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Hi guys, picked up my new polo but i've noticed when the headlight switch is set to O for off. The middle selection i think for sidelights is illuminated and they are on. When i turn it to the up position middle selection they go off. Surely thats backwards?

Pictures or video would help

Daytime running lights. The sidelight lamp is illuminated so you can see it as it gets darker. There is a light sensor for the dials too so as it's getting dark you won't be able to see the dials as easily, forcing you to turn the sidelights/headlights on.

On my Polo with LED daytime running lights (DRL) it works like this:

"0" setting: LED DRLs on, full strength. Headlights off. Rear lights off. Instrument lighting off (dial lighting on, but as Wilxay says, when it gets too dark the dial lighting is dimmed, forcing you to turn headlights/sidelights and rear lights on)
Sidelight setting: LED DRLs on, but dimmed to half strength. Headlights off. Rear lights on. Instrument lighting on.
Headlight setting: LED DRLs on, but dimmed to half strength. Headlights on. Rear lights on. Instrument lighting on.

Have you checked that in the middle setting (sidelight setting) the sidelights aren't just dimmed to half strength, not completely off? At least with LED DRLs, that is how it works.

cheba wrote:Headlight setting: LED DRLs on, full strength (I think).

They are only half strength still just working as the sidelights when headlights are on. It would be illigal if the were on full strength along with the headlight.

Yeah ive realised this was me being stupid. I read in the manual you can de-activate the daytime lights by indicsting left and doing a headlight flash and turning the engine on and off. I tried it and it didnt work. I dont like them on. but hey ho. Nevermind.

Mart!n-GTI-DK wrote:

cheba wrote:Headlight setting: LED DRLs on, full strength (I think).

They are only half strength still just working as the sidelights when headlights are on. It would be illigal if the were on full strength along with the headlight.

I guess that's the case. My bad.

ransonneil wrote:Yeah ive realised this was me being stupid. I read in the manual you can de-activate the daytime lights by indicsting left and doing a headlight flash and turning the engine on and off. I tried it and it didnt work. I dont like them on. but hey ho. Nevermind.

I have never heard about that, but I think they can be coded off if you have access to VCDS.

I was confused by this tonight. At about 18:30 the weather was dull and cloudy but hardly dark. I figured my daytime running LEDs were plenty enough. But I wanted a bit more light on the speedometer which was unlit. So I turned the lighting switch to sidelights. That actually seemed to cut the daytime LEDs completely but it put the front and rear sidelights on. However the speedometer and rev counter remained unlit although all the red lighting for other switchgear etc then came on.

I then pulled the lighting knob out to switch on the front fog lights and then the speedometer/rev counter lighting came on fully. Same if I turned the switch to select headlights.

I found this statement in the online manual :-

Instrument cluster lighting

The instrument cluster lighting switches off automatically in darkness and at other times, e.g. when driving through a tunnel. This is intended to prompt the driver to switch on the dipped beam so that the vehicle's rear lights are switched on

I suppose that explains it but the outside light level was a long way from darkness or even dusk. I didn't feel that headlights were necessary as it was dry so I just used the front fogs - probably technically illegal but more courteous to oncoming traffic. I'm very aware of the need to be seen in low light conditions and would normally err on the side of switching on early. But to me it really didn't seem necessary on this occasion.

Does this seem to be the expected behaviour? I would really liked to have had just the bright daytime LEDs but with a bit of light on the speedo. Paradoxically selecting sidelights seems to reduce the light out front very considerably. Incidentally, in the CAR menu the instrument lighting is set to 90%.

Same thing happens in my GTI & I don't like it. It's the auto lights sensor being too sensitive to light levels I think. There's a setting to change the switch-on time from 'Early' to 'Late' but this seems to make no difference. There might be a way to alter the sensitivity using VCDS but I don't have a version that works with the GTI to test this.

You can take the headlight switch out by putting it in the middle position, pushing in until it dips in then turning it to the left and pulling it back out. From there you can bend one of the bottom pins so it no longer makes contact (bend it flat, it won't break). The one you're looking for is the "cfl" pin. Put it all back together and then the only lights that will be on are rears. I would only recommend this if you have a car with halogens or retrofit xenons and not the factory fit xenons and LED DRL's as this will turn these off!

blackertracker wrote: There's a setting to change the switch-on time from 'Early' to 'Late' but this seems to make no difference.

I looked for this setting in the manual but so far without success! Could you point me at the relevant pages? Thanks.

Look for it on the screen.

Press car then I think it's under lighting?

I set mine to early as I used to always have my dipped on, found people got out of my way quicker lol

I've had a good look at the CAR menu but am still not able to find it! I'm just wondering if you only see this option if you have the Light and Sight pack with the automatic headlight switch-on function. Here are some more snippets from the online manual :-

Lights Light Assist The following systems can be activated or deactivated:
– Automatic dipped headlights (when raining),
– Lane change flash. → Lights  
The following functions can be set:
– Switch-on time for automatic headlight control,
– Travel mode (right-hand or left-hand drive).
Interior lighting Setting the instrument and switch lighting
Coming Home/Leaving Home function The following functions can be set:
– Duration that the Coming Home function is switched on,
– Duration that the Leaving Home function is switched on,

and also

The switch-on time of the automatic headlight control, if fitted, can be altered in the infotainment system using the CAR button and the function buttons * and Light → Menu and system settings (SETUP)   .

I don't have the item Switch-on time for automatic headlight control shown in my Menu. Presumably this is the item which can take the value Early or Late. I didn't want the automatic lighting option and I'd have been perfectly happy with an old fashioned rheostat to control the instrument lighting! Still, in the grand scheme of things it's not a huge issue.

That's interesting Guy - sorry I assumed you had the Light & Sight pack. Yes you will only get that menu option if you have it.
So it seems the instrument lighting may have its own ambient light sensor separate from the auto headlights sensor (which is mounted above the rearview mirror).

blackertracker wrote:That's interesting Guy - sorry I assumed you had the Light & Sight pack. Yes you will only get that menu option if you have it.
So it seems the instrument lighting may have its own ambient light sensor separate from the auto headlights sensor (which is mounted above the rearview mirror).

Yes, I can't see any sensor on or above my rearview mirror. If it's a different sensor that could explain why you found changing from Early to Late seemed to make no difference to your instrument lighting automatic switch-off.

There's another interesting item in the Lights Section which is Travel Mode. In the UK it needs to be set for Right Hand so that the headlights dip down more towards the left. But even if you set it to Left Hand the lights still appear to dip to the left but not by as much. The actual wording on the menu and in the display between the speedo and rev counter is a bit ambiguous - I wondered at first if it referred to driving on the Right Hand side of the road rather than the steering wheel being on the Right Hand side of the car.

I sometimes think perhaps these computers are getting a bit too clever!