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5K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  2013Tdi 
#1 ·
Has anyone else noticed the phony tail light bulbs in the orange and clear sections of the tail lights in these cars (US) that don't even light up? WTF VW?
 
#5 ·
Huh, actually my new 2016 Tiguan here in Canada has the same phony bulbs behind the lenses.
There's 1 or 2 unused bulbs inside the body tail light assembly, and 1 or 2 bulbs inside the trunk tail light assembly.
My 2013 did not have them (I think!).
Just saw a Golf with a very similar looking setup and one of the bulbs inside the body tail light assembly was a brake light. Didn't see the others light up.

So, what are the functions of these bulbs? A brake and a marker? One of them has an amber portion of lens in front of it; that's probably a turn signal light.
 
#7 ·
My 2016 has them too, I'm up here in Toronto, Canada.

In Europe they are used for the "park light" function (you'll see the "P" with 3 lines on the indicator lever)... When activated (in Europe only apparently), with your car off, you can use the indicator lever to select either left or right (depending upon which side of the road you are parked), and it will light up that side of your vehicle (both front and rear with the amber light) when you are parked on the roadside for safety.
 
#8 ·
They're probably for REAR FOG lights, my Jetta has the socket, but no bulb or wire in the harness for it.
This is a Europe function/option. I think all the cars have the socket, area, and all that, just not the
function in USA, nor the right switch for them. You can buy the Euro switch, and wire them
up manually to work. They all share the same ground, so you would only need put a bulb in and
wire the power to the pin at the harness.

They're for thick fog, you turn those on so they're brighter than the running lights.

Also, that Park Light function just turns on the parking lights in that direction. It is not
for this blanked out area. Due to the parking situations over there, they use this so the
side NOT facing a structure is on so you see it. It only uses the parking/marker lights.

Some of these options can be turned on with VCDS.
 
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