Ok thanks, it’s all new to me, I have a VW Touareg 3.0 V6 Altitude which has cruise control but not as fancy pants as the T6.
Front Assist Not Available
- Thread starter Vwgirl87
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- acc city braking front assist
I recently changed the circumference of my wheels as per [Guide] [T6_modified] T6 Speedo Adjustment with VCDS, and since then my MFD shows "Front Assist Not Available" whenever I reach 40mph.
I hoped front assist would "recalibrate itself" based on what I've read online, but it's persisted for nearly a week and so I need to look at fixing it. I'll get a scan to check for faults.
I really don't care for the front assist functionally to be honest; in my 18 months experience with the van, it's only ever warned me if I've been too close to somebody on the motorway. I've tried disabling Front Assist via the MFD settings, but then I get an equally tedious "Front Assist disabled" orange icon flashing up periodically on the MFD.
Is there a way to disable front assist entirely via VCDS if I can't find/fix the fault?
I hoped front assist would "recalibrate itself" based on what I've read online, but it's persisted for nearly a week and so I need to look at fixing it. I'll get a scan to check for faults.
I really don't care for the front assist functionally to be honest; in my 18 months experience with the van, it's only ever warned me if I've been too close to somebody on the motorway. I've tried disabling Front Assist via the MFD settings, but then I get an equally tedious "Front Assist disabled" orange icon flashing up periodically on the MFD.
Is there a way to disable front assist entirely via VCDS if I can't find/fix the fault?
Thanks @Robert.
I don't know exactly what was changed via VCDS - somebody kindly did it for me as I don't have VCDS myself. I did make a note that, after some trial and error, the "Module 17, Byte 0, bits 0..3" setting was ultimately changed to 1, resulting in a reported wheel circumference of 2350mm for my van. When I go for a scan regarding this front assist issue, I'll try to get for more details (K-numbers, etc) and I'll ask if anything else was changed.
I'd certainly prefer to fix the front assist issue rather than disabling it. But I'm off on a 3 week road trip in a few weeks, and I'd really rather not have this message obscuring the MFD throughout the drive, so I'd like to know how to disable it (even temporarily) if I can't resolve the issue before I go.
Sadly my base spec van doesn't have cruise control, would I see any other benefits from enabling ACC?
I don't know exactly what was changed via VCDS - somebody kindly did it for me as I don't have VCDS myself. I did make a note that, after some trial and error, the "Module 17, Byte 0, bits 0..3" setting was ultimately changed to 1, resulting in a reported wheel circumference of 2350mm for my van. When I go for a scan regarding this front assist issue, I'll try to get for more details (K-numbers, etc) and I'll ask if anything else was changed.
I'd certainly prefer to fix the front assist issue rather than disabling it. But I'm off on a 3 week road trip in a few weeks, and I'd really rather not have this message obscuring the MFD throughout the drive, so I'd like to know how to disable it (even temporarily) if I can't resolve the issue before I go.
Sadly my base spec van doesn't have cruise control, would I see any other benefits from enabling ACC?
ACC is one of the star features of the van imho. I wouldn’t be without it. I use it on most trips.
Can you perform simple experiment?
Could you use Google Maps on your phone, set whatever destination you like and get on the road(any other GPS based speed measuring app will do as well)?
Speed up to 60mph(according to your Instrument Cluster, ideally digital one) and while maintaining this speed try to memorise/note down your vehicle speed(read from your mobile phone app).
ACC is a sophisticated version of Cruise Control.
Once you understand its principles of operation and associated limitations it will be your best option on your van.
EDIT:
You can switch off your FRONT ASSIST in your Instrument Cluster ASSISTANT MENU. Unfortunately you have to do it every time you switch ignition ON.
I guess it should be helpful as a temporary solution.
I used the Waze app as my speedo for the last 9 months or so since fitting the bigger wheels, during which time the digital speedometer on my van's instrument cluster would read 40 MPH, but Waze would show a vehicle speed of ~43 MPH. On the motorway, 70 MPH on my clocks would show as ~76 MPH in the Waze app. The speed shown on those radar speed signs would always align with the Waze GPS speed as well (i.e. actual vehicle speed is faster than shown on the instrument cluster). Because of my upcoming road trip, I wanted to get this corrected so I didn't need to worry about accidentally breaking the speed limit in a foreign country. Since making the above changes to wheel circumference in VCDS, when my van shows 40 MPH on the speedo, the Waze app shows an actual vehicle speed of ~38 MPH. I'm much happier with the minor inaccuracy this way round.
My van doesn't have Cruise Control, no controls for it on the dash, stalks or steering wheel. So I assume ACC is not something I can enable (despite having the radar sensor in the front bumper)?
Thanks, this is what I'm currently doing this to work around this "Front Assist Not Available" issue, but this still results in the icon below flashing up periodically on the MFD (this is less annoying than the "Front Assist Not Available" message though, because it only obscures the time and not the digital speed reading).
Earlier in the thread somebody asked for a photo, and I couldn’t find one anywhere else on the web, so I snapped one just now. This is what the “front assist not available” message looks like in my 2019 T6 Startline (photo taken by the passenger ).
For me, this message pops up for a few seconds, every few seconds, when travelling above 40 MPH (completely obscuring the digital speedo or whatever else is displayed on the MFD).
).For me, this message pops up for a few seconds, every few seconds, when travelling above 40 MPH (completely obscuring the digital speedo or whatever else is displayed on the MFD).
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I ran a scan with Carista to try and find out why front assist is "not available", it showed these fault codes:
I cleared them all and went for a drive, but "Front Assist: not available" flashed up as soon as I hit 40 MPH. A subsequent scan of the van now showed no faults.
