustrated that the Climatronic unit had to be switched on in order to get some fresh air flow. Some days you don't want heat or cooling - just nice filtered air from outside. I must have been bored enough to read the manual one day and discovered that pushing the lower right ECON button turns off the air con and allows fresh air from outside. A bit like a 60s car with a knob to pull called “VENT”!

[Jakeys]

Wait 'till you discover that not only can your mirrors remember their position, but you can also have them linked with your key, so when you press the 'unlock' button, your seats and your mirrors move to their preset positions. :)

Other cool stuff I like:

Self-adjusting perpetually backlit instruments
Two-speed auto mode on the climatronic
Cruise control set speed can be adjusted up or down in 1km/h or 10km/h increments
Self-parking wipers with one-touch service mode
Indicators that always do a full flash (ie even if it self-cancels halfway thruogh a flash, that flash completes.



What do you mean by self adjusting perpetually backlit instruments?

I know about all the rest. With the cruise control, initially I thought it sucked until I figured the 1km/h trick out. It's not obvious but once you learn it the whole thing is surprisingly intuitive. I scratched my paint first time I tried to wash the car because I lifted the wiper up and hit the bonnet with it. Read the manual and felt like a ****.

On the note of indicators, with the comfort indicating (Just tap it to make it flash three times) two cool things about that. One is if you want you can set it to be five times in VCDS if you have a cable, and two is if you comfort indicate again while it's doing it, it resets the timer for another three. So mid lane change you decide it's taking a bit long and you want to indicate more just tap it again. Not exciting but since it was brought up already, I figured I'd mention it.


Thanks for those tips kleung. Thanks also to Jakeys for starting this thread. The thread is a good idea.

I had the car years and was always frustrated that the Climatronic unit had to be switched on in order to get some fresh air flow. Some days you don't want heat or cooling - just nice filtered air from outside. I must have been bored enough to read the manual one day and discovered that pushing the lower right ECON button turns off the air con and allows fresh air from outside. A bit like a 60s car with a knob to pull called “VENT”!

Interesting. My MY10.5 doesn't work like this, if you just switch the whole system off with the OFF button, you still get air filtering in. I think you have to switch it off the face vents first before you turn the system off, but I could be wrong about that, it's been a while.

[Hillbilly]

Another thing i have done is when I open the door my seat slides back to make it easier to get out and when I get in and put the key in it slides up to normal position. My indicators are set on 5 and would prefer iton 3 or 4 actually.

[3C4M Guy]

On the note of indicators, with the comfort indicating (Just tap it to make it flash three times) two cool things about that. One is if you want you can set it to be five times in VCDS if you have a cable, and two is if you comfort indicate again while it's doing it, it resets the timer for another three. So mid lane change you decide it's taking a bit long and you want to indicate more just tap it again. Not exciting but since it was brought up already, I figured I'd mention it.



That's interesting about being able to use VCDS to change the comfort setting from 3 to 5 flashes. Also good to know you can reactivate for another 3. Generally I like the feature but just occasionally when I activate accidentally, I wish I could stop the flashing before it gets to 3.

[Jakeys]

Another thing i have done is when I open the door my seat slides back to make it easier to get out and when I get in and put the key in it slides up to normal position. My indicators are set on 5 and would prefer iton 3 or 4 actually.

Yeah, VCDS you can set it to 3, or maybe even in the convenience menu in the MFD, double check there too. And the door seat slide thing I also have activated with VCDS, as well as my windows and sunroof closing when it detects rain. (Unbelievable that isn't stock, guess they weren't convinced they could always rely on it.)

[kleung]

I had the car years and was always frustrated that the Climatronic unit had to be switched on in order to get some fresh air flow. Some days you don't want heat or cooling - just nice filtered air from outside. I must have been bored enough to read the manual one day and discovered that pushing the lower right ECON button turns off the air con and allows fresh air from outside. A bit like a 60s car with a knob to pull called “VENT”!

With the MY09 update (two dial climatronic), they went back to the standard AC button - I know the MkV Golfs and the early B6 Passats had the 'Econ' button instead of an 'AC' button, where the operation was reversed - light on = AC off.

I usually just leave my climatronic on fan speed 1, AC off, temp set to 'low', recirc on auto, and air flow either to face or floor+windscreen.


What do you mean by self adjusting perpetually backlit instruments?

