# What the **** is this???



## M Diddy (Sep 25, 2002)

https://leftlanenews.com/volkswagen/2019-vw-tiguan-earns-top-safety-pick-plus/

Is this true? I have an 18 SEL-P and this angers me if it is. I'd be ROYALLY pissed if I bought one of the "older" 2019's.


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## GTINC (Jan 28, 2005)

So, how would you suggest they introduce improvements? What would you do if you were in charge?


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## Zabes64 (Aug 29, 2018)

M Diddy said:


> https://leftlanenews.com/volkswagen/2019-vw-tiguan-earns-top-safety-pick-plus/
> 
> Is this true? I have an 18 SEL-P and this angers me if it is. I'd be ROYALLY pissed if I bought one of the "older" 2019's.


It's pretty much the entire model year of the 2019 then has marginal headlights, so not sure how it gets a top safety rating when 75% of the build is before the change


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## Diego012 (Aug 14, 2019)

Bought my Tiguan in July. It was built in May. I've never noticed a problem with the headlights. Lights up the road just fine.


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## LennyNero (Aug 25, 2018)

If you find your 2018/2019 adaptive LED headlights are poor at illuminating the road, you should check out the aim. I've found several Tiguans (including my very own) with mis-aimed headlamps right from the factory. 

I've posted an updated guide to aiming the NA Adaptive headlamps that I posted about on VWV earlier in the year. The guide includes helpful graphics on adjuster positions and what the final pattern should look like.

In the meantime, I'll be checking out ETKA and Nemiga parts to see what changes if any have been made to the actual hardware of the headlamps. If it's something internal, it may be available separately for upgrade. If it's an adaptation change only, we'll get to the bottom of it.


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## PZ (May 9, 2002)

I found the standard headlights good overall for halogens. Does not mean I won't upgrade them as I prefer better lighting, but for stock, they are pretty good. I do wish I had the AFS LED with the cornering lights.


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## OEMplusCC (Jan 27, 2013)

I think that article is correct. The prove can be seen in the VW parts catalog. The catalog shows that
Part number for LED headlights made before 29/07/2018(July, 29, 2019) is 5NL 941 081/2
Part number for NAR Tiguan made on and after 30/07/2018 is 5NN 941 113/4


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## LennyNero (Aug 25, 2018)

OEMplusCC said:


> I think that article is correct. The prove can be seen in the VW parts catalog. The catalog shows that
> Part number for LED headlights made before 29/07/2018(July, 29, 2019) is 5NL 941 081/2
> Part number for NAR Tiguan made on and after 30/07/2018 is 5NN 941 113/4


Those are for the complete assemblies. Could you look back at ETKA when you have a chance and compare pn's of the internal components? Maybe this could be done as a field upgrade rather than a full replacement for those of us who are crazy and who want to do it. 

Thanks!


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## socialD (Sep 19, 2011)

PZ said:


> I found the standard headlights good overall for halogens. Does not mean I won't upgrade them as I prefer better lighting, but for stock, they are pretty good. I do wish I had the AFS LED with the cornering lights.


If you think the halogens are good you must have had some truly awful headlights before to compare.

First thing I did was swap out those halogens for HIDs.


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## GTINC (Jan 28, 2005)

socialD said:


> If you think the halogens are good you must have had some truly awful headlights before to compare......


Not everyone has your limited eyesight.


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## not_too_shabyy (Mar 31, 2019)

Where do you find the build date?


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## haunted reality (Apr 18, 2001)

socialD said:


> If you think the halogens are good you must have had some truly awful headlights before to compare.
> 
> First thing I did was swap out those halogens for HIDs.


I think the halogens are fine as well, but I came from a Jeep Cherokee which had terrible headlights. I still may heed the call to change them out to LED or HIDs, but for now I'm using the stock ones.


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## OEMplusCC (Jan 27, 2013)

not_too_shabyy said:


> Where do you find the build date?


