Emergency braking--ABS w/hazard lights

Well I had the opportunity to stop emergently the other day--I drove around a bend towards an intersection, and a driver in a Mazda 3 didn't see me coming, and tried to make a left turn in front of me. I hit the brakes hard, and ABS kicked in for a split second, and I was able to stop in time.

I had turned on the "hazard light w/ABS function" in VCDS a while ago but this was the first time I witnessed it in action.

The hazard lights came on, but unlike my Jetta, they stayed on until I switched them off with the hazard light switch.

Seems like a good idea to keep the hazards going, especially in my situation, where I was at a full stop and cars may have been coming around the bend, not expecting a car fully stopped in the road.

So this feature does not come activated from the factory? You had to turn it on?

Glad you're OK... pat yourself on the back for nailing evasive actions. And thanks for demonstrating the advantage of auto-enabled hazards. At the very least it quickly alerts those around you, which is critical in poor weather conditions.

As for the other guy... needs to work on his Zoom-Zoom.

I saw that function in there, with options for flashing the hazzards or brake lights. I hadn't seen it on the vcds tricks page so i didn't enable it. I will now.

The mazda 3 has something similar from the factory. Under hard braking, but not necessarily abs, the brake lights pulse. (Noticed it multiple times following my girlfriend, but haven't seen any mention of it as a feature) EDIT - turns out it was a programming issue in the PCM being over aggressive with voltage regulation as a fuel saving measure. It progressively got worse and an update corrected it.

Im new to VCDS, like never used it new- where is this option at? I have always manually flashed my brakes and manually turned on the flashers when going from 65 to zero in interstate congestion, its the 2nd best way other than purposely weaving to the left to get the attention of the drivers behind you.

I dug threw the ABS section with the abs light flashing on the dash, didn't see anything...

Look at the BCM - address 09
Byte 16
Bit 1 is for brake light flashing
Bit 2 is for turn signal flashing.

I have both activation, but have yet to see the turns flash,
Got to brake harder......

so I was telling my friend who is a local cop about this. he said not to enable it as its illegal in the states to have any flashing lights on breaking, solid red is the only approved color. he even said the amber rear turn signals were not approved and was an 1980's Asian import issue back in the days but became grandfathered into a approved color

jrm, sounds like your cop friend is confused. Amber turn signals are allowed.

FWIW, I did turn on the brake light flashing feature in our car but did not turn on the hazard flashing feature.

-J

jrm said:

so I was telling my friend who is a local cop about this. he said not to enable it as its illegal in the states to have any flashing lights on breaking, solid red is the only approved color. he even said the amber rear turn signals were not approved and was an 1980's Asian import issue back in the days but became grandfathered into a approved color

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They aren't break lights, they are an automatically initiated hazard lights during distressful driving situations. It's legal to turn your hazards on in situations like that like during heavy rain, slow traffic or other such times so I don't see how this would be less so.

They aren't amber brake lights, they're hazard lights.

I guess they may have been illegal at some point, but they're not now or else my car would also be illegal along with hundreds of thousands (If not millions) of cars on the roads today. I always thought it looked better too, no offense; flashing brake lights just don't make sense to me.

Turning your hazards on while driving down the road during heavy rain and fog is hazardous (this is what rear fog lights are for), as it makes it difficult to tell the difference between someone stopped on the shoulder (an appropriate use of your hazard lights) and some idiot driving down the road with the blinkers on (an inappropriate use of your hazard lights). Another appropriate use: traveling under the minimum speed limit in the right lane (example, a tractor trailer going slowly up a mountain) or when specifically instructed to do so during _____ situations by highway signs.

Regardless, there are state laws regarding hazard light use, and the laws vary from state to state. Here is a list of all states and their laws regarding hazard light use... http://drivinglaws.aaa.com/laws/hazard-light-use/

A panic stop situation would be considered an appropriate use of hazard lights in most states because it indicates a hazardous situation.

And specifically in response to jrm's cop friend, who I assume is in Oregon...

Oregon
Hazard light use is permitted unless otherwise posted.

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great post, thanks veedubtdi- I think he was more talking about the flashing break lights rather than the hazards. I'll bring it up with him again next Saturday and have that link handy

Don't assume you know the laws of every state or that they are consistent. They are NOT and there are a lot of weird one's on the book out there.

Is this going mainstream in the USA ?

http://www.motorweek.org/reviews/road_tests/2012_porsche_911/


See video @ 1:42

Strange that some jurisdictions don't allow hazard light use. I've always turned them on when doing a sudden stop on a highway or freeway, or if stopped on a highway or freeway and I'm the last car and there is question whether those coming up behind me will notice the stopped traffic. Don't know if such a law on the books would keep me from doing it either.

Have also used it when towing my trailer (with the van) and my speed has dropped below 60 km/h (40 mph) during a steep ascent up a mountain (like many truckers do).

VeeDubTDI said:

Turning your hazards on while driving down the road during heavy rain and fog is hazardous ... and some idiot driving down the road with the blinkers on (an inappropriate use of your hazard lights).

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^^^this times 1000! I see it every time it snows out here.