Suggestions to VW

[NeilBlanchard]

I totally agree on the location of the charging port - and it needs a light inside so you can see the port in the dark, to plug it in without fumbling. And a charging status indicator light(s) that can be seen from 50 feet away.

The charging port lock HAS to change - it is just untenable to have it stay locked even after it is fully charged. This is totally against etiquette and it needs to change as soon as possible.

 

[laegolfer]

Apart from the "classics" (USB, Charger lock, memory of temp set) PLEASE fix:
- Add garage door opener. For a car with backup camera and other 'goodies' why isn't there an integrated garage door opener??
- Ability to set the charge delay FROM INSIDE THE CAR. Not via app.
- Ability to remember regen and eco mode settings

Apparently next year they'll add USB and a brand new much bigger and higher resolution nav. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0hF8wgRsGw starts at 15:40...

 

[miimura]

The Golf Variant in that video is now available at US dealers as the Golf SportWagen, replacing the Jetta SportWagen. The styling is much improved over the Jetta version which was looking very dated since it skipped the last Jetta restyling too. Of course, we won't get the R version with the 300hp engine, only 1.8T and 2.0 TDI. A GTE version would be nice. I would have strongly considered that over the e-Golf. We will see how long it takes VW group to proliferate more plug-in models. IMHO, the A3 e-Tron, as their first PHEV for the US market, is way overdue.

 

[cove3]

<<<the A3 E-tron, as their first PHEV for the US market, is way overdue.>>

I was interested in the a3 e-tron when Green Car Reports indicated a 30 mile electric range, but the web site for the car says its 18 miles. Hardly worth the effort to charge. The 2016 Volt with a 50 mile range and a small 1.5L (but 1.4L for a3) gas engine seems a more compelling design.

http://www.audiusa.com/models/audi-a3-sportback-e-tron#tiles/tiles-container-a3-sportback/tile/tile-0-introduction-desktop

Ron

 

[NeilBlanchard]

My spouse had the very unnerving experience last evening of accidentally shutting off the car, when she intended to toggle out of Eco mode. It was particularly bad because she was about to ascend a very steep and long hill (Route 2 west out of Alewife) and she had to figure out to pull over and put in Park, in traffic.

VW - please fix this glaring flaw as soon as possible!

 

[oftheseven]

My spouse had the very unnerving experience last evening of accidentally shutting off the car, when she intended to toggle out of Eco mode. It was particularly bad because she was about to ascend a very steep and long hill (Route 2 west out of Alewife) and she had to figure out to pull over and put in Park, in traffic.

VW - please fix this glaring flaw as soon as possible!

I haven't tested it yet but does that happen under all conditions? If you're in D and press the start button it will shut off the vehicle regardless of speed?!

That's horrible!

 

[NeilBlanchard]

It has happened to at least one other person here on the Forum, and it happened to my spouse last night.

I just emailed VW customer care.

 

[jack8trades]

My spouse had the very unnerving experience last evening of accidentally shutting off the car, when she intended to toggle out of Eco mode. It was particularly bad because she was about to ascend a very steep and long hill (Route 2 west out of Alewife) and she had to figure out to pull over and put in Park, in traffic.

VW - please fix this glaring flaw as soon as possible!

I haven't tested it yet but does that happen under all conditions? If you're in D and press the start button it will shut off the vehicle regardless of speed?!

That's horrible!

Yes, it can be pretty bad... imagine on a freeway with no shoulders. On the 2nd page of this thread, near the top, I posted my experience with it happening, and several posts down, how I worked out the recovery.

Again, I want to recommend to people never to use the mode button to actually change the mode. Only press it once to bring up the mode menu, and use the on-screen buttons to select the mode. More complicated, (and a bit of a safety issue itself in that you have to look away from the road to do it,) but preferable to accidentally shutting off the car, IMHO. If the mode menu doesn't come up on screen, you missed the mode button -- make sure you're pressing the right one -- pressing Start only once doesn't shut off the car if you're moving, so you have a chance to correct your aim.

Maybe it would be a good idea to start a thread on this, bring it more up-front for new readers?

Mind you, I still think VW should change the Start button functionality in this case, like maybe requiring you to hold it down a few seconds. But until they do...

 

[cove3]

The owners manual Pg 226 says not to switch driving modes while the car is moving. Pg 224 says not to turn it off while the car is moving or loss of control or crash can occur.

Ron

 

[GadgetGav]

The owners manual Pg 226 says not to switch driving modes while the car is moving. Pg 224 says not to turn it off while the car is moving or loss of control or crash can occur.

Ron

What the manual says and what happens in real life aren't always the same thing.

There's no reason not to change modes while the car is moving - the car changes them itself as the estimated range falls. If I'm 5 miles from home and it goes into Eco mode because the range falls below 18, I'm putting it right back into normal mode and I'm not going to stop to do it, especially if I'm on the highway.