Not sure about the early B6es, but the instrument cluster fitted to MY09+ B6es (white MFD) have dials that have variable automatic backlighting that operates even with the headlights off. If you are driving into the sunset in the late afternoon for example, the backlighting cranks right up to improve the contrast of the dials.

It's most noticeable when you go from a brightly lit environment into somewhere dark, like an underground car park - you can see the backlight on the dials fading out.

From memory they also light up dimly when you first turn the ignition on - again you can see this if you go to start the car in a dark environment without the headlight switch in the 'off' position.


With the cruise control, initially I thought it sucked until I figured the 1km/h trick out.

The +/-10km/h function is clever - the first push up or down rounds up or down to the nearest 10km/h increment, which is very handy when you're out on the open road and have to slow down from highway speeds as you pass through towns.

You can also preset the speed while the cruise control disengaged, so when you pull the lever for 'resume', it goes to whatever your new set speed is.


On the note of indicators, with the comfort indicating (Just tap it to make it flash three times) two cool things about that.

The full flash thing I mentioned works even if comfort indicators are disabled.


One is if you want you can set it to be five times in VCDS if you have a cable

That's a little uncool actually - I'm somewhat disappointed that VW didn't make that a menu item - Holden have managed to do this in the VF Commodore, but in the VW it's either on or off.


Interesting. My MY10.5 doesn't work like this, if you just switch the whole system off with the OFF button, you still get air filtering in. I think you have to switch it off the face vents first before you turn the system off, but I could be wrong about that, it's been a while.

When you press the 'off' button on climate control systems, I typically find that it simply turns the fan and AC off, and leaves everything else where it was - heater mixer flap position, air direction, recirc setting etc. So if you were getting warm air out of the vents when you pressed 'off', you'd still continue to get warm air, just without fan boost.

More clever stuff:

I've noticed is that the auto headlights are smart enough to know the difference between passing under a bridge, and going into a tunnel. It's still responsive enough so that my HIDs are on and warmed up by the time it gets dark enough in a tunnel for the headlights to make a difference, but they don't switch on every time I go under a bridge on the freeway. Lexus/Toyota, I'm looking at you.

They're also smart enough to recalibrate themselves to come on in lighter conditions during wet weather - I don't know the exact criteria, but as I understand it, if the headlights are in auto mode, they will come on if the wipers operate more than 5 times a minute, or something along those lines.

An emergency lock barrel is hidden under a cover on the driver's door handle, and is operated using the removable emergency key in the key cartridge. The same removable emergency key can be used as a lever to open the fuse box cover.

The radio can be operated even without the ignition on.

When you have the back seat squabs folded forward, you can attach the retractable vertical cargo blind to it, and there are slots in the roof lining to which you can hook the blind.

In terms of build quality - the body is assembled with laser seam welding (vs spot welding commonly used by other manufacturers), and the door hinges are forged steel (as opposed to pressed steel hinges). The B6 and B7 wagon's tailgates use pressed steel hinges, but starting from the B8, even the tailgate hinges are forged steel.

[Jakeys]

I tried quoting inline to your post but there's so much detail, it became a mess so I'll just chuck all my replies in and hope it makes sense.

Climatronic notes: I don't think the upgraded climatronic came in until MY10 or MY10.5? But the behaviour you're describing is accurate.

Instrument lighting: Not sure this is accurate. I have an MY10.5 with white MFD and mine doesn't have this feature. If it is sunset and I have my headlight switch to off, the dials will become unreadable until I turn the parkers on, when it then goes to whatever brightness I set with the brightness dial. The needles are always lit but the dials are not lit until I turn the parkers on and then they're just lit to where I tell them to be.

Cruise stuff: Agreed with everything you said, it's a great system. Same with the indicators, and the auto headlights not turning on instantly for tunnels, I think that must just be a timed delay. Good to know they work in unison with the wipers. All this little engineering, signs of a well designed car. On not being able to change the comfort indicator numbers in the MFD menu, double check, I could be wrong. I haven't adjusted any of those settings since I bought the car and the VCDS cable. Although I did turn two stage locking (Driver's door unlocks on first press remaining doors on second press) off when I got a girlfriend, haha. Cause I kept having to press it twice for her door to unlock.

