Beware of Daytime running like menu not available in US models !

The Porsche is suppose to have a menu to disable the daytime running lights however the menu is flat out missing! I suspect that this is because Canada is one of the most strongly advocates of these horrid daytime running lights and Porsche must not be making a distinction between customers in the USA and customers as Canada. We must all seem like just a north America region and being lumped into the same set of limiting restrictions. As an American, I do not feel that I should be subject to a Canadian law or any foreign law for that matter. Heck, I feel that even the USA is overstepping state's rights. Anyway, does anyone has the inside track on why the Porsche menu to disable the daytime running lights is missing of the US version cars? Basically, as long as your country does not mandate the daytime running lights, the menu should exist. In the USA, they are not mandated. Anyway, It would be nice if someone at Porsche could address this flaw in the software to treat the US as its own country not just as southern Canada.

As an American, I do not feel that I should be subject to a Canadian law or any foreign law for that matter. Anyway, It would be nice if someone at Porsche could address this flaw in the software to treat the US as its own country not just as southern Canada.[/QUOTE] Ah yes, freedom of choice! Watch out, pretty soon "no guns for you" just like in dear ole Canader.

Perhaps you should address your complaint to PAG? Voicing it here will do nothing.

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One of the things I had learned in my many years on the planet was to pick my battles. I have neither the time nor the inclination to give every inutile detail my best debate or effort. For me, this one gets neatly filed between "who gives a @#!?" and "could not care less". Sorry.

Quite an intro for a relative newbie.. I'll ignore the rant and address the issue at hand. Fact: DRL's save lives. I wired my fog lights as DRLs to overcome the stupidity of not having a life-saving feature in the United States.

Buy a different car. This is an European car with European ideals embedded in its DNA. Love it for what it is or buy another product.

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If for nothing else, the fact that reality does not follow the documentation without explanation should concern you. If they falsely advertised that feature, whatever is wrong about the car that you don't even know about? Maybe the engine is not the correct HP or size?

You just proved my point of when the menu should be there. IF that is how you feel so strongly that you would risk voiding your car's warranty in order to modify your fog lights and ruin your resell value. Why would you not agree with me that the advertised OPTION to either Disable or Enable them( in your case enable them) be present as described in the owner's manual? If you read the title of this thread, you would see that its asking why the " MENU IS NOT PRESENT" not asking how to disable them. I have already figured out how to disable them, I currently want to know why the menu is not showing up. You should be asking yourself the same question when you wanted to enable them but could not due to the car's menu not matching the manual's information. If this menu option was included as advertised, then you could have spent 30 seconds and enable them yourself. You are locked up against your will from enable the daytime running lights because the car does not work as advertised.

European ideals is representing a product with features then not including them in the product? News flash, the Daytime running lights was the idea of Canada( which is in North America not Europe) The issue is that the document said it should be there and its not. Its like you buy a car wash that includes a air freshener and they forget to include something you paid for and you start citing geopolitical issues as your reason for not including something that is documented as being included. The book said you can do it, you should be able to do it. Relied of the documentation as part of the purchase of the car. I got them off anyway. So at this point, the only thing the menu would do is help me turn them on which I don't want to do however I still think the menu advertised should be as advertised. Unless your European ideals is documentation manuals and bait and switch? I purchased a Porsche is 2008 without daytime running lights when all the other American cars in the US seem to have them. So its not really a European thing. The issue is that America is not the same as Canada and the only reason I suspect the menu option is not there is because America and Canada must be coded as having the same laws then they do not.

How do I voice my complaint to Porsche ? My understanding is that they don't have any official channels to voice a complaint. There is a man named Nick Murry on youtube you had taken his Porsche to the dealer like 29 times for all kinds of problems and it started smoking and almost caught fire. He had to hire an attorney and file a lemon lawsuit to even get Porsche 's attention. The resolution they gave him that that they would " call the dealer for him" even after he had already taken the car to the dealer numerous times. This man was even featured on yahoo News story and when major national news stations started calling him for interviews, Porsche finally make things right for him. The average Porsche owner is not going to have national news platform to voice his complains about Porsche . If you have a contact person or phone number, I would like to hear about it. Otherwise, I think their response is always to simple " contact the dealer" then the dealer will respond with things like " I don't know were you get your information from but I don't think it does that" ( I get my information from the official Porsche online owner's manual) Dealer usually does not know very much about the Porsche details and are clueless about even basic electronic things on the car. Porsche usually just said to contact the dealer and they don't really know anything. So I guess the complains go nowhere unless you know some way of voicing a concern to Porsche ? These seem like bugs in the software that should be hammered out. I don't know why so many people are trying to make a federal case about defending a software glitch which treats Canada and US as the same country when they are obviously not.

You are a riot! Now you are teaching Wild Weasel your sense of stoic humor. lol. Is this a Canadian thing...... I'm still trying to figure out the rear fog light. lol

Holy F@&% bud RELAX!! I hate to think how you'll feel when you discover every nut and bolt is metric. I fear you'll be suicidal! What you don't understand is that daytime running lights is Canada's first step at world domination. Next you'll find yourself ordering Poutine and craving a Timmy's. Sent from Nokia Lumia 920 using Tapatalk

And I thought only Canadians had to put up with those "horrid daytime running lights"!

