Seat Leon 2018 FR Technology
Discussion
I have a Leon FR and although some of the Technology is much better than my old Leon TSi Sport, some of it is damn annoying. Can anyone advise on the following.
1/ Set the auto stop/start to be off by default. I am quite capable of deciding when I want to switch the bloody engine off.
2/ Is there a setting to direct cold air to the screen only. (only seem to be able to do this with the defrost setting which is hot air. On a damp humid summer day I want cold air on the screen) I can do it by setting to screen, shutting the side vents & set to cold but not ideal.
3/ Is there any way to release the electronic handbrake without starting the engine and shutting the doors. I often park across the drive when no kerbside space and then push the car forward when space, can't do that now.
4/ At night is there a way to manually dim the dials and touch screen. And when only the daylight lights are on is here a way to fix the dial lights on. When passing through trees the dial lights try and auto brighten and dim which means they end up flashing on and off passing trees in sunlight.
Some technology is great but some things should be left to the driver.
1/ Set the auto stop/start to be off by default. I am quite capable of deciding when I want to switch the bloody engine off.
2/ Is there a setting to direct cold air to the screen only. (only seem to be able to do this with the defrost setting which is hot air. On a damp humid summer day I want cold air on the screen) I can do it by setting to screen, shutting the side vents & set to cold but not ideal.
3/ Is there any way to release the electronic handbrake without starting the engine and shutting the doors. I often park across the drive when no kerbside space and then push the car forward when space, can't do that now.
4/ At night is there a way to manually dim the dials and touch screen. And when only the daylight lights are on is here a way to fix the dial lights on. When passing through trees the dial lights try and auto brighten and dim which means they end up flashing on and off passing trees in sunlight.
Some technology is great but some things should be left to the driver.
[
I've got a similar car, albeit 5 years old, but I'll try and help....
1/ The default setting on any car with Eco Stop / Start is for it to be engaged. I'd encourage you to give it a try and get accustomed to it. Once you do, it becomes unremarkable, will save you money from burning unnecessary fuel and make the air quality a little better for us all.
Incidentally, manufacturers were originally going to omit any way of disabling the system at all until they took a poll of owners and found that a little over half them would prefer to have such a button. They cited that it gave them a sense of taking back control, however misplaced, even if it would end up costing them more money and make life worse for everyone else.
2/ You can do this using the defrost setting. This delivers a high volume of air to the screen vents but only at the temperature chosen in the climate control. It doesn't deliver heated air unless you have chosen a temperature above the ambient.
3/ That's hilarious. Can't imagine how they missed that in customer clinics and product testing. The fools!
4/ What happens if you turn the headlights off the Auto setting? I quite sure you are capable of deciding when you want to turn the bloody lights on and off :-)
Seriously though, none of this is new technology: Eco stop-start has been around since the Golf 3 Eco Matic in 1993, electric parking brakes for nearly 20 years ( 2002 S-type is the first I can recall off the top of my head, maybe the D2 Audi A8 was earlier?) If it's new to you then just take a while to acclimatise to it like almost everyone else has - good luck with it
!
I've got a similar car, albeit 5 years old, but I'll try and help....
1/ The default setting on any car with Eco Stop / Start is for it to be engaged. I'd encourage you to give it a try and get accustomed to it. Once you do, it becomes unremarkable, will save you money from burning unnecessary fuel and make the air quality a little better for us all.
Incidentally, manufacturers were originally going to omit any way of disabling the system at all until they took a poll of owners and found that a little over half them would prefer to have such a button. They cited that it gave them a sense of taking back control, however misplaced, even if it would end up costing them more money and make life worse for everyone else.
2/ You can do this using the defrost setting. This delivers a high volume of air to the screen vents but only at the temperature chosen in the climate control. It doesn't deliver heated air unless you have chosen a temperature above the ambient.
3/ That's hilarious. Can't imagine how they missed that in customer clinics and product testing. The fools!
4/ What happens if you turn the headlights off the Auto setting? I quite sure you are capable of deciding when you want to turn the bloody lights on and off :-)
Seriously though, none of this is new technology: Eco stop-start has been around since the Golf 3 Eco Matic in 1993, electric parking brakes for nearly 20 years ( 2002 S-type is the first I can recall off the top of my head, maybe the D2 Audi A8 was earlier?) If it's new to you then just take a while to acclimatise to it like almost everyone else has - good luck with it
!Thanks for the replies however none of these work
1/ Agree I can manually overide the auto stop & do when I remember. I do not agree the feature adds to economy as continuos stop start uses more fuel and wear on the engine
2/ The defrost setting on my car overides the temp. setting and blows hot air on the screen
3/ The other comment about switching the ignition on did not allow manual overide even with the door shut. This may be a fault as it must overideable so will check when I have time.
