Passat NMS VCDS Tricks / Upgrades

IXLR8

Veteran Member
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Mar 9, 2003
Location
Cushing, ME
TDI
12 Passat Platinum Gray, 02 Golf Black, 01 Jetta Black
If you have it in the intermittent position, then you have it in the correct position for rain sensing. Also, looking at the picture, since you have the "intermittent delay" set for the most time between wipes, you also have it set for the least sensitive rain sensing position, or it will take the maximum amount of rain to trigger the wipers.
 

tadawson

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2013
Location
Lewisville, TX
TDI
2013 Passat TDI SEL, 2015 Passat TDI SEL
Note also that the tab that used to control the interval now controls the rain sensor sensitivity. . . which you have at it's lowest, so, not much will happen until a lot of water builds up on the windshield.

- Tim
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
I think it isn't so much the volume of water as the vibrations of the water hitting the windshield. Mine will swipe from just tapping the windshield with my finger.
 

tadawson

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Jun 14, 2013
Location
Lewisville, TX
TDI
2013 Passat TDI SEL, 2015 Passat TDI SEL
Nope - the sensor is optical, and looks for a change in what is reflected back from it's emitter. It has zero sensitivity to vibration, which can be verified by pouring water on the roof, having it flow over the sensor, and having it detected. Your finger is simply reflecting . . .

- Tim
 

VeeDubTDI

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Springfield, VA
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‘18 Tesla Model 3D+, ‘14 Cadillac ELR, ‘13 Fiat 500e
It's an optical sensor. How it is reacting to your finger tapping elsewhere on the windshield, I do not know.
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
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Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
I washed my windows today. When putting the blades back down I plopped them slightly onto the windshield. Activated the wipers.
 

shak911

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Joined
Nov 2, 2010
Location
toronto
TDI
2004 Jetta TDI-372000KM
I just tried the vibration test by using my knucles to tap on the windshield, wipers did not turn on, however they did when I covered the sensor with my palm , it is dark and headlights were on, car parked in driveway facing a couple of old Honda bikes...

I also tried lifting and releasing a wiper...still no sweeps...
 

gothicreader

Active member
Joined
Apr 28, 2009
Location
AZ
TDI
09-JETTA TDI & 2012 Passat TDI SEL Premium
Brake Pad warning

Thanks for the response. I will go ahead and adjust the sensitivity.

Another question.

Has anyone looked into enabling the brake pad sensor? It works the same as the tire pressure gauge, at least I'm assuming it does.

Anyhow, I went ahead an checked it to active, so that I can be warned if the brake pads needs replacement. This morning when I started the car the warning brake pad light flashed several times before it stopped flashing, and now I have the BRAKE (in red) showing up on my console.

I'll post a picture later tonight when I get home from work.
 

mattfrayage

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2013
Location
southeastern wisconsin
TDI
2015 passat NMS TDI SEL Premium
Thanks for the response. I will go ahead and adjust the sensitivity.

Another question.

Has anyone looked into enabling the brake pad sensor? It works the same as the tire pressure gauge, at least I'm assuming it does.

Anyhow, I went ahead an checked it to active, so that I can be warned if the brake pads needs replacement. This morning when I started the car the warning brake pad light flashed several times before it stopped flashing, and now I have the BRAKE (in red) showing up on my console.

I'll post a picture later tonight when I get home from work.
the brake wear monitoring system is not installed on the NMS- on some ROW VWs there are tiny filament wires connected to the brakes that run back to the MFA+instrument cluster and break off when the brake pad becomes dangerously thin- thus losing the signal and lighting up the red "BRAKE WEAR" alert on the MFA+... hope that answers your question...
 

gothicreader

Active member
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Apr 28, 2009
Location
AZ
TDI
09-JETTA TDI & 2012 Passat TDI SEL Premium
Thanks. I went ahead and removed the setting.
The Brake pad warning and Brake light disappeared.
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
I just tried the vibration test by using my knucles to tap on the windshield, wipers did not turn on, however they did when I covered the sensor with my palm , it is dark and headlights were on, car parked in driveway facing a couple of old Honda bikes...