Emergency lock and radio when car off I knew, although with the radio, you must use the head unit, the steering wheel controls won't work until ignition is on. I didn't think to use the key as a lever for the fuse box but surely that's a coincidence? Remember the car also comes with a screwdriver in the back as well with the tyre jacking tools.

Knew about the blind being able to be attached with the seats forward, didn't know about the welding stuff, that's cool.

I'll add some more details after all that great stuff from kleung. Did you know:

1. When you turn the car off or on, the fuel and temperature gauges no matter where they are always hit zero or their marks at the same time? So if your temp is at 90 but your fuel is at 100% and thus fuel gauge has twice as far to travel, it will move twice as quickly so they both hit zero at the same time. Blew my mind when I noticed, such a tiny feature that would have to have been coded meticulously by a programmer for such minimal gain.

2. On some cars, with VCDS, you can enable "Needle staging" on startup. It doesn't seem to be related to model year as my MY10.5 can't do it but someone else's on here they were able to enable. It is tied to the instrument cluster so if you replace that part, the new one may support it. See a video here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFC_Uqll7cM). Note also you can see my previous note about the needles working too, his fuel gauge moves way quicker so they both stop in unison.

3. If you have a trailer plugged in, auto tailgate disables itself and you have to manually lift the tailgate, so that it doesn't hit your trailer by accident!

I'm sure I can come up with more later!

[snerlo]

Just further to the self parking wipers, have you noticed that they sometimes flinch one you turn the car on? That's because they flip the wiper over so that the wipers when they are at rest, don't constantly have the wiper "folded" one way. It flips the blade over so that it is "folded" the other way. It prolongs the life of the blades unlike normal cars where your wiper blades might be folded one way for months before you have to use them and they sort of stay in that shape because they have been sitting out in the sun and get baked because they are rubber. Another great little feature.

[kleung]

I tried quoting inline to your post but there's so much detail, it became a mess so I'll just chuck all my replies in and hope it makes sense.

Yeah sorry, I tend to get carried away with the details. :)


Climatronic notes: I don't think the upgraded climatronic came in until MY10 or MY10.5? But the behaviour you're describing is accurate.

You could be right - there was an overlap where some white MFD-equipped Passats still got the older three-dial Climatronic panel.


Instrument lighting: Not sure this is accurate. I have an MY10.5 with white MFD and mine doesn't have this feature. If it is sunset and I have my headlight switch to off, the dials will become unreadable until I turn the parkers on, when it then goes to whatever brightness I set with the brightness dial. The needles are always lit but the dials are not lit until I turn the parkers on and then they're just lit to where I tell them to be.

I just went out to my car (MY10.5 like yours) and re-checked it for myself - have a go with your car. Dark environment, headlight switch at 'off' position. Insert key to 'on' position, without starting the engine - the instrument cluster should be dimly lit. It will fade to 'off' if you start the car. I think the idea is that the darkened dials with contrasting lit needles become a subtle hint to the driver that you should probably have your headlights on.

If you have a torch, shine it into the tacho - the backlighting should rise quickly to full brightness.

Remove the torch, and the backlight will slowly fade back to its previous brightness.


On not being able to change the comfort indicator numbers in the MFD menu, double check, I could be wrong. I haven't adjusted any of those settings since I bought the car and the VCDS cable.

I just did - the comfort indicators setting is either 'on' or 'off' on my car.


I didn't think to use the key as a lever for the fuse box but surely that's a coincidence? Remember the car also comes with a screwdriver in the back as well with the tyre jacking tools.

It's possible that it's a coincidence (correlation doesn't necessarily equal causation and all that) - but the lever hole for the fuse box is almost exactly the right size for the key blade.


Knew about the blind being able to be attached with the seats forward, didn't know about the welding stuff, that's cool.

VW get plenty of stuff wrong, but they get oh so much right as well. The combination of features, technology and attention to detail is something you'd expect from a much higher-priced car than the Passat. There are signs of cost-cutting, like the collapsing R36 seat bolsters and the hard plastics below elbow height, but things like alcantara/microfibre seat upholstery, inflatable seat bolsters, rear thorax airbags and rear seat heaters are not features you expect to see at this price point. In the B8, you even get tri-zone air conditioning.


1. When you turn the car off or on, the fuel and temperature gauges no matter where they are always hit zero or their marks at the same time? So if your temp is at 90 but your fuel is at 100% and thus fuel gauge has twice as far to travel, it will move twice as quickly so they both hit zero at the same time. Blew my mind when I noticed, such a tiny feature that would have to have been coded meticulously by a programmer for such minimal gain.