4/ The day driving lights are on permanently along with the light sensitive dial light. Problem is going past trees it goes light/dard all the while and in dim light the dials are not illuminated. When the headlights are switched on the touch screen and dial lights appear to stay constant, I would like to manually dim them in the dark.
5/ I have added another annoyance. On my previous cars on frosty mornings I have started the car with the spare key & locked it with the the main key, it is nicely defrosted and warm inside when I leave for work. Can't do this now as modern car do not have a key hole & cannot be centrally locked while running.
Apart from these unecessary 'features' its a great car
1/ Agree I can manually overide the auto stop & do when I remember. I do not agree the feature adds to economy as continuos stop start uses more fuel and wear on the engine
2/ The defrost setting on my car overides the temp. setting and blows hot air on the screen
3/ The other comment about switching the ignition on did not allow manual overide even with the door shut. This may be a fault as it must overideable so will check when I have time.
4/ The day driving lights are on permanently along with the light sensitive dial light. Problem is going past trees it goes light/dard all the while and in dim light the dials are not illuminated. When the headlights are switched on the touch screen and dial lights appear to stay constant, I would like to manually dim them in the dark.
5/ I have added another annoyance. On my previous cars on frosty mornings I have started the car with the spare key & locked it with the the main key, it is nicely defrosted and warm inside when I leave for work. Can't do this now as modern car do not have a key hole & cannot be centrally locked while running.
Apart from these unecessary 'features' its a great car
If you get a Carista OBD2 dongle from Amazon, you can connect it to the car via a app and it gives you loads of settings. One of them in to turn the start stop off by default or remember the last position of the button
The dials can be dimmed in the car menu on the main screen. I don’t think you can change the daytime only the nighttime but if you’ve got the OBD dongle you can change how sensitive the auto lights are so if you set it to low they most likely wouldn’t come on with trees etc
The dials can be dimmed in the car menu on the main screen. I don’t think you can change the daytime only the nighttime but if you’ve got the OBD dongle you can change how sensitive the auto lights are so if you set it to low they most likely wouldn’t come on with trees etc
All cars have start/stop on by default with no option to change it permanently due to emissions rules in the UK/EU which are/were tested in the cars default setting when first switched on.
I don't know if it still applies now but US models would let you keep the setting after turning the car off because their tests weren't an issue.
Which means that it is possible to disable start/stop but as someone said above you need a cable and edit the data files directly. You'll need to find a guide online to help you out as you won't want to be fiddling with the wrong settings.
I don't know if it still applies now but US models would let you keep the setting after turning the car off because their tests weren't an issue.
Which means that it is possible to disable start/stop but as someone said above you need a cable and edit the data files directly. You'll need to find a guide online to help you out as you won't want to be fiddling with the wrong settings.
I am curious about all this so......
Same question on wear and tear. I can see the logic but have not heard reports of start/stop cars having excessive engine (or more likely starter) wear.

sapy said:
Thanks for the replies however none of these work
1/ Agree I can manually overide the auto stop & do when I remember. I do not agree the feature adds to economy as continuos stop start uses more fuel and wear on the engine
Why do you think it uses more fuel? All real world tests I have seen say it saves fuel, albeit only a small amount depending on driving. 1/ Agree I can manually overide the auto stop & do when I remember. I do not agree the feature adds to economy as continuos stop start uses more fuel and wear on the engine
Same question on wear and tear. I can see the logic but have not heard reports of start/stop cars having excessive engine (or more likely starter) wear.
sapy said:
Thanks for the replies however none of these work
2/ The defrost setting on my car overides the temp. setting and blows hot air on the screen
Why do you want cold air? Surely It will demist or defrost quicker if the air is warmed up. 2/ The defrost setting on my car overides the temp. setting and blows hot air on the screen
sapy said:
Thanks for the replies however none of these work
3/ The other comment about switching the ignition on did not allow manual overide even with the door shut. This may be a fault as it must overideable so will check when I have time.
4/ The day driving lights are on permanently along with the light sensitive dial light. Problem is going past trees it goes light/dard all the while and in dim light the dials are not illuminated. When the headlights are switched on the touch screen and dial lights appear to stay constant, I would like to manually dim them in the dark.
5/ I have added another annoyance. On my previous cars on frosty mornings I have started the car with the spare key & locked it with the the main key, it is nicely defrosted and warm inside when I leave for work. Can't do this now as modern car do not have a key hole & cannot be centrally locked while running.
I can see why these might be annoying, although on the last point a pet hate of mine is people who start there car and leave it running for half a hour to warm up, when 1 minute and a scraper would save me having to listen to it and breath its fumes 3/ The other comment about switching the ignition on did not allow manual overide even with the door shut. This may be a fault as it must overideable so will check when I have time.
4/ The day driving lights are on permanently along with the light sensitive dial light. Problem is going past trees it goes light/dard all the while and in dim light the dials are not illuminated. When the headlights are switched on the touch screen and dial lights appear to stay constant, I would like to manually dim them in the dark.
