Small Carista tweaks to fix the annoyances of the T6.1 California

[Mehdime]

Finally got to use my Carista to fix some of those little annoying things with the T6.1. Bought it 2 years ago when I got the van. But kept having to bring the van back to the dealer for warranty work and didn’t want to mess with the OBD settings until we got the van to a good place where everything was fixed and working well.

For those not familiar with OBD and the Carista:
- The Carista reader itself: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BBS73F6J?tag=vwcalifornia-21
- list of settings you can tweak: https://carista.com/en/supported-cars/vw/transporter/t6-1

Settings I’ve changed:

Ding when key is left in ignition -> off​

Finally. Stops that irritating and completely useless ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding when you’re opening or closing the pop-up roof and someone opens one of the doors.

Auto fold mirrors via -> single click​

For some incomprehensible reason, the mirrors on the T6.1 Ocean have the ability to fold automatically when you lock the door but they don’t as standard. Every time you lock the van, you have to then press and hold the locking button to get the mirrors to fold.

This setting fixes that. Mirrors now fold automatically every time the van is locked. As they should.

Scandinavian DRL: daytime running lights activate taillights and parking lights -> Yes​

For some reason, in Ireland and the U.K., daytime running lights are only at the front. Tailgate lights aren’t on by default during the day. Always found this odd as it makes it look like your lights are broken. And it’s the tailgate lights that you really want to be on all the time anyway as they make a huge difference in seeing the car in front of you in poor visibility daylight conditions.

This setting fixes that. Daytime running lights now switch on both your front and tailgate lights.

Refuel quantity in MFD -> Enabled​

This adds the “Refuel quantity” to the list of driving metrics you can choose to display on the dashboard display (see picture). Not exactly an essential feature but still useful for those pumps that require pre-payment. Quantity is displayed in 5L increment. Bit odd that this feature is there but hidden by default.

Auto-unlock doors when shifting into park (P) -> Yes​

Still on the fence on this one. By default, your doors remain locked until you remove the key from the ignition. Which is annoying when you stop for a few seconds to pickup someone from the side of the road. Always ends up being a kerfuffle where the person you’re picking up tries several times and fails to open the (still locked) door, you don’t really know why it’s not working, then remember that the doors are still locked, panic-look for the unlock button, find it, unlock the doors then try to gesture to the person outside (who has given up by now) that they should try again and it that should work.

This fixes this. As soon as you put the van in P, the doors unlock. But it means that when you put the van in P when waiting at a traffic light or stuck in traffic, the doors also unlock. Which is loud and annoying. So not sure. I might revert that one.

What I couldn’t fix
I couldn’t change the minimum speed at which the auto-headlights activate. Other cars let you configure this but not the T6.1 Transporter it seems - the option is not there.

That’s really annoying. Auto-headlights only activate when you drive at 60km/h or more. Which makes it fairly useless on small winding country-side roads, unless you drive like a complete madman. I’ve no idea why this limit is there. Really wish I could lower it to 20km/h.

 

[nigpdreadingfc]

I'm doing my tweaks on Friday and will be doing the same as you.
In addition, I'll set the instrument dial needle sweep on start up, just because it looks good (IMHO).
I'll also have a search to see if I can increase the number of clicks on the indicators from 3 to 5 when changing lanes

 

[dspuk]

Finally got use my Carista to fix some of those little annoying things with the T6.1. Bought it 2 years ago when I got the van. But kept having to bring the van back to the dealer for warranty work and didn’t want to mess with the OBD settings until we got the van to a good place where everything was fixed and working well.

For those not familiar with OBD and the Carista:
- The Carista reader itself: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BBS73F6J?tag=vwcalifornia-21
- list of settings you can tweak: https://carista.com/en/supported-cars/vw/transporter/t6-1

Settings I’ve changed:

Ding when key is left in ignition -> off​

Finally. Stops that irritating and completely useless ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding when you’re opening or closing the pop-up roof and someone opens one of the doors.