That's awesome. I'll have to keep an eye out for that the next time I'm out and about.


2. On some cars, with VCDS, you can enable "Needle staging" on startup. It doesn't seem to be related to model year as my MY10.5 can't do it but someone else's on here they were able to enable.

Most B7 Passats had this enabled by default I think. My sister's B7 118TSI does it.


I'm sure I can come up with more later!

I have a couple more, although some fall under the heading of 'clever' or 'unusual' rather than 'obscure':


Inflatable front seat bolsters on the R36.
Oil temperature readout in the trip computer - so you know when the engine is properly warmed up and you can start giving it the berries. :)
The fan on the Climatronic does not come on until the engine is running.
For HID-equipped B6es, the startup self-test 'dance' also doesn't happen until the engine is running.
Remote open/close the windows - double-press and hold the lock or unlock buttons on the remote to raise or lower all four windows. I don't have a sunroof so I don't know if it also opens and closes with the remote.
If you press the lock button on the key to lock the car, and then press it again within about 2 seconds, the deadlocks disengage - the doors remain locked, but can be opened from inside the vehicle normally by just pulling the door handles.
The aircon compressor is a variable output type, which means that a) you don't get that variation in idle revs as the compressor cycles on and off, and b) you don't get the unpleasant temperature variation in vent air temperature as the compressor cycles on and off. This technology is fairly commonplace now, but back in 2006, it was really only available in high-end cars.
The B8 Passat gets three sets of trip computer data readouts - per trip, per tank and long term. The per-trip readouts reset after the car sits idle for more than a couple of hours. The per-tank readouts reset when the fuel filler door is opened, and the long term readouts are manually reset.
You can set a maximum starting volume on the stereo, so you if you were listening to loud music on the last trip, you don't get your eardrums blown out the next time you go to start your car.
The factory fitted parking sensors beep at different pitches so you know just by listening when it's beeping for the front sensors or the rear sensors.
If you're stationary and the sensors have been beeping continuously for more than about 30 seconds, the volume of the beeps is reduced automatically so they're less irritating.
Radio text function - on the RCD510 or higher in radio mode, you can turn on a setting so that the bottom half of the display shows basic data being broadcast by the radio stations, like weather information or the currently playing song title. For the B6, this feature is off by default - on the B7 and later it's on.
Low engine oil level warning - most people with even a passing interest know that when the red oil idiot light comes on, it's already too late - the Passat has a sensor for oil level as well as oil pressure, so you get a warning if the oil level gets a bit low (yellow idiot light plus yellow peril warning in MFD), well before there's any risk of damage occurring.


Strictly speaking, the remote windows and deadlock functions are hardly uncommon these days (hell, my 1996 Holden Berlina had a manual deadlock and the VT Commodores had a remote operated deadlock), but you'd be surprised at how many people don't know about them.


Just further to the self parking wipers, have you noticed that they sometimes flinch one you turn the car on?

On mine, if the wipers have been in use, the arms lift slightly when I turn the ignition off.

[Jakeys]

You might be right about the lights on the cluster dimming, I just thought it didn't because I know if my lights are off and it's dark I can't see the numbers but on thinking about it what you're describing it would do.

On the windows, yeah it will close the sunroof on hold of lock however it will not open the sunroof if you hold open. Dunno why but they do it that way on purpose. The deadlock thing you describe explains the funny double chirp I get sometimes, I must be triggering that. The rest I knew and appreciate.

I guess one small bonus thing is any part of the leather seats that would rub on plastics is actually not leather like you would think but cloth to avoid noises. I thought it was cost cutting at first but I realised it's by design. And the seatbelt clips are all felt lined for the same reason. Just more evidence of smart thinking and attention to detail by VW.

Also there is a screwdriver in with the wheel jack. It looks like it's just Phillips head but the blade pulls out of it and it's actually reversible and is a flathead too. Has come in handy in a pinch to adjust a clamp in the engine bay! And if you buy the VW branded roadside assistance kit like I have you will get a ton of handy other **** as well including a generic brand version of a Leatherman. It's not very good but along with the mechanic's gloves, safety triangle, bandaids, ponchos, battery cables and a host of other ****, it makes the roadside kit accessory pretty cool!