Build month and year is on the driver B-pillar. Open driver door and look for a black sticker. Top right corner will have month/year

The exact day is harder to find as a user. Dealer can tell you exactly

One trick to find out by yourself is based on the oil interval indicator. The car tells you how many days and miles since the last service. Well, if you did not have your oil change since the production you can use the days remaining to figure out when the car was first filled. Which might be pretty close on when it was actually made. 
For example, our Tiguan was made on 10/2018(from the sticker). If I factor in days to first oil change that comes out to be 10/23/2018


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## GTINC (Jan 28, 2005)

OEMplusCC said:


> .....Well, if you did not have your oil change since the production you can use the days remaining to figure out when the car was first filled. Which might be pretty close on when it was actually made....


You don't know that is true.


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## DanSan (Oct 3, 2007)

I assume this is only on the SEL-P models since they were the ones with LED headlights?


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## ice4life (Nov 6, 2017)

OEMplusCC said:


> Build month and year is on the driver B-pillar. Open driver door and look for a black sticker. Top right corner will have month/year
> 
> The exact day is harder to find as a user. Dealer can tell you exactly
> 
> ...


If you have obdeleven, you can see the exact build date. Mine was built for CO and finished on 4/20/19 :laugh:


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## OEMplusCC (Jan 27, 2013)

ice4life said:


> If you have obdeleven, you can see the exact build date. Mine was built for CO and finished on 4/20/19 :laugh:


Cool, what module/channel do you read to get that info? Most likely possible with VCDS as well. I know you can read when certain modules were first provisioned with VCDS which might also give you rough build day estimate


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## ice4life (Nov 6, 2017)

OEMplusCC said:


> Cool, what module/channel do you read to get that info? Most likely possible with VCDS as well. I know you can read when certain modules were first provisioned with VCDS which might also give you rough build day estimate


I believe it was in the engine control module, advanced identification, vehicle history. 

Also I saw it in the engineering menu which I activated on the MIB2 hu.


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## not_too_shabyy (Mar 31, 2019)

Darn, mine was built 06/19.....looks like I probably have the old headlights.


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## PZ (May 9, 2002)

socialD said:


> If you think the halogens are good you must have had some truly awful headlights before to compare.
> 
> First thing I did was swap out those halogens for HIDs.


 Yes, stock 05 Golf, all 4 of my B5 Passats and many 60s/70s cars, the stock halogens all sucked.
I swapped glass lenses on the Golf and put HID in all of the Passats. The Tiguan will get an LED upgrade.


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## vw906 (Aug 17, 2018)

Did anyone find out what the actual changes are for the 19 LEDs?


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## OEMplusCC (Jan 27, 2013)

vw906 said:


> Did anyone find out what the actual changes are for the 19 LEDs?


Planning to look into parts manual tonight. But i believe the major changes were slightly different modules part numbers for the 2019 

Sent from rotary phone


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## inv4zn (Jan 10, 2018)

I wonder if the 'updated' headlights have the shutters for DLA...my 2018 would throw errors when I tried activating it. 

FWIW, for those with the 'old' headlights, if the only difference is the better cornering lights for AFS you can enable that with VCDS/OBD11.


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## not_too_shabyy (Mar 31, 2019)

Here is the link to the iihs test. You can see the test results for headlights for the newer 2019 and scroll down to see the older results. There are definitely some improvements.

https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/volkswagen/tiguan-4-door-suv/2019


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## pyoungworth (Jul 30, 2019)

I still don't think that this applies to all of the 19s. It looks like this is just for the models with the LED headlights that were updated.

https://www.autoblog.com/2019/10/28/2019-volkswagen-tiguan-named-a-top-safety-pick-by-iihs/


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## OEMplusCC (Jan 27, 2013)

OEMplusCC said:


> I think that article is correct. The prove can be seen in the VW parts catalog. The catalog shows that
> Part number for LED headlights made before 29/07/2018(July, 29, 2019) is 5NL 941 081/2
> Part number for NAR Tiguan made on and after 30/07/2018 is 5NN 941 113/4


*Update:*
It looks like the only real differences that matters between the two assemblies listed above is the power module

Power module before 29/7/2018 is 7PP 941 572 AB
Power module on and after 30/7/2018 7P5 941 572 AG


Maybe just swapping those modules is the only thing to improve headlights? Hard to tell


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## mediumbluemetalic (Jul 7, 2003)

I think this is an industry-wide problem. Even Honda, an IIHS darling, has poor and marginal ratings for many of their headlights.

