Why duplicate ABS and Airbag icons ??

Sorry if this is a dumb question.. yet it’ll be good to know in order to better understand the car operates.
There is many icons on the bottom edge of the cluster.
Including the ABS and Airbag icons, right? Right.

Why then, the duplicate icons for ABS and Airbags, on the small square dashboard insert, located just next to the headlight switch?

For whatever reason VW didn't use the positions in the cluster. I can't say why.

-J

compu_85 said:

For whatever reason VW didn't use the positions in the cluster. I can't say why.

Click to expand...

Wow, VW wiring engineers made an error, that’s unexpected.
My TDI is missing this insert for the Airbag icon and Seatbelt icon (it doesn’t have the ABS option).
Was this small Airbag/Seatbelt icon insert absolutely installed at factory, and the previous owner removed it?

Different markets have different requirements, too. There were A3 platform cars sold that had no OBD of any kind. No SRS, no ABS, nothing. A fair amount of that car is cobbled together from leftovers from the '80s.

There seems to exist just about every possible combination of these four, with one two or three icons on the insert:
1. ABS
2. Airbag
3. Seatbelt
4. Unknown icon looks like hazards indicator two arrows and a number 1 in middle.

That's unusual, I don't remember that far left dash insert being used after 1996 but I could be wrong. Does it actually illuminate at startup to show that the icons warning lights are working?

My airbag icon works and it's in the cluster, I would have expected yours to work too, however, the ABS (if you actually have it) harness is separate from the general wiring harness for these cars so that might explain why your car would have the left most indicator light. The fact that you have ABS and SRS too might have required the use of the left most insert as well.

The last time I saw one of those left most inserts was on a car with some kind of towing package. It did not have ABS or SRS indicators though.

And not to be contrary to OH but the Mk3 used far items from past models versus other cars, like Mk2, in fact I have never seen a specific 1HX part number with a production date from before 1991. Even the 357 leftovers only trace back to the late 80's. The brakes and suspension and bits of drivetrain are the only places where I see carryover production.

For small scale things I can see how there could be carryover from one gen to the next, and certainly we see that often, but it's not because we have a container full of XX and we need to use it, it's because we've already designed XX and it will work for this chassis. That's a pretty big distinction in my book.

Steve

Chris_TDI_98 said:

There seems to exist just about every possible combination of these four, with one two or three icons on the insert:
1. ABS
2. Airbag
3. Seatbelt
4. Unknown icon looks like hazards indicator two arrows and a number 1 in middle.

Click to expand...

The unknown icon you mentioned is for towing IIRC


Steve

Yes, the <-1-> icon is a repeater that indicates the trailer turn signals are working (and that a trailer is "seen" by the trailer control module).

Why VW didn't just leave all of that in the cluster - when the cluster has the positions for it already! - is beyond me. Perhaps it would have required different circuit board versions and they didn't want to do that?

It could also be a styling hold over from the Mk2?

compu_85 said:

Yes, the <-1-> icon is a repeater that indicates the trailer turn signals are working (and that a trailer is "seen" by the trailer control module).

Why VW didn't just leave all of that in the cluster - when the cluster has the positions for it already! - is beyond me. Perhaps it would have required different circuit board versions and they didn't want to do that?

It could also be a styling hold over from the Mk2?

Click to expand...

Maybe it's because the wiring loom didn't have all that stuff integrated into it, I know that the ABS harness is a separate entity, perhaps the other things are too for some cases.

I do agree though, seems odd that it's not fully integrated, especially since two of the three icons already exist in the cluster.

Steve

Steve Addy said:

That's unusual, I don't remember that far left dash insert being used after 1996 but I could be wrong. Does it actually illuminate at startup to show that the icons warning lights are working?

Click to expand...

Sorry for slow reply.
My tdi doesn’t actually have this icon insert near headlight switch.
If it did have it, the PO maybe removed it?
Reason to ask about it is, I found this driver side icon dash insert on an mk3 Cabrio at the self service junk yard, and it made me wonder: A. why have duplicate redundant icons?
B. Why doesn’t my TDI have those redundant icons?
C. Should it have them?
D. Is the engine computer expecting to show me those icons on the insert and not on the cluster, and I’m missibg out on whatever it has tried, or will try to tell me about Airbag or Seatbelt status??

My airbag icon works and it's in the cluster, I would have expected yours to work too, however, the ABS (if you actually have it) harness is separate from the general wiring harness for these cars so that might explain why your car would have the left most indicator light. The fact that you have ABS and SRS too might have required the use of the left most insert as well.

Click to expand...

Actually my TDI doesn’t have ABS, nor factory Towing, unfortunately.
Only has Airbag, and the central locking.
Also no AC, no power windows.

When you power on the car, you see an Airbag icon, but NOT a Seatbelt icon..?!

Is the Seatbelt relay (the one that makes the three note melody tones) required to be installed in order for the Seatbelt icon to light up? I bet not but had to ask.

Yes - the seat belt relay controls the seatbelt light. And the key in ignition warning, and the lights on warning.

As I mentioned before the icon in the small end piece is not something I remember after 1996 but I could be wrong about that too, especially when it comes to Cabrio, which is something of a different beast.

I will say though that a 98 GTI 2.0L I saw at Upull a few days ago did have the ABS light in the small trim piece on the left so I'm probably not remembering correctly about that. It didn't have either of the other icons but I wouldn't expect it to.

Steve

As far as I've seen, All Mk3s/ with ABS in the USA have the warning light off to the side. The seatbelt warning light is always in the cluster. The SRS warning light moved from the side to the cluster around 1997.

PS: Chris, did you know the cluster can display a digital tach in the odometer

-J

compu_85 said:

PS: Chris, did you know the cluster can display a digital tach in the odometer

Click to expand...

Yes I saw somewhere on a vw site can’t recsll which one, that there’s a cheat code to show digital tach in place of the odometer.

Will try it for fun. Need to do some urgent repairs as well, ie getting the hanging cat welded back to the downstream pipe, fix or replace leaking front drivers side tire, rust stuff before it snows, rear and maybe front struts as well, cabin air filter, new upgrades led lighting, restore alarm and keyless entry, start button, and gps tracker with streaming cloud video lol.