These are the only notable events that have happened before this message started showing:
Code:
Central electronics:
01758 - Bulbs for Brake Lights
03302 - Feedback Locked-Position Passengers-Door
03442 - Feedback Lock-Position Trunk
00446 - Function Limitation due to Under-VoltageI cleared them all and went for a drive, but "Front Assist: not available" flashed up as soon as I hit 40 MPH. A subsequent scan of the van now showed no faults.
These are the only notable events that have happened before this message started showing:
- increased the wheel circumference via VCDS (as described in #24)
- rear coilovers adjusted (raised approx 20mm)
- battery died due to left on ignition, was then jumpstarted with NOCO (Carista reports current "Battery voltage as seen by the engine ECU" to be 13.3 V)
Have you checked the rear light bulbs?
Yep, all rear bulbs are working fine. I had a rear light disconnected the other week whilst tinkering with a barn door, I assume this caused the "01758 - Bulbs for Brake Lights" fault code. I'm unsure about the other faults but they've not returned since clearing them earlier today – only the "front assist not available" message persists!
So you're still getting the bulb out fault? If so I'd be taking out each brake light bulb and checking the resistance to ensure they match(even if they're working) don't forget the high level light. I know my ACC won't activate if a brake light bulb is out(or showing as)so assume this applies to any system able to apply the brakes.
Oh that’s useful information to know, thank you!
To clarify though, I cleared all of the aforementioned fault codes this morning, and none of them have returned since I cleared them. My van is currently reporting no faults, but it does still repeatedly warn me that “front assist is not available” whenever I exceed 40 MPH.
I can confirm all brake lights and bulbs are in working order. I’ve now done 75 miles since clearing previous faults mentioned above, including 60 motorway miles. Carista currently says there are no faults.
Yet the van still pops up “front assist not available” every few seconds.
What should I do next?
Yet the van still pops up “front assist not available” every few seconds.
What should I do next?
Ok, thanks @Robert. I’ll try to get access to VCDS this week. Are you able to provide a newbie like me with any more information about what I should be looking to adjust here?
Please see below.
Matti has done amazing research.
I would like to encourage you to read entire thread and you will become the expert.
Matti has done amazing research.
I would like to encourage you to read entire thread and you will become the expert.
Module 17 – Instruments carries also the coding to select a few scaling factors for speedometer.
Byte 0, bits 0..3 have mysterious value “K-number”. It turned out changing this coding adjusts measuring values IDE00842 (K-number) and IDE00845 (Wheel circ. mm) of module 17 - Instruments, and thus adjusts speedo scaling.
View attachment 20070
I run through all the above coding combinations 01-07 and read the measuring values for each coding combination. The results are in the table below.
View attachment 20072
Speedo can be adjusted simply by changing the coding. Resulting speedometer delta (vs. factory setting) can be seen in rightmost column, which is actually just a calculation of “corrected” wheel circumference vs. factory value (grayed line).
However, there are some indications that also other factory settings exist...
In the case above the change can only make speedo read higher as the van came from the factory with tiny 16” wheels and coding is already at the "lowest" setting of “6”.Besides factory setting I verified coding values 3 and 4, and indeed speedo is reading way more over. For example, with coding “3” driving at 100 km/h (GPS-speed) the speedo was about 112-113 km/h. At factory coding "6" at 100 km/h (GPS-speed) the speedo reads about 102-103 km/h. As expected these match with the table above (about 9% difference). I think this already is a quite good confirmation that delta values in the table work for the purpose.
Hopefully members can confirm the table above or just parts of that. Especially interesting would be to see how vans with factory wheels of 17” or 18” are coded and if the measurement values IDE00842/IDE00845 vs. coding are the same or different. Also if any unexpected side effects can be seen in changing the coding… would definitely be nice to know.
Just for the record that in VCDS adaptations is a channel “ENG112416-IDE01766 Velocity detection – Distance impulses”, which has value “4”. Changing that didn’t have any effect on above mentioned measuring values. So the purpose of this channel remains unclear, hence request to consider any side effects.
This tweak is an adaptation from Speedometer Calibration - Page 3
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Edit:
Added a table from a different van.
View attachment 20659
EDIT (2022-04-15)
*** NOTE!!! This modification is NOT applicable to T6.1 ***
*** IRREVERSIBLE on T6.1 ***
T6.1 electronics are based on MQB architecture thus very different than T6.
Unfortunately there are indications that the speedo adjustment on T6.1 is a one-time deal - thus irreversible View attachment 153106
Please have a read of the following:
VW Transporter T6.1 2021 Wheel size coding changes issue
Hiya folks! A customer of mine changed his wheels to 20" and wanted his speedo coded to suit the new wheel size. No issue as this is an available change via the "K-Number" coding in 17 Instrument Cluster and done this many times in older Transporters and Amaroks. Well, turns out there is an...forums.ross-tech.com
2020 MAN TGE (VW CRAFTER2), Coding BYTE3 in Control Unit J285 can not be undone
Hello VCDS community, first I have to thank Uwe for this great tool (VCDS), which gives me so many opportunities with the car. I love it. Thank you very much for that. :thumbs: A short introduction to my person. My name is Thorsten and I am an electronic engineer and computer guy from Germany...
I have a T6.1 (20) this is the second year running I have intermittent issues with the front assist. I have now narrowed it down to sunny days!!! For some reason it is when the van has been parked up in the heat/sun and it comes on automatically when driving away, then re sets after use!
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