The issue seems to be balancing glare for oncoming traffic and distance for the lighting, particularly around turns. Most cars do one well but not the other. If a car's headlights fully illuminate the shoulders, it probably has an issue with glare. In VW's case, most of their lights are fine with glare, but they don't illuminate the shoulders well enough. Both scenarios cause a poor or marginal rating.

I'm glad to see that VW has finally figured out how to ace the test. If the Jetta gets upgraded headlights as well, I'm wondering if they'll be plug-and-play with the old units. Probably not. Or the cost of the upgrade will be expensive enough to merit a trade-in.


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## lschw1 (Apr 21, 2003)

If you only keep your VWs a few years then you can cry over not having LEDs. But if you keep your VWs a long time then you will avoid an expensive repair down the road. I keep a spare halogen in my trunk and they are easy to change and inexpensive. Just because safety reviewers give out undesirable ratings doesn't change the fact that today's halogen lights are way better than they used to be and work quite well. Safety reviewers also complain about the lack of features that I coincidentally don't want on my VW. I would rather VW cater to me than reviewers.


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## socialD (Sep 19, 2011)

lschw1 said:


> If you only keep your VWs a few years then you can cry over not having LEDs. But if you keep your VWs a long time then you will avoid an expensive repair down the road. I keep a spare halogen in my trunk and they are easy to change and inexpensive. Just because safety reviewers give out undesirable ratings doesn't change the fact that today's halogen lights are way better than they used to be and work quite well. Safety reviewers also complain about the lack of features that I coincidentally don't want on my VW. I would rather VW cater to me than reviewers.


I'd bet on an LED outliving the engine/transmission.

LED is good for around 30,000 hours. Over a million miles at an average 35mph...and that's just if you have them on all the time.


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## barbados11 (Apr 21, 2014)

If you didn't notice that your headlights were bad they are probably fine for your use and what you're used to. Now generally speaking, the U.S. doesn't allow the brightest and best European LED's since automotive lighting laws are very old and out of date here. Also, halogen headlights can be awesome but they use a lot more energy than LED's and HID's. With halogens it's very easy to increase the output by simply changing a bulb. Someone else mentioned improper aiming that can also be a significant issue. My 2016 GTI has adaptive lighting and in low beam they are among the best I've had. In high beam they are OK but underwhelming. I've been in a 2016 GTI in Europe and the high beams were noticeably brighter. Thank the U.S. government and its antiquated laws.


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## RocknRolla (Jul 19, 2006)

socialD said:


> I'd bet on an LED outliving the engine/transmission.
> 
> LED is good for around 30,000 hours. Over a million miles at an average 35mph...and that's just if you have them on all the time.


Yeah, in no scenario would I prefer halogen over LED.


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## IbsFt (Dec 15, 2018)

socialD said:


> I'd bet on an LED outliving the engine/transmission.
> 
> LED is good for around 30,000 hours. Over a million miles at an average 35mph...and that's just if you have them on all the time.


In theory. I've had to change several LED lamps at home that should have lasted decades and we are running tests at work right now on led indicator lights with high failure rates. The first led to totally fail only lasted 300 hours. All 16 of the indicators being tested show degradation in their intensity compared to new. LEDs have their weaknesses, apparently heat being one of them.


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## IbsFt (Dec 15, 2018)

mediumbluemetalic said:


> I think this is an industry-wide problem. Even Honda, an IIHS darling, has poor and marginal ratings for many of their headlights.
> 
> The issue seems to be balancing glare for oncoming traffic and distance for the lighting, particularly around turns. Most cars do one well but not the other. If a car's headlights fully illuminate the shoulders, it probably has an issue with glare. In VW's case, most of their lights are fine with glare, but they don't illuminate the shoulders well enough. Both scenarios cause a poor or marginal rating.
> 
> I'm glad to see that VW has finally figured out how to ace the test. If the Jetta gets upgraded headlights as well, I'm wondering if they'll be plug-and-play with the old units. Probably not. Or the cost of the upgrade will be expensive enough to merit a trade-in.





