light VOLKSWAGEN GOLF 2012 Repair Manual

Shifting
Introduction
this section find information about:
Warning
and i ndicator ... .. . .
Pedals
............. ........... .
Manual transmission: Gearshift lever
172
173
174
Automat ic transm ission :
lever.... 175
Sh ifting with nptro nic ® . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Driving with automatic transmiss ion 177
Automat ic transmission malfunction . . . . . . . . 178
Explanatory
notes in this sec tion regarding
Direct
The backup lights come on.
Climatronic switches to air culation mode.
The rear window wiper switches on when the
windshield wipers are switched on.
More information:
Braking , stoppi ng and parking 179
Climate control
Engine control and emission control system
Emergency
Rapid acceleration can cause skidding and loss of traction , especially on slippery roads,
re sulting in a loss of vehicle control, sions, and seriou s personal injury.
use the kick-down feature or fast cele ration if visibility, weather, road, and
Constant braking causes the brakes to and se rious personal injury.
the brakes or apply the brake
pedal too often or too long.
substantially reduce braking performance, increase stopping
the brakes by keeping your foot on the brake pedal when you do not want to brake . Thi s make the brakes wear faster.
gine braking and reduce the load on the brakes. Otherwise , the brake system could overheat and even

Warning and indica tor lights
on page 171.
L
ights Possible cause up
transmission too hot.
Brake pedal not depressed.
Flash es Possible
cause
The release button in the selector lever did not engage.
blinks, alternating with the selector lever
indicator , for example D.
When the ignition is switched on, several warning
and indicator lights come on briefly for a funct ion
check . They go out after a few seconds .
Failure to heed warning text messages can cause the vehicle to break down in traffic and result in a injury.
or t ext WARN­
172 While driving Proper
response
Do not continue driving
the warni ng does not turn off, do not continue
driving.
175.
Drive at low en gine speed (rpm) to th e nearest
autho rized Vol kswagen dealer or authorized
Volkswagen F acility to have th e system
checked .
Always stop the vehicle as soon as it is safe to do so.
damage.

Braking, stopping, and parking
this sectio n
Parking brake . . . . . . . . . . . 182
P arking . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
About the brakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Braking assistance systems
Switching
L ock Brake System (ABS) . Br ak e Assist System
(BAS ), Ele ctronic Differential Lock (EDL), R eg ulatio n (ASR) and Electronic C ontrol
(ESC).
More information:
Trai ler towi ng 149
Starting assistance systems 1 95
Tires and whee ls 258
Driving with bad brakes or worn brake pads can cause a and serious personal
injury.
lights up in the instrument cluster display, whether alone or together with a text message, immediately contact an authorized Volkswagen dealer or authorized Facility to have the brake pads checked and, if necessa­
ry, replaced .
Parking improperly can cause serious sonal injury.
lock and you
haust system or catalytic converter could
fu el, etc.
riously injure you and your passengers.
sonal injury.
mote control vehicle key, trapping passen­gers in the vehicle in an emergency. For ample, depending on the time of year, people trapp ed in the vehicle can be exposed to very high or very low temperatures.
children.
Starting, shifting, parking 179

you are
prevent dam age, stop before the tires of yo u r
v ehicle touc h a parking bar rier or curb.
on page 179.
Lights
Possible cause or me aning Prope r re s ponse up
<®> Parking brake engaged.
Brake fluid too Check brake
or ABS: ized Volkswagen failure.
The brakes wor k withou t
BRAKE
Facili-ty. Check, and if necessary replace. brake pads.
switc hed off by the system.
malf unction . an aut horized Volkswage n deale r or an au-
thorized Volkswagen Facility .
Together with or ABS : Facility. malfunction.
The vehic le brakes
Driv e a s hort distance at a speed of 1 -
12 mph (15-km/ h). th e indicator light battery has been reconnect ed. stays see
an authorized Volkswagen dealer or an authorized Volkswagen 238.

Lights cause or up
I
ES deactivated.
I Together with indicator malfunction .
T ogethe r with warning
or BRAKE:
Brake not dep ressed.
cause
I
The butt on in the is not
engaged .
When the ign ition is switch ed on,
text messages can cause the to break down in traffic and
or text WARN­
stop the as soon as it is safe to do so.
Driving with bad brakes can cause a and serious
the brake warning BRAKE or does not go out, or comes on when driving, either the brake or there is a the as soon as you can do so and get expert assistance 187, Brake
fluid.
the brake warning comes on at the same time as the or the
187 . automatically
turns on when you turn the ignition on and off.
an authorized Volkswagen or an thorized Volkswage n The brake s work without
to
Adapt driving to
road conditions.
E ngage the Automatic
Lock
This up brake
you is safe to drive, drive and very authorized Volkswagen Service or other
spected. Avoid sudden hard braking and steering.
or does not go out, or if it comes on while driving, the system is not working can then be stopped with the
s tandard brakes (without not have the protection
thorized Volkswagen Service as soon as
Starting, shifting, parki ng 181