Auto fold mirrors via -> single click​

For some incomprehensible reason, the mirrors on the T6.1 Ocean have the ability to fold automatically when you lock the door but they don’t as standard. Every time you lock the van, you have to then press and hold the locking button to get the mirrors to fold.

This setting fixes that. Mirrors now fold automatically every time the van is locked. As it should.

Scandinavian DRL: daytime running lights activate taillights and parking lights -> Yes​

For some reason, in Ireland and the U.K., daytime running lights are only at the front. But tailgate lights aren’t on by default during the day. Always found this odd as it makes it look like your lights are broken. And it’s the tailgate lights that you really want to be on all the time anyway as they make a huge difference in seeing the car in front of you in poor visibility daylight conditions.

This setting fixes that. Daytime running lights now switch on both your front and tailgate lights.

Refuel quantity in MFD -> Enabled​

This adds the “Refuel quantity” to the list of driving metrics you can choose to display on the dashboard display (see picture). Not exactly an essential feature but still useful for those pumps that require pre-payment. Quantity is displayed in 5L increment. Bit odd that this feature is there but hidden by default.

Auto-unlock doors when shifting into park (P) -> Yes​

Still on the fence on this one. By default, your doors remain locked until you remove the key from the ignition. Which is annoying when you stop for a few seconds to pickup someone from the side of the road. Always ends up being a kerfuffle where the person you’re picking up tries several times and fails to open the (still locked) door, you don’t really know why it’s not working, then remember that the doors are still locked, panic-look for the unlock button, find it, unlock the doors then try to gesture to the person outside (who has given up by now) that they should try again and it that should work.

This fixes this. As soon as you put the van in P, the doors unlock. But it means that when you put the van in P when waiting at a traffic light or stuck in traffic, the doors also unlock. Which is loud and annoying. So not sure. I might revert that one.

What I couldn’t fix
I couldn’t change the minimum speed at which the auto-headlights activate. Other cars let you configure this but not the T6.1 Transporter it seems - the option is not there.

That’s really annoying. Auto-headlights only activate when you drive at 60km/h or more. Which makes it fairly useless on small winding country-side roads, unless you drive like a complete madman. I’ve no idea why this limit is there. Really wish I could lower it to 20km/h.

View attachment 131274

I believe auto headlights are set that way so that people don't drive around in built up areas blinding pedestrians. For the activation speed I thought it was lower. @andyinluton updated it on a thread last week, I thought it was 30MPH but 40 sounds right (60KMH).

If I'm driving that slow on a country road I'd use it them old fashioned way.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Finally got to use my Carista to fix some of those little annoying things with the T6.1. Bought it 2 years ago when I got the van. But kept having to bring the van back to the dealer for warranty work and didn’t want to mess with the OBD settings until we got the van to a good place where everything was fixed and working well.

For those not familiar with OBD and the Carista:
- The Carista reader itself: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BBS73F6J?tag=vwcalifornia-21
- list of settings you can tweak: https://carista.com/en/supported-cars/vw/transporter/t6-1

Settings I’ve changed:

Ding when key is left in ignition -> off​

Finally. Stops that irritating and completely useless ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding when you’re opening or closing the pop-up roof and someone opens one of the doors.

Auto fold mirrors via -> single click​

For some incomprehensible reason, the mirrors on the T6.1 Ocean have the ability to fold automatically when you lock the door but they don’t as standard. Every time you lock the van, you have to then press and hold the locking button to get the mirrors to fold.

This setting fixes that. Mirrors now fold automatically every time the van is locked. As they should.

Scandinavian DRL: daytime running lights activate taillights and parking lights -> Yes​

For some reason, in Ireland and the U.K., daytime running lights are only at the front. Tailgate lights aren’t on by default during the day. Always found this odd as it makes it look like your lights are broken. And it’s the tailgate lights that you really want to be on all the time anyway as they make a huge difference in seeing the car in front of you in poor visibility daylight conditions.

This setting fixes that. Daytime running lights now switch on both your front and tailgate lights.