I also tried lifting and releasing a wiper...still no sweeps...
Tried mine today and it didn't work either. Something else must have set it off when I tapped on it I guess. It isn't always reliable anyway.
 

tadawson

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2013
Location
Lewisville, TX
TDI
2013 Passat TDI SEL, 2015 Passat TDI SEL
I enabled ours about a week after we got the car . . . Two years later, it has been 100%, no failures to function of any kind. Occasionally the odd sweep, but generally after going under a bridge or something which drastically changes light level . . . hardly a problem. I know some report issues, but as simple as this system is, I can't imagine what can get that 'creative'.

Just another data point . . . Myself, I would recommend this change for anyone who has the sensor with zero hesitation!

- Tim
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
Me too. The only issue I have is it doesn't seem to enable itself always. There have been times it wouldn't come on, which is usually signaled at start up by one sweep, one sweep only. ;)

One time we were leaving on a trip and it was lightly raining. It didn't engage at startup and after about 10 minutes I pulled over and shutdown and started up multiple times, trying to get it to enable. Wife was unaware of what was going on and finally asked me what the heck I was doing. It finally enabled and we were on our way again. Generally speaking it is reliable enough for my needs.
 

tadawson

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Joined
Jun 14, 2013
Location
Lewisville, TX
TDI
2013 Passat TDI SEL, 2015 Passat TDI SEL
Yeah, and they all read like pure BS, since the exact same stuff works fine in other countries. I think the bottom line is simply that US marketing didn't want the feature in this tier car, so chose interval instead, since it's one or the other . . .

- Tim
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
You are entitled to your opinion as well. Not everyone has had flawless performance from their rain sensing window feature, like you seem to have.
 

IXLR8

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2003
Location
Cushing, ME
TDI
12 Passat Platinum Gray, 02 Golf Black, 01 Jetta Black
I have had issues with my rain sensor not working to drive the wipers. Needed to turn off wipers and the car to 'reset' system before they would work properly again. Others here have reported same issue. I also activated the closing window feature tied to the rain sensor. I left all 4 windows open about 1 inch, usually the windows close in the rain... but one time I came out to find that the front windows were closed and the rear windows were full open!! VW version in the NMS is not ready for prime time even though others seem to work without an issue.
 

Jbratstdi

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North Florida
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Drnknmnky13

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Feb 13, 2010
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D.C.
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2002 Golf 5spd, 2014 Passat DSG
Anyone having issues with the rain auto close feature? My rain sensing wipers work just fine. But The rain auto close does not. I've poured water directly on the sensor and nothing happens. Car off and locked with fob.


EDIT: I think I figured out what was happening. I was being too impatient. If I pour water on it right after locking it would not work. However if I wait a little bit (like for the dash panel to go dark) it works every time. Maybe there is a timer or something? I dunno. But it's working now.

Thanks to all the gurus out there that have made these tweaks possible. Did a few of them today.
 
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TDISEL

Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Location
Cape Cod
TDI
VW TDI SE Sunroof
The auto close feature didn't work reliably for me. That said, having auto wipers is, for the most part, great. Sometimes this gets a little weird too. Probably why the feature is not enabled.
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
Mine has been a bit wonky at times but overall I am happy with it being enabled. The auto close feature has saved me a few times and I like the auto wipers, when they work (most of the time).
 

Night Blue 15 Passat

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Aug 12, 2015
Location
Pflugerville, TX
TDI
2015 Passat TDI DSG SEL
So, with the introduction of electric power steering assist, has anyone found a VCSD coding to enable driver adjustable power steering assist in the 2015 NMS Passat?
 

jrm

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Jul 24, 2013
Location
Oregon
TDI
2013 Passat SE with nav (totaled)
I did read somewhere where you can easily change the power assist levels
 

Jbratstdi

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 20, 2012
Location
North Florida
TDI
2012 Passat SEL-Sold Diesel Gate
So, with the introduction of electric power steering assist, has anyone found a VCSD coding to enable driver adjustable power steering assist in the 2015 NMS Passat?
You can also adjust brake power also I did it to my 21 tdi but don't remember how.... sorry but if you go into the abs setting or the brake settings I think you will be able to find it
 

sleek98

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 1, 2011
Location
Kansas City
TDI
2013 Passat TDI
Turned on the rain sensing wipers and rain close as well as turning off the DRL's. The sunroof only shut half way but the windows worked. Just have to tell the wife to keep the sunroof shut.

Rained all the way to work today and it was nice having the wipers adjust speed for how hard it rained.

Now just need to get a couple full tanks hand calced so I can adjust the screen readout to be correct.
 
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