Failure to heed warning lights or t ex t WARN-can result in vehicle damage . Parking brake
Fig. 113 Between the front seats :
on page 179.
the parking brake lever up firmly.
When the ignition is on , the indicator or appears in the instrume nt c luster display to show th at the park ing brake is engaged
the leve r up 113 (arrow) .
While hold ing the release button down, move
t h e lever t he way down.
Parking
Ple ase firs t r ea d and note the introduc­tory info rm ation and heed the WARN­on pa ge 179.
note legal regulations when stopping and
parking your vehicle.
Parking the vehicle
p erform these steps only in the order listed.
the vehicle on a suitab le surface
the rear wheels are braked . Always
use the foot bra ke.
engag ed. This c an cause the brak e to over­
heat and neg ati vely affec t the b rak e sys te m .
start to move even if the parking brake is e ngag ed .
Even
though the tra nsmission is in P ark (P),
t h e vehi cle may move a couple of inche s (a fe w
c entimeters) forwards or backwards if you take
your f oot off the brake pedal after stopping the
ve hicl e without fir s t firmly setting the parking
b rake .
A warning signal sounds if you drive faster
Apply t he parking brake to 182.
For automatic transmissions : (P).
Remove the vehicle key from the igni tion.
necessary , turn the steer ing whee l to
e ngage the steer ing column lock.

Climate control system (air cond itioner): th e
trast ing temperatures , it requires a large amount of energy, which is genera ted by the engine. The
tempe ratu re in the shou ld therefore not be
ext remely different from that of the outside ature . may be to venti la te the veh icle fore driving and then to drive a short distance with
the windows open. After that, sw itch on the air
Keep the
windows increase fuel consumption.
off the rear window defroste r as soon as
t he windows are free of fog and ice.
14
miles
Fi g.
116 F uel consumption in mpg at 2 different
outside air temperatures .
on page 189.
D riving defensive
ly and economica lly can easily duce fuel cons umptio n by to 15%.
The veh icle consumes the most fuel when ating. Defensive driving requires less braking and
ther efore less acceleration. possibl e, coast the
vehicle to a stop , for example, when you can see that the next traffic light is red or about to turn red.
Avoid traveling short distances
A co ld engine consumes sign ificantly more fuel media tely after starting .
consumption (examples):
Malfunction ing eng ine control.
Drivi ng in the mountain s.
T owing a tra iler.
-1
Fig. 117 Fuel consumption in ent outside air temperatures .
To reduce fuel consumption and the emission of
ature. Criti cal in thi s con te xt is also the outside air temperature.
T herefo re , avoid driving short distances sarily and consolidate routes.
Un der the same conditions , the veh icle consumes
more fuel in winte r tha n in summer.
in some places, but also not neces -
sary and wastes fuel.

Steering
Introduction
this section
is an system. The advantage of this
steering system is that no hoses,
quired. The system is more
pressure in the system; an
steering.
The electro-mechanica l power steering syst
em tomatically adjusts to driving speed, steering of the
turning the
Starting and stopping the engine
battery page 238
Towing
Warning and indicator lights
Turning the stee ring
the
when the
the coast with the engine switched off.
the to a stop. Th e steering and you b e to the first read and note the introductory information and heed the on page 192.
Li g
hts up ca use Proper response
Power steering malfuncti on. Have
the powe r stee ring system checked imme-by an authorized Volkswagen or an authorized Volkswagen Service
Stop, restart the engi ne. and drive a short dis-
lance . the does not come
on again, you do not need to have the steering
P ower steering assist is reduced . system checked .
Otherwise , have the steering checked immedi-by an authorized Volkswagen
12 mph
been reconnected . (1 5 -

Flashes Possible ca use Proper response
Electronic steering column lock malfunction . The ignition cannot be switched on. The vehicle
system stiff.
column not locked I unlocked .
When the
ignition is switched severa l warni ng
a n d indicator lights come on briefly for a function
check . T hey go out after a few seconds.
Failure to heed warning lights and instrument cluster text messages can ca use the vehicle to break down sion and serious personal injury.
tory Information and heed the on page 192.
To
tomatic transmiss ion vehicle.
press the starter button briefly twice in a row
without depressing the brake or clutch pedal.
D o
not drive any farther if the steering column
remains locked after you switch on the ignition.
Get professional assistance.
Always stop the vehicle as soon as it is safe to do so.
F a
ilure to heed warning lights or text can resu lt vehicle damage .
Engaging the steering
co lumn lock
Park ing the vehicle
ing column lock
Turn the steering wheel
slightly to take pressure
off the steering column
l ock .
to the ignition switch.
Hold the steer ing wheel
i n this position and turn
the ignition switch.
Power steering automatically adjusts to driving
speed , steering torque, and the steering angle
of the wheels . Power steering works only when the
engine is running .
it
Sta rting, sh ift ing , park ing

Driver assistance systems
Starting assistance systems
Volksw age n Informatio n pag e 24
pa ge 179
Vehicle batt ery
p age 2 58
Jump-s ta rting page 327
The
on p age 195 .
fo r examp le afte r
s topping at a traffic light. don't have to app ly
an d r elease th e park ing brake whil e depress ing the
accele ra tor . For
The dynam ic sta rting assistance feature s
cannot keep the vehicle from moving in all hill-start situations (for example, if the ground is slippery or icy).
Driving with too little fuel in the fuel tank in-
c rea se s th e risk of especially when driving up and down hills.
H old keeps th e bra ke a ppl ied for not quit e
2 seconds with the same force you u sed t o p reve nt the veh ic le f rom mov ing. This gives you time to
t ake your foot off the brake , let the clu tch out on a manual transm issio n veh ic le, a n d gently depress
the accele ra tor to get the veh icle m ovi ng agai n.
F urther more, if any requi remen t for engagi ng
Ho ld disengages and the brakes are automati ­no longer ho ld th e vehic le.
Driver ass is tance systems 195