[kleung]

1. When you turn the car off or on, the fuel and temperature gauges no matter where they are always hit zero or their marks at the same time?

I just noticed today that they also do the same thing going the other way, when you turn the ignition on.


The deadlock thing you describe explains the funny double chirp I get sometimes, I must be triggering that.

Yeah, the first press gets you a nice solid 'thunk', but if you press the lock button again to disengage the deadlocks, you get more of a 'shick' sound. It's the same sound you get if you open the tailgate while the doors are locked, and then shut it again.


And the seatbelt clips are all felt lined for the same reason. Just more evidence of smart thinking and attention to detail by VW.

I just looked at that today - that is way cool.

[Jakeys]

Another tiny detail. If you have a warning chime play (Fuel, low tyre pressure, or in my case seatbelt warning due to some weight on the passenger seat) the indicators don't make noise in the cabin until the chime stops! As in the typical "click... click" doesn't happen, the light just flashes.

[00100100]

Two things to add to the list that not everyone might be aware off:

- The sunroof shade cover has open slots in it. That is so that on hot days, you can tilt up the sunroof when leaving the car and not have to open the shade cover. Hence sun light will not come in through the sunroof. Hot air will flow through the slots of the shade cover and out though the sun roof.

- The sun visor, when using it against the side driver window, it can slide backwards or forwards to better cover the sunlight that might be coming through the driver window during sunrise or sunset.

[weonarok]

Probably a good thing the wiper blades 'flip' to prolong their life considering that they are $80 or more a pair against 'old style' blades being a couple of bucks. [emoji104]
With Ross Tech the 'lane changing blinkers' can be changed from off too 5 flashers.
On latter models you can also go in and change the values to make the speedometer more accurate. Mine is now spot on with my GPS.
There is also provision to correct the odometer settings (I run much larger tyres on my rok and the odometer reads low) but it needs a code that unfortunately only My VW himself appears to have. [emoji22]


"You don't know what you don't know"

Cheers dave

[Jakeys]

Probably a good thing the wiper blades 'flip' to prolong their life considering that they are $80 or more a pair against 'old style' blades being a couple of bucks. [emoji104]
With Ross Tech the 'lane changing blinkers' can be changed from off too 5 flashers.
On latter models you can also go in and change the values to make the speedometer more accurate. Mine is now spot on with my GPS.
There is also provision to correct the odometer settings (I run much larger tyres on my rok and the odometer reads low) but it needs a code that unfortunately only My VW himself appears to have. [emoji22]


"You don't know what you don't know"

Cheers dave

For wiper blades I buy Bosch Aerotwins. They make them for front and also rear for wagon. Fantastic blade, wasn't much more expensive than when I was buying them for my old Verada. I haven't actually ever replaced with OEM so I can't say a direct comparison but I've been very happy with the price and performance of the Bosch wipers and have always heard good reviews from others. Food for thought there.

On the speedometer accuracy, while that is true, I looked at doing that and realised it's actually a bit more difficult than just adding or subtracting a number of km's, there are ratios and different ranges involved. I would suggest unless you're very confident with what you're doing not messing with those speedo numbers.

[OilBurna]

Don't forget auto hold will not engage unless you have your seatbelt on


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[Hillbilly]

Probably a good thing the wiper blades 'flip' to prolong their life considering that they are $80 or more a pair against 'old style' blades being a couple of bucks. [emoji104]
With Ross Tech the 'lane changing blinkers' can be changed from off too 5 flashers.
On latter models you can also go in and change the values to make the speedometer more accurate. Mine is now spot on with my GPS.
There is also provision to correct the odometer settings (I run much larger tyres on my rok and the odometer reads low) but it needs a code that unfortunately only My VW himself appears to have. [emoji22]


"You don't know what you don't know"

Cheers dave Well I do know what I do know and I know I cant get my speedo more accurate. Went to the correct place in VCDS and changed the values to every different one and no matter what I did it hasnt changed anything.

Any further asssitance would be appreciated.

[kleung]

Found another cool feature.


The brake discs are also equipped with a kind of wiper. Reason: In heavy rain, a water film can form on the brake disc and reduce its response. This is where the new “wiper” function comes in. At an interval of five minutes, the brakes are applied with a minimum amount of pressure to dry the discs. You do not notice this process while driving.