barbados11 said:


> If you didn't notice that your headlights were bad they are probably fine for your use and what you're used to. Now generally speaking, the U.S. doesn't allow the brightest and best European LED's since automotive lighting laws are very old and out of date here. Also, halogen headlights can be awesome but they use a lot more energy than LED's and HID's. With halogens it's very easy to increase the output by simply changing a bulb. Someone else mentioned improper aiming that can also be a significant issue. My 2016 GTI has adaptive lighting and in low beam they are among the best I've had. In high beam they are OK but underwhelming. I've been in a 2016 GTI in Europe and the high beams were noticeably brighter. Thank the U.S. government and its antiquated laws.


 100% agree that IIHS and the NHTSA really dropped the ball on this, but probably for opposite reasons. Where to start? It is long been known that yellow light is the best for twilight vision (which we use while driving at night) while white light produces the most glare. This trend toward blue/white lights is counterproductive for everyone but the vehicle with those lights. I would bet that NO manufacturer with a good rating has the glare issue solved for oncoming traffic. Now factor in the height of large SUV and pickup headlights which makes the task of not blinding oncoming drivers that much harder. This era of headlight wars where luxury models compete to have the most intense bright, glare inducing, blue white light should have been regulated out of existence! Now, of course, these headlights are trickling down to every level of vehicle. And there is talk of laser headlamps. This is what we get when the manufacturers' marketing department sells an ignorant public on a "luxury" feature (ie stupid bright, blue white led headlamps) which is detrimental for all and the regulators are asleep at the wheel allowing it to happen.


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## phlegm (Apr 24, 2019)

I'm a bit confused by this issue.

We bought our 2019 in April, so it couldn't have had the update applied. We've found the LEDs to be outstanding, pretty much in line with HIDs from our other vehicle. Both are night and day better than the stock halogens we had in a 2009 vehicle (using good quality bulbs).

Maybe if I saw the updated system I'd realize what I'm lacking. (?)


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## OEMplusCC (Jan 27, 2013)

phlegm said:


> I'm a bit confused by this issue.
> 
> We bought our 2019 in April, so it couldn't have had the update applied. We've found the LEDs to be outstanding, pretty much in line with HIDs from our other vehicle. Both are night and day better than the stock halogens we had in a 2009 vehicle (using good quality bulbs).
> 
> Maybe if I saw the updated system I'd realize what I'm lacking. (?)


Pretty sure you got updated version.

Sent from rotary phone


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## jwvetere (May 12, 2019)

I'm confused. I read the article. It says the change occurred "partway through the current year's (MY2019) production run". Does this mean the change was implemented in July-2018, or July-2019? I have a MY2019 w/ a JAN-2019 build date. Do I have the "upgraded" headlamps? (I have a MQB '19 SEL-P 4MO - not R-Line.). Please clarify. One post added to the confusion - he mentioned 2018 and 2019 - one was a typo. And another more recent poster was confused, too. Thanks for the help! Sorry to be dense - but I read the whole thread, and the article - and this is not clear anywhere.

-Joey-


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## OEMplusCC (Jan 27, 2013)

jwvetere said:


> I'm confused. I read the article. It says the change occurred "partway through the current year's (MY2019) production run". Does this mean the change was implemented in July-2018, or July-2019? I have a MY2019 w/ a JAN-2019 build date. Do I have the "upgraded" headlamps? (I have a MQB '19 SEL-P 4MO - not R-Line.). Please clarify. One post added to the confusion - he mentioned 2018 and 2019 - one was a typo. And another more recent poster was confused, too. Thanks for the help! Sorry to be dense - but I read the whole thread, and the article - and this is not clear anywhere.
> 
> -Joey-


Read my posts above. You have the newer revision lights

Sent from rotary phone


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## phlegm (Apr 24, 2019)

Thanks for the help here OEMplusCC.




