I recently bought a used '07 vw rabbit, and today when I tried to use my parking lights, I could not find any way to turn them on. I called the dealer later, and was told the rabbit does not have “parking lights”. What should I use when I want to pull off the roadway briefly, etc. and why did they not put parking lights on this car? Is this a new trend?
I seriously doubt that your car “does not have parking lights”.
In fact, since motor vehicle regs in many European countries require that parking lights be lit up when a vehicle is parked on their very narrow older streets and roads, it is counterintuitive to think that a German car would not have parking lights.
If I was in your position, I would be reading the Owner’s Manual very carefully, in order to find out the answer to your question.
If this used car did not come with an Owner’s Manual (for some reason, they seem to disappear from many used cars), then you need to get one–for this reason as well as untold other reasons that will crop up while you are the owner of this car. As but one VERY important reason, you need the maintenance schedule that is contained in the manual.
E-bay is a good source for low-cost Owner’s Manuals.
It’s hard to believe this isn’t covered in your manual. What does it say?
Evidently the manual is hindden in a special pocket on the upper portion of the glove box. Sounds like it is easy to miss. The information should be in there.
Thanks for the comments. I have read the manual and find nothing related to parking lights. I have searched the controls, and find nothing that turns on parking lights. I am puzzled why the gentleman at the service department would tell me that the car has no parking lights. I will go to an independent mechanic who works on vw’s and see what he (or she) can tell me. Is there anyone who has an 07 rabbit (or Golf) that can explain this? I, too, cannot believe vw would make a car with no park lights. Plus, I would love to find a way to disengage the DRL’s.
I would be very surprised if it did not have parking lights. My 2002 has them.
I will add one thing that might be missed by most people including the pros here.
There are a number of possible adjustments that can be made by a computer based VW specific tool. They have different names for different years of cars. They allow many adjustments to be made that can't be done without the proper computer based tool.
Chances are the DLR's may be modified as you like.
I would suggest that, in general, it is better to keep them than shut them down. The fuel used, head lamp life and other common reasons for wanting to turn them off really are based on faulty or overstated reasons. For example the life of the lamp with DRLs is only slightly less than without the DRLs and they have been proven to provide a "slight" increase in safety on the free way.
You also may want to look into a European headlamp switch for your car. You might also want to check the local authority and/or insurance company to make sure deactivating them might cause you some unexpected problems.
My personal opinion is that far too much attention is directed at DRL's
Have a great day.
My '01 Jetta does not. Well, not exactly. The lights switch has “ON” and “OFF”, with daytime running lights being the full headlights, low beam. The only way to turn all the lights off (engine running or rather, ignition on), is to put the switch in the off position, and pull the hand brake.
On and Off…me, too.
You can achieve a “parking lights on” scenario by shutting everything down, engaging the parking brake, and turning on the lights. The little computer/speaker/alarm will scream at you, but you’re parking lights should be on.
In some European countries (as noted above), you would turn on the turn signal when parked (left blink if on the right side of the road, and vice-versa) to turn on the outer parking lights only, but that circuit appears to not be installed on my American spec VW.
Chase