New Passat Launched In Germany - Over 40 New Photos And Full Specs - VWVortex (http://www.vwvortex.com/news/volkswagen-news/new-passat-launched-in-germany-over-40-new-photos-and-full-specs/)

No idea if AUDM Passats got this feature, but it's clever nonetheless.

[claude626]

Someone mentioned the cruise control speed increments being 1kmh and 10kmh, all I can do is the 10kmh increment...

Any thoughts?

[Eaglehawk]

Don't you just pull the stick towards you to make it go up in 1km/h increments?

[Harrydhillon]

Usually the 'Set' and 'Resume' button for +- 1km/h


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[Hillbilly]

You pull the stalk towards you for 1 k increments up and press the button in the end of the stalk for 1k increments down. At least i do in mine using Adaptive Cruise.

You push the stalk up for 10 up and down for 10k down

[Jakeys]

Someone mentioned the cruise control speed increments being 1kmh and 10kmh, all I can do is the 10kmh increment...

Any thoughts?

Hillbilly's instructions for the adaptive cruise are the same for standard cruise. It goes up and down 10km/h from stalk pushes, but if you want to adjust in 1km/h increments, pull the stalk towards you for 1km/h up and push the button on the end for 1km/h down. It's a little finnicky as initially the set button just sets it to your current speed, then subsequent presses will drop it incrementally, you get the hang of it quickly.

My addition, I've been towing recently and the car seems to detect on it's own if there are any problems with the lights on the trailer and will report to your cluster to tell you. In my case the lights were actually working but it warned me because maybe there is a wiring issue I need to look into. (Not my trailer though so meh!)

And I mentioned this a few pages back but again, if you have a trailer plugged in, the wagon auto tailgate (If you have the option) will disable itself to prevent risk of hitting the trailer/whatever. Have to physically pull it against the shocks briefly until it detects you trying to force it open then it assumes all is good and opens itself, which is fine for me, not so fine for the missus haha.

[brettue]

Hillbilly's instructions for the adaptive cruise are the same for standard cruise. It goes up and down 10km/h from stalk pushes, but if you want to adjust in 1km/h increments, pull the stalk towards you for 1km/h up and push the button on the end for 1km/h down. It's a little finnicky as initially the set button just sets it to your current speed, then subsequent presses will drop it incrementally, you get the hang of it quickly.

Thanks for this, I was wondering how to decrease by 1kph increments.



My addition, I've been towing recently and the car seems to detect on it's own if there are any problems with the lights on the trailer and will report to your cluster to tell you. In my case the lights were actually working but it warned me because maybe there is a wiring issue I need to look into. (Not my trailer though so meh!)

I have LED lights on my boat trailer and it tells me to "check rear right trailer light" whenever I have it plugged in, all the lights work fine though. I wonder if my 2011 B7 is expecting higher voltage bulbs on a trailer? Anyone else notice trailer light alarms?



And I mentioned this a few pages back but again, if you have a trailer plugged in, the wagon auto tailgate (If you have the option) will disable itself to prevent risk of hitting the trailer/whatever. Have to physically pull it against the shocks briefly until it detects you trying to force it open then it assumes all is good and opens itself, which is fine for me, not so fine for the missus haha.

This one ticks me off. I didn't know you can force it, it's not damaging anything is it? Can this function be disabled at all?


Don't forget auto hold will not engage unless you have your seatbelt on
Ahhh, that's why it won't hold when I jump into the car briefly at the boat ramp to pull my boat out of the water. Thanks!

Here is my list:
- Hit the lock button with the tailgate or doors open and they will auto lock when closed. Quite handy when I'm out of the car and the kids are still dawdling to get their crap out of the back seat or boot.

- Hold the open on keyfob and all the windows open. Hold the close on keyfob and all the windows and sunroof close.

- Passenger mirror dips down to show gutter when reversing. Handy for my street with an ancient jaggered bluestone kerb just begging to tear your tyre or rim apart. If you drive away and get up to 10 or 20kph the mirror raises back up to your set position.

- Turn off the car and flick the wiper stalk into the fast on position, this move your wiper arms a few cm up the windscreen and stops so you can lift them off the window to wash the car without the arms hitting the bonnet.

- Glove box has a dial inside it to adjust the amount of AC cool air you can direct into it to keep your polywaffle from melting.