5/ I have added another annoyance. On my previous cars on frosty mornings I have started the car with the spare key & locked it with the the main key, it is nicely defrosted and warm inside when I leave for work. Can't do this now as modern car do not have a key hole & cannot be centrally locked while running.

sapy said:
The Carista OBD2 dongle sounds good, but a bit expensive for what I want to do as the App is on subscription
You get a month free which you cancel straight away so do what you need in first month then happy days. I’ve just got one today for my Cupra and turned down the soundaktor. Life saver. I saw the option about start stop etc and it’s very easy to use
steedy27 said:
Obdeleven is another option, keep an eye out for the Sales they have if its not urgent. Does the same as Carista.
Yep I paid £9.99 for my carista with a free months trailTurned the start stop off in my Leon, turned on cornering fogs, mirrors on first click etc.
Decent for a tenner!
I currently have a 2016 Leon SC FR 1.8tsi DSG (soon to be replaced with a new Polo GTi+), I got OBDeleven and made lots of changes so well worth it, esp as I can use it on my new Polo when it arrives.
1. Set the minimum battery voltage for Stop\Start to work to a value it will never be, so it never cuts in (just shows a small icon when the car is stopped to show it is unavailable)
2. Set door mirrors to fold on lock, not having to hold the lock button down (this used to wind me up!)
3. As mine only has rear parking sensors the visual display on the touch screen was disabled, enabled it now and only shows the rear of the car so the system is programed to show for cars with only rear sensors!
4. Set the climate control to show the fan speed on the LED's when on auto
5. Set the heated seats to remember their last setting after the car has been switched off.
6. Enabled "Scandinavian DRL's" (ie rear lights on with the DRL's, though I think this is now standard on the Leon.
7. I did set the dial sweep on when switching on the ignition but didn't like it so switched it off.
I think I did some more but can't remember, well worth the cost as far as I'm concerned.
1. Set the minimum battery voltage for Stop\Start to work to a value it will never be, so it never cuts in (just shows a small icon when the car is stopped to show it is unavailable)
2. Set door mirrors to fold on lock, not having to hold the lock button down (this used to wind me up!)
3. As mine only has rear parking sensors the visual display on the touch screen was disabled, enabled it now and only shows the rear of the car so the system is programed to show for cars with only rear sensors!
4. Set the climate control to show the fan speed on the LED's when on auto
5. Set the heated seats to remember their last setting after the car has been switched off.
6. Enabled "Scandinavian DRL's" (ie rear lights on with the DRL's, though I think this is now standard on the Leon.
7. I did set the dial sweep on when switching on the ignition but didn't like it so switched it off.
I think I did some more but can't remember, well worth the cost as far as I'm concerned.
Griff74 said:
I currently have a 2016 Leon SC FR 1.8tsi DSG (soon to be replaced with a new Polo GTi+), I got OBDeleven and made lots of changes so well worth it, esp as I can use it on my new Polo when it arrives.
1. Set the minimum battery voltage for Stop\Start to work to a value it will never be, so it never cuts in (just shows a small icon when the car is stopped to show it is unavailable)
2. Set door mirrors to fold on lock, not having to hold the lock button down (this used to wind me up!)
3. As mine only has rear parking sensors the visual display on the touch screen was disabled, enabled it now and only shows the rear of the car so the system is programed to show for cars with only rear sensors!
4. Set the climate control to show the fan speed on the LED's when on auto
5. Set the heated seats to remember their last setting after the car has been switched off.
6. Enabled "Scandinavian DRL's" (ie rear lights on with the DRL's, though I think this is now standard on the Leon.
7. I did set the dial sweep on when switching on the ignition but didn't like it so switched it off.
I think I did some more but can't remember, well worth the cost as far as I'm concerned.
Did all of these customisations also, Carista is definitely worth it IMO for the ease of use alone. It also highlighted a fuel filler lock flap fault which I am ignoring as it appears to work fine! 1. Set the minimum battery voltage for Stop\Start to work to a value it will never be, so it never cuts in (just shows a small icon when the car is stopped to show it is unavailable)
2. Set door mirrors to fold on lock, not having to hold the lock button down (this used to wind me up!)
3. As mine only has rear parking sensors the visual display on the touch screen was disabled, enabled it now and only shows the rear of the car so the system is programed to show for cars with only rear sensors!
4. Set the climate control to show the fan speed on the LED's when on auto
5. Set the heated seats to remember their last setting after the car has been switched off.
6. Enabled "Scandinavian DRL's" (ie rear lights on with the DRL's, though I think this is now standard on the Leon.
7. I did set the dial sweep on when switching on the ignition but didn't like it so switched it off.
I think I did some more but can't remember, well worth the cost as far as I'm concerned.
Cornering fogs are actually really handy as is the auto fold mirrors. You can fart about with the XDS Diff settings but have been reluctant as I don’t want to mess with it.
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