OEMplusCC said:


> I think that article is correct. The prove can be seen in the VW parts catalog. The catalog shows that
> Part number for LED headlights made before 29/07/2018(July, 29, *2019*) is 5NL 941 081/2
> Part number for NAR Tiguan made on and after 30/07/2018 is 5NN 941 113/4


I think this is the point of confusion - there's a typo for the year (above), which may have thrown people off. I assumed this was a late-2019 change as a result.






OEMplusCC said:


> *Update:*
> It looks like the only real differences that matters between the two assemblies listed above is the power module
> 
> Power module before 29/7/2018 is 7PP 941 572 AB
> ...


You've mentioned a couple of part no. differences. Is there a way to eyeball these part numbers on the LED assembly itself? That should be definitive, irrespective of mfg date.


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## Reihenmotor5 (Dec 1, 2006)

inv4zn said:


> I wonder if the 'updated' headlights have the shutters for DLA...my 2018 would throw errors when I tried activating it.
> 
> FWIW, for those with the 'old' headlights, if the only difference is the better cornering lights for AFS you can enable that with VCDS/OBD11.


I don’t believe the 2019 model has them from what I was seeing in other forums and threads so I didn’t even bother trying to enable. 

Unless someone here can confirm differently for the NAR model. 


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## IridiumB6 (Nov 29, 2010)

Sorry for the thread revival here, but wait, you guys with the earlier builds still have AFS on the LED headlamps no?


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## Reihenmotor5 (Dec 1, 2006)

[mention]IridiumB6 [/mention]I’m not following what you’re asking? The NAR Tiguans with the LED headlights come with AFS. Just some of us through coding in 4B have enhanced the capabilities (can find the steps in my mod doc in my signature). Now if you’re asking about DLA (Dynamic Light Assist, where your high beams aka main beams are always on and a shutter system carves out for oncoming traffic), NAR Tiguans do not have the proper shutter system in the headlights due to regulatory issues. 


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## IridiumB6 (Nov 29, 2010)

Reihenmotor5 said:


> [mention]IridiumB6 [/mention]I’m not following what you’re asking? The NAR Tiguans with the LED headlights come with AFS. Just some of us through coding in 4B have enhanced the capabilities (can find the steps in my mod doc in my signature). Now if you’re asking about DLA (Dynamic Light Assist, where your high beams aka main beams are always on and a shutter system carves out for oncoming traffic), NAR Tiguans do not have the proper shutter system in the headlights due to regulatory issues.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Sorry, I was just trying to understand what the difference was between these 'marginal' rated headlights and the better ones. The link made mention of lights that now adapt to winding roads and what not, I was thinking for some reason on US models adaptive LED headlights weren't available or something...

That being said, even coming across a newer Tig I can notice that there's a difference in the LED light, seems more purple-ish/blue than before.


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## Reihenmotor5 (Dec 1, 2006)

You can go into 4B per my doc and enable some additional features on the LED model that will have greater range of motion when turning and other benefits. After enabling I can attest that visibility is improved from stock. 

Also there is no difference in the part number so it appears to be a coding change and looks like the only coding change was City Lights being enabled when comparing 4B coding with someone who had the LEDs that scored better. 

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## zimmie2652 (Feb 15, 2015)

IridiumB6 said:


> Reihenmotor5 said:
> 
> 
> > [mention]IridiumB6 [/mention]I’m not following what you’re asking? The NAR Tiguans with the LED headlights come with AFS. Just some of us through coding in 4B have enhanced the capabilities (can find the steps in my mod doc in my signature). Now if you’re asking about DLA (Dynamic Light Assist, where your high beams aka main beams are always on and a shutter system carves out for oncoming traffic), NAR Tiguans do not have the proper shutter system in the headlights due to regulatory issues.
> ...


The reflector was redesigned supposedly. That’s all.


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## Reihenmotor5 (Dec 1, 2006)

Was the redesign on the LED housing or on the halogen, since the part number didn't change on the LED versions?


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## zimmie2652 (Feb 15, 2015)

Reihenmotor5 said:


> Was the redesign on the LED housing or on the halogen, since the part number didn't change on the LED versions?


The LEDs


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## Reihenmotor5 (Dec 1, 2006)

Curious to see what the change was and why the part number is the same. 


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