Smart-arse car annoying me in winter...

[sosidge]

Anyone else get frustrated by the supposedly "convenient" functions of the Altea's basic controls (and probably everything else in the modern VW group).

#1 Most annoying in the winter for me - the wipers. They come to a standstill when you stop, and don't start again until the car is travelling at the door locking speed. So if you pull away after parking, your screen stays wet and you stay blind until you are moving fast enough to kill a child, or you click the stalk up to the next setting and the wipers go crazy.

#2 Strangely pointless - the ice warning symbol "bings" when the temperature drops, but the symbol doesn't stay on, so you have no idea whether there is an ice risk if you get in the car and it is already below 4C.

#3 (Nothing to do with winter) - the bloody central locking. Every time I stop to get out of the car with the keys in to get something out of the boot or to see one of the kids in the back, the door is locked, so I have to go around to my door again to press the stupid door lock button (which I always forget to push in advance).

Seriously, what was wrong with wipers that were either on or off, warning lights that stayed on, and door locks that were either open or closed? I'm smarter than the SEAT Altea, let me make the decisions please!

 

[andycupra]

totally agree with you on the wipers.

wipe when i want, not when you think i want!

 

[truCido]

you must be able to disable the wiper thing with vagcom?

likewise with the central locking?

 

[Toxic]

1. dont go fast to kill a child i must be lucky I dont have rain sensors mine just work as to whatever the position of the switch is in.

2. do you not have the onboard trip/temp computer? just take a look at the temp reading.

3. remove key and all doors unlock. leaving the key in while you get someone out of the back attracts car jackers

 

[GazM]

Not an Altea, but my wipers just go down a speed when I stop, so if they're on fast they go slow, and if on slow they turn to intermittent until I start moving again.

Don't know about the wipers but I'm sure I read somewhere that the locking doors above 10mph can be turned off with vagcom.

 

[Viking]

Seriously, what was wrong with wipers that were either on or off, warning lights that stayed on, and door locks that were either open or closed? I'm smarter than the SEAT Altea, let me make the decisions please!

The car stops the wipers for you when you're at a standstill, but doesn't start them again fast enough for you. Make the decision to start them yourself then, cos I bet you'd probably have stopped them yourself to stop them screeching and streaking the screen.

The car warns you that it's icy when your driving, because you might encounter a change in circumstances. But if you get in the car and it doesn't tell you then maybe you should've had a quick look at the world as you walked to the car and seen for yourself that there was ice on the road.

The door locking feature can easily be disabled by VCDS or the dealers will no doubt do it for you. But if you want to make all the decisions then just unlock the doors when you stop. Better you unlocking them as required than someone lifting your laptop from the boot or rear seat as you sit at traffic lights.

 

[matt_s]

#3- why not stop the engine and take the keys with you? Better than you walking round the car with the engine running and someone nicking the car with the kids in it.

 

[microgerry]

#3- why not stop the engine and take the keys with you? Better than you walking round the car with the engine running and someone nicking the car with the kids in it.

Better than that. ALWAYS take the keys out when you leave the car. A year ago we were travelling down to Portsmouth from North Wales for a long weekend when we stopped to refuel at services by Oxford.

I left the key in while I pumped the fuel. My mrs got out to get something out the boot to find it locked. I told her to unlock the car from the button inside.

She unfortunately locked it, closed her passenger door and got to the boot. That was when I took more notice. Standing in a freezing garage in just a teeshirt. Couldn't even pay for the fuel as everything was inside the car. Had to wait an hour for the AA to come and get us in to the car. Cost her £100 as SEAT cover had expired.

Needless to say the rest of the journey was a quiet one.

ALWAYS REMOVE THE KEY!

 

[klawit]

ALWAYS REMOVE THE KEY!

...or at least carry a spare one in your trousers' pocket

As I see it, it's not an easy job for car manufacturers to satisfy all needs of each and every customer ... as those "comfort" functions like autom. door lock (> 15 km/h) or single door opening are a benefit for those in need of additional safety and a nuisance for the others being used to less confusing mechanisms.