- Maybe most know this but all you need to do is tap the button once to fully close or open the sunroof blind. If you hold it down and let go it just stops at the point you let go. Also you can twist the sunroof knob and hold it open to get the sunroof to open and extra bit further. Does anyone know if you can set the sunroof to always open to the max position rather than needing to do this?

- Volume buttons on the steering wheel will set the independent volume of whatever output you are currently listening to. Eg if you need the Sat Nav lady to be louder or quieter wait for her to speak then raise or lower her volume and it won't effect the current radio volume. Same goes for phone calls. The voice activation button doubles as a mute button when listening to radio or on a call.

[ClassicAU]

This is an interesting thread! Cool to learn so many neat features! I have a couple of quick questions though, regarding mirrors on my B7 Passat. How do I engage the heat/defrost function on both door mirrors? Also, I cant seem to find if I can fold the mirrors in when parked?

[Hillbilly]

Thanks for this, I was wondering how to decrease by 1kph increments.



I have LED lights on my boat trailer and it tells me to "check rear right trailer light" whenever I have it plugged in, all the lights work fine though. I wonder if my 2011 B7 is expecting higher voltage bulbs on a trailer? Anyone else notice trailer light alarms?



This one ticks me off. I didn't know you can force it, it's not damaging anything is it? Can this function be disabled at all?


Ahhh, that's why it won't hold when I jump into the car briefly at the boat ramp to pull my boat out of the water. Thanks!

Here is my list:
- Hit the lock button with the tailgate or doors open and they will auto lock when closed. Quite handy when I'm out of the car and the kids are still dawdling to get their crap out of the back seat or boot.

- Hold the open on keyfob and all the windows open. Hold the close on keyfob and all the windows and sunroof close.

- Passenger mirror dips down to show gutter when reversing. Handy for my street with an ancient jaggered bluestone kerb just begging to tear your tyre or rim apart. If you drive away and get up to 10 or 20kph the mirror raises back up to your set position.

- Turn off the car and flick the wiper stalk into the fast on position, this move your wiper arms a few cm up the windscreen and stops so you can lift them off the window to wash the car without the arms hitting the bonnet.

- Glove box has a dial inside it to adjust the amount of AC cool air you can direct into it to keep your polywaffle from melting.

- Maybe most know this but all you need to do is tap the button once to fully close or open the sunroof blind. If you hold it down and let go it just stops at the point you let go. Also you can twist the sunroof knob and hold it open to get the sunroof to open and extra bit further. Does anyone know if you can set the sunroof to always open to the max position rather than needing to do this?

- Volume buttons on the steering wheel will set the independent volume of whatever output you are currently listening to. Eg if you need the Sat Nav lady to be louder or quieter wait for her to speak then raise or lower her volume and it won't effect the current radio volume. Same goes for phone calls. The voice activation button doubles as a mute button when listening to radio or on a call.

Dont want to rain on your parade but all of that is actually in the manual except maybe the bit about LED trailer lights

[ClassicAU]

Thanks! Shame about the mirror folding not being standard. Ah well, small things. The only other thing that annoys me is the center console lid. Why can't I close it if I have only opened it half way? It needs to go back all the way before it can go down again!

On a brighter note, I have to say my favorite feature has to be hands free boot lid opening! The magic foot swipe is ace! If it could do it to close as well, I'd never sell the car!

[Hillbilly]

This is an interesting thread! Cool to learn so many neat features! I have a couple of quick questions though, regarding mirrors on my B7 Passat. How do I engage the heat/defrost function on both door mirrors? Also, I cant seem to find if I can fold the mirrors in when parked?

Yes you can fold them with the remote but it requires some coding with a VCDS

It tells you in that rarely read book "THE MANUAL" how to turn on the mirror heat Its on page 135 in mine and its the icon at 2oclock on the mirror switch and the 10 oclock one folds them manually

[BoraBora]

The only other thing that annoys me is the center console lid. Why can't I close it if I have only opened it half way? It needs to go back all the way before it can go down again!



That's so you can use it as an adjustable arm rest, different heights for comfort then all the way open to close.

[Jakeys]

Yes you can fold them with the remote but it requires some coding with a VCDS

Can you elaborate on this? I don't believe this is a coding option.