I believe it started with Canada and some countries around Norway which had very different driving conditions than the USA. Actually, many states had laws against having any type of lights on during the day. GM wanted to save money by not having 2 different versions of the car so they paid lobbyist to get lawmakers to basically " allow but not mandate them" Crony capitalism at its best. I actually got them off however still have not been able to gain access to the menu to enable/disable them at will. So I am happy that they are permanently off but still would like to get answers on what happen to the menu and maybe that the bug addressed by Porsche at some point.

How would you feel if your speed was in Miles per hour instead of Kilometers per hour because Canada's Porsche were being wrongly coded as USA cars? What if you wanted your daytime running lights on but could not turn them on because they were being confused for USA cars? Most likely is a bug in the software that does not separate USA and Canada as 2 different countries. In any event, there are forces which do want a global power( Soros for example) however I think in the case of Porsche , either someone just being a jerk or a bug in the software they refuse to fix.

Your right....your owners manual is a conspiracy. You realize how infantile you sound don't you? Go get yourself the Pro version of the Durametric cable and your glass will then become half full and the sky will stop falling. Sent from Nokia Lumia 920 using Tapatalk

1. I believe I said " Most likely is a bug in the software that does not separate USA and Canada as 2 different countries" rather then a conspiracy. 2. Durametric cable Pro version is like $800. Why should I pay $800 for something that I should be able do to according to the owner's manual for free? 3. I already have my daytime running lights off from the shop's computer using the Porsche software. Quick question, do you upshift at 1,800 rpm because the nanny light tells you to?

This thread is (unintentionally) hilarious / tragic. I swear some of your hair pieces are on way too tight. :lolz:

In my W8 Passat, the engine produces a TON of heat and the passenger light would fail if run during the day with the sun out. As they are expensive and time consuming to change (whole front bumper had to be removed), the "fix" was to pull a particular relay that would de-active the DRL, but would still come on when you turned the switch. I have a factory service manual for my Passat, but not one for the CS, so I can't tell you which one to pull or where it is. BUT, there must be a relay for it. Since all these are options, it'd be nice if the manufacturer included some way to change defaults. I'd like to be able to disable the take-off assist braking, disable the meep/meep, change interior light timers after shutdown, drl option, "sleep" the car (all electronics off), autolock, etc. You can't even do this with Durametic, which seems silly.

I used quick connect wiring when I changed my fog lights (LED's from Joe), I can change it up in a matter of 45 seconds. I still prefer other drivers to see me coming and DRL's serve that purpose (incidentally my Jetta TDI has full time DRL's stock from the factory).

I concur with Chows4us, tone down the political stuff, no place for it here. Additionally no name calling either! Chows has already covered how to best contact Porsche and see what they will or won't do for you. If it means anything, on a 987 Cayman the only way of turning on or off the drls is by using the dealers piwis machine and the option to chAnge is several menus down and easily missed. I don't really see why there needs to be a user option to do this as you are likely to set it only once and keep it that way, in which case it should be something the dealer asks you to choose when they prepare your car for you. I also concur that Porsche manuals have flaws but that's true for all car manufacturers. Let us know what Porsche has to say on the issue... Sent from my Galaxy Prime Windows Mobile 8.5 Phone via TapaTalk

Question, gentlemen: Are these driving lights regular old fashioned bulbs that will indeed burn out before too terribly long, or are they LED, which I've been told are unlikely to do so? Thanks in advance for a reply. FYI, the tiny discrepancies between the manual and reality, particularly for 2015 981s, is apparently due to a fairly long stretch of time between publication of the current manual and final lock-in of design details for 2015 (if not earlier) 981s. So, when you hit one of these, you're not crazy. They do exist.

This was in the 911 section and they are LEDs. Your car design has LEDs. LEDs last a very long time. Years ago, they used the Halogen high beams and switched them on/off very fast to get the low output. So how often did one burn out the halogens? You can't do DRLs with the ballast in HIDs. They don't switch on/off fast enough.

. . . just reread most of the thread and find one seemingly important part of the discussion all but missing. Is there or is there not evidence these lights do some good? If so, does anybody out there know anything about that evidence?

Here are some studies Daytime Running Lights: The Studies Here is what I think is the latest US study dtd 2008. http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811029.pdf . The conclusion is that data shows DRLs do not make a statistical significant difference. Therefore, I would not expect to see DRLs mandated and required by DOT, unlike, for example, amber sidemarkers which are codified into law in the CFR. Obviously, these contrasts with the Canadian law Bottom line, if you are in the US, the car is not required to display DRLs.

Being in WA where it's overcast or drizzle often enough, DRLs do make it easier to see other cars. Some people don't even turn on headlights when foggy.

OK, I stumbled onto this thread because I have been trying to figure out why I cannot get my DRLs on. I see other similar modern Porsches running around here with the LED DRLs on so I thought maybe my car did not have DRLs. So I checked and my window sticker, build sheet and COA all agree that my car (2012 987.2 with Bi-Xenon, PDLS and LED spars) has DRLs. The manual that came with the car (written in English) shows how to turn them on and off in the computer menu. When I tried to turn them on, the set -> light menu did not appear which brought me to the WTF question. So, as always, I came to P-9 and got the answer from the OP's OP. Now I know why I can't turn them on. Not a federal case for me as it took a couple years of ownership before I got around to looking into this but it did cause me to waste an hour or two of my time - so far and the lights are still not on. I would like to turn on my DRLs and so my next question after the OP was "Can the dealer or my Indy turn them on?" I had to read through this long thread to finally get the answer from K-Man's post quoted here. So next time the car goes in, I'll see if I can get the DRLs on. Thanks.