So the good news was mentioned before:
it can be (re-)programmed via OBD, dealers should be capable to do so, as the above "door lock" features are not part of any value packet (i.e no additional goodies the dealer would need to charge you for ... thou the OBD-coding itself might cost you some bucks).

greets ... Klaus

 

[hanxslf]

design fault

I found a design fault with the wipers, Just a few weeks ago when when we had some heavy snow ere in Yorkshire.(It's grim up north) I was on my way to work with the snow coming down heavily and the car not up to a good temperature, the snow builds up where the wipers rest in the pillars so after a while the wipers are not doing a full cycle and this caused the wipers to stop.(possibly over heated and cut out) So i had to get out of the car to clear the snow in the recess so the wipers would work their full cycle, I had to do this 3 or 4 times on my way to work. I travel about 9 miles to work and the car does not get warmed up till I'm 3/4 of the way there. Only when the car got up to a good temp did this help melt the snow hitting the screen, so this eased the build up of snow. I 'd hate to think i had a long journey to drive in very heavy snow

 

[googies]

These cars are designed for use in warmer clims i think, no thought to snow build up, do you see much in Spain? Ford and the likes have heated front screens, no need for this in likes of Seats home turf.....Spain.

 

[loadswine]

The DSG models definitely are designed for warmer climes. Mine has to be the hardest car to drive in snow and ice I've ever had. I've luckily only had to do this a couple of times, it is a pig in those conditions. You get stuck so easily and just can't get traction at all if there is even the slightest slope.
What idiot left out an ice drive program for the gearbox. It was designed in Germany wasn't it?

 

[dlm2310]

Anyone else get frustrated by the supposedly "convenient" functions of the Altea's basic controls (and probably everything else in the modern VW group).

#1 Most annoying in the winter for me - the wipers. They come to a standstill when you stop, and don't start again until the car is travelling at the door locking speed. So if you pull away after parking, your screen stays wet and you stay blind until you are moving fast enough to kill a child, or you click the stalk up to the next setting and the wipers go crazy.

#2 Strangely pointless - the ice warning symbol "bings" when the temperature drops, but the symbol doesn't stay on, so you have no idea whether there is an ice risk if you get in the car and it is already below 4C.

#3 (Nothing to do with winter) - the bloody central locking. Every time I stop to get out of the car with the keys in to get something out of the boot or to see one of the kids in the back, the door is locked, so I have to go around to my door again to press the stupid door lock button (which I always forget to push in advance).

Seriously, what was wrong with wipers that were either on or off, warning lights that stayed on, and door locks that were either open or closed? I'm smarter than the SEAT Altea, let me make the decisions please!

#2

It does tell you !!

Fair enough it doesn't bing put as soon as you turn the ignition, if the temp is lower than 4 degrees the temp will flash intermittently for about 3 seconds regardless of what your trip computer is set to.

 

[Donitsi]

These cars are designed for use in warmer clims i think, no thought to snow build up, do you see much in Spain? Ford and the likes have heated front screens, no need for this in likes of Seats home turf.....Spain.

I don't really know how your cars are equipped but those which come to Finland have(atleast the salesman told so) heater elements by the pilars wipers rest. I believe they work from same button as the heated mirrors.

 

[loadswine]

We don't even get the heated mirrors, so Seat in the UK are relying on global warming making up the shortfall of the spec they give us! lol
Does the DSG in Finland have a snow or ice drive setting?

 

[ackers1987]

i no how you feal

 

[hanxslf]

I don't really know how your cars are equipped but those which come to Finland have(atleast the salesman told so) heater elements by the pilars wipers rest. I believe they work from same button as the heated mirrors.

mine defo doesn't have the heated mirrors or screen, just been looking in manual pages 121-125

http://www.scribd.com/doc/2550644/Seat-Altea-Owners-Manual-English-2006-Version ( online manual )

 

[Donitsi]

We have the winter packet as standard. Heated mirrors, front seats, rear window.

I don´t think that DSG has any different settings here. I haven´t driven any model with DSG. Maybe better winter tyres, more designed for ice and snow.

 

[googies]

As said we dont even get heated mirrors, the UK/Ireland spec is pretty crap unless you really want to pay over the odds for anything, winter pack used to be available if i remember correctly but not anymore.

 

[DanGB]

hmmm. Heated mirrors are standard on the better spec leons.