I have LED lights on my boat trailer and it tells me to "check rear right trailer light" whenever I have it plugged in, all the lights work fine though. I wonder if my 2011 B7 is expecting higher voltage bulbs on a trailer? Anyone else notice trailer light alarms?

Yes CANBUS is doing this, it's exactly the same as if you put non CANBUS error free LED lights on your car, the car detects voltage and believes the globe has blown. Theoretically if you had resistors on your trailer lights it'd be fine. Mine does it too, it's no problem.



This one ticks me off. I didn't know you can force it, it's not damaging anything is it? Can this function be disabled at all?

It's not damaging anything, I don't think. By design if you have a trailer it's literally the only way to open the tailgate. You put pressure on the gas struts, which you can think of sort of like car shock absorbers, the car detects it (Somehow...) and initiates opening as per normal as it knows you definitely do want to open the tailgate and you know a trailer is attached. The button works normally on the way down because it knows it is safe to shut.


- Passenger mirror dips down to show gutter when reversing. Handy for my street with an ancient jaggered bluestone kerb just begging to tear your tyre or rim apart. If you drive away and get up to 10 or 20kph the mirror raises back up to your set position.

This only works if the mirror switch is in the L (Left) position. I found that out the hard way. :P


- Maybe most know this but all you need to do is tap the button once to fully close or open the sunroof blind. If you hold it down and let go it just stops at the point you let go. Also you can twist the sunroof knob and hold it open to get the sunroof to open and extra bit further. Does anyone know if you can set the sunroof to always open to the max position rather than needing to do this?

Not sure what button you are talking about with a sunroof blind? But for the sunroof knob being held open, no I don't believe you can set it to always open to max, the reason for this is max open causes pretty intense wind buffetting (In the wagon at least) at most speeds, the default mostly open setting causes no wind noise.

[Hillbilly]

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/misc/quote_icon.png Originally Posted by Hillbilly http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/buttons/viewpost-right.png (http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/f234/obscure-features-112022-post1215044.html#post1215044)
Yes you can fold them with the remote but it requires some coding with a VCDS



Can you elaborate on this? I don't believe this is a coding option.

You may not believe but mine are done

I did it myself with a friends cable.. As the foreman said when I got a service. The only Passat he has seen that can fold the mirrors from the remote. Got the coding off here i think , cant remember who it was.

Also my drivers seat pulls back to give me more room to get out when I open the door. When I put the key in the ignition it pulls forward to my selected position Can be made to do it when you open the door as well if you want which I dont see the point of.

Mirror down is not much good as it doesnt go down far enough to see rear wheel in my case as Im tall and have to squirm around to see it.

[Passat R36]

Remote Mirror Folding is the difference between B6 and B7.

To achieve this in B6, a module in the driver door need to be upgraded to B7 version.

[Jakeys]

Hey Hillbilly, appreciate the PM, I concur with Passat R36 though, you're describing a B7 specific feature. Still good to have in the thread for those B7 owners that wander through.

How much money/difficulty is it to upgrade the driver door module, I wonder? Would looove power fold. How does the remote fold the mirrors too, all the time with lock?

[kamold]

There may yet be a way to do remote folding....
I need to get my controller out and change some data in the EEPROM to see if it works.

Alternative is to replace all 4 door controllers with Gen4. The Gen3 controllers are all individually attached to the convenience CANbus whereas the gen4 controllers have the rears slaved to the fronts via LIN. This is the way they are configured in all newer VWs I've seen.

[Jakeys]

There may yet be a way to do remote folding....
I need to get my controller out and change some data in the EEPROM to see if it works.

Alternative is to replace all 4 door controllers with Gen4. The Gen3 controllers are all individually attached to the convenience CANbus whereas the gen4 controllers have the rears slaved to the fronts via LIN. This is the way they are configured in all newer VWs I've seen.


Controllers sounds not promising for simplicity! If it's not plug and play and cheap it's probably not worth it. Keep us posted on a software solution if at all possible! While you're in there, make my car needle stage cause I can't enable that on my MY10.5. ;)

[BoraBora]

Does this help with the folding mirrors?
2008 Passat folding mirrors (http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php/84611-2008-Passat-folding-mirrors)

If it does cool, I'd need to figure out how to use it with obdeleven.

[kamold]

No those instructions are for an A4, not Passat.
I'll try and get to pulling my controller out and reflashing the eeprom later this week.

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