 

[GadgetGav]

My spouse had the very unnerving experience last evening of accidentally shutting off the car, when she intended to toggle out of Eco mode. It was particularly bad because she was about to ascend a very steep and long hill (Route 2 west out of Alewife) and she had to figure out to pull over and put in Park, in traffic.

VW - please fix this glaring flaw as soon as possible!

I haven't had this happen to me, but tonight I did do the opposite. Parked in my driveway I thought I'd pressed the button to shut off, opened the car door and realized the radio was still playing. When I looked at the center screen, the mode selector was showing. By far the less dangerous mistake to make, but now I'm worried I might press the start button accidentally at some point.

Given how many unused switches there are around the gear selector, the simplest fix would have been just be to move the mode switch to a different location. If I recall correctly, they're all slightly different shapes, so even if we took the trim off and got to the switches, it's probably not possible to move it as a DIY project. I did once add an extra switch to my Mini for a garage door opener (they didn't have one built in either) so it's possible that there's a fully populated switch panel under there, but if the button cover doesn't fit, it won't help.

 

[jack8trades]

The owners manual Pg 226 says not to switch driving modes while the car is moving. Pg 224 says not to turn it off while the car is moving or loss of control or crash can occur.

Ron

That's mostly just butt-covering legalese, IMO.

I'm not saying you're suggesting otherwise, but I think it would be ridiculously impractical to have to stop every time you want to switch modes, even if it's only because you forgot to do so at start because you expect the car to (at least have the option to) remember the mode you last set. Also, no one here has suggested it's a good idea to power down the car's systems while moving... quite the opposite.

... There's no reason not to change modes while the car is moving ...

I suspect at least one of the reasons is so they can tell you when you crash as a result of trying to change the mode while driving and instead turn the car off, well... I refer you to my first sentence. However, there is the aberrant acceleration issue I noticed when switching modes while driving (and there might be worse glitches I haven't run into yet) -- maybe they know about that and instead of fixing it, VW just wants you to avoid the trigger. Given that changing to/from B mode (and possibly other regen levels) can also trigger these incidents, I hope they don't decide to say you must stop to change them, too.

 

[NeilBlanchard]

Even without the mode button being located near the power button - we should not be able to accidentally shut off the car while we are driving. It should require that we hold it down for 2s or that we press it a second time.

If anybody else wants to email VW, here is the email address: VWoA Customer CARE <[email protected]>

 

[jack8trades]

Even without the mode button being located near the power button - we should not be able to accidentally shut off the car while we are driving. It should require that we hold it down for 2s or that we press it a second time.

If anybody else wants to email VW, here is the email address: VWoA Customer CARE <[email protected]>

Well, I have to admit that I assumed it was the same for everyone -- if my car is moving, it does require me to press Start twice, giving a warning on the center LCD display after the first press, that pressing it again will shut off the car.

It's just that the operation of the mode button is such that if you use it to change the mode, instead of just bringing up the mode menu, that means you're going to press it more than once, usually automatically because you know how many times you need to press it to change to the mode you want, but it will be at least twice. That's why I recommend using the infotainment center to actually change the mode, even though you still need to press the mode button once to use it -- but at least in my case, just once isn't enough to shut off my car if I'm moving (and have accidentally pressed Start instead of mode.)

 

[GadgetGav]

Even without the mode button being located near the power button - we should not be able to accidentally shut off the car while we are driving. It should require that we hold it down for 2s or that we press it a second time.

You do have to press it a second time. The first time, there's a chime and the MFI display says that pressing it a second time will shut the car off. Seems like they give fair warning and there needs to be some way to shut it off when moving in case of an emergency such as 'unintended acceleration' or if the driver has some medical problem and a passenger needs to shut it off.

 

[Unbeliever]

I ran an experiment today with the start button. I turned off the car while moving at a fair clip by hitting the start button twice.

The car did "shut off" on the second press. I just shifted to neutral and hit the start button again to get the car to "turn on" again. I didn't have to step on the brake to do it, either. The car figured out that it was moving and didn't need the brake safety interlock and I dropped it back into "D" after the power meter indicated 0%.

 

[NeilBlanchard]

Thank you for checking about starting in neutral.

I am not sure what shutting it off while driving actually would ever be used for? Possible if there was runaway acceleration, possibly?

Another suggestion: make the windshield defroster more powerful, and make it the standard defroster. Provide heat in the rear seats, too. And heat the steering wheel - this is a great thing in our Leaf S.

By the way, is anybody else's inspection sticker peeling off the windshield? Is this a downside to the direct heating defroster, or is mine just a sub par sticker?

 

[NeilBlanchard]

I would like to be able to cancel all regen levels in one motion - if I have used 1, 2, or 3 regen and then used B - I should only have to bump it back to D to cancel all regen.

 

[EggGolf]

I would like to be able to cancel all regen levels in one motion

I understood that moving the stick to the right and holding it for a second or two canceled the regen mode. I can't recal lwhere I saw or read that.

I shall have to check.

 

[tdkman2]

Yes, if you're in Regen Mode 2 or 3, holding the stick to the right for a moment will get you back into normal D mode.