Refuel quantity in MFD -> Enabled​

This adds the “Refuel quantity” to the list of driving metrics you can choose to display on the dashboard display (see picture). Not exactly an essential feature but still useful for those pumps that require pre-payment. Quantity is displayed in 5L increment. Bit odd that this feature is there but hidden by default.

Auto-unlock doors when shifting into park (P) -> Yes​

Still on the fence on this one. By default, your doors remain locked until you remove the key from the ignition. Which is annoying when you stop for a few seconds to pickup someone from the side of the road. Always ends up being a kerfuffle where the person you’re picking up tries several times and fails to open the (still locked) door, you don’t really know why it’s not working, then remember that the doors are still locked, panic-look for the unlock button, find it, unlock the doors then try to gesture to the person outside (who has given up by now) that they should try again and it that should work.

This fixes this. As soon as you put the van in P, the doors unlock. But it means that when you put the van in P when waiting at a traffic light or stuck in traffic, the doors also unlock. Which is loud and annoying. So not sure. I might revert that one.

What I couldn’t fix
I couldn’t change the minimum speed at which the auto-headlights activate. Other cars let you configure this but not the T6.1 Transporter it seems - the option is not there.

That’s really annoying. Auto-headlights only activate when you drive at 60km/h or more. Which makes it fairly useless on small winding country-side roads, unless you drive like a complete madman. I’ve no idea why this limit is there. Really wish I could lower it to 20km/h.

View attachment 131274

Very useful post. Thank You. Addresses my three pet hates. (.....but what about auto close windows on single click?)

Ding when key is left in ignition​

Auto fold mirrors not available via single click​

Scandinavian DRL no tail lights​

Thanks again.

 

[Mehdime]

Very useful post. Thank You. Addresses my three pet hates. (.....but what about auto close windows on single click?)

I don’t generally open windows while driving. So that’s not been on my list of pet annoyances. Don’t know if that’s on the list of hidden settings that can be tweak by Carista.

 

[sbmcd]

Finally got to use my Carista to fix some of those little annoying things with the T6.1. Bought it 2 years ago when I got the van. But kept having to bring the van back to the dealer for warranty work and didn’t want to mess with the OBD settings until we got the van to a good place where everything was fixed and working well.

For those not familiar with OBD and the Carista:
- The Carista reader itself: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BBS73F6J?tag=vwcalifornia-21
- list of settings you can tweak: https://carista.com/en/supported-cars/vw/transporter/t6-1

Settings I’ve changed:

Ding when key is left in ignition -> off​

Finally. Stops that irritating and completely useless ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding when you’re opening or closing the pop-up roof and someone opens one of the doors.

Auto fold mirrors via -> single click​

For some incomprehensible reason, the mirrors on the T6.1 Ocean have the ability to fold automatically when you lock the door but they don’t as standard. Every time you lock the van, you have to then press and hold the locking button to get the mirrors to fold.

This setting fixes that. Mirrors now fold automatically every time the van is locked. As they should.

Scandinavian DRL: daytime running lights activate taillights and parking lights -> Yes​

For some reason, in Ireland and the U.K., daytime running lights are only at the front. Tailgate lights aren’t on by default during the day. Always found this odd as it makes it look like your lights are broken. And it’s the tailgate lights that you really want to be on all the time anyway as they make a huge difference in seeing the car in front of you in poor visibility daylight conditions.

This setting fixes that. Daytime running lights now switch on both your front and tailgate lights.

Refuel quantity in MFD -> Enabled​

This adds the “Refuel quantity” to the list of driving metrics you can choose to display on the dashboard display (see picture). Not exactly an essential feature but still useful for those pumps that require pre-payment. Quantity is displayed in 5L increment. Bit odd that this feature is there but hidden by default.

Auto-unlock doors when shifting into park (P) -> Yes​

Still on the fence on this one. By default, your doors remain locked until you remove the key from the ignition. Which is annoying when you stop for a few seconds to pickup someone from the side of the road. Always ends up being a kerfuffle where the person you’re picking up tries several times and fails to open the (still locked) door, you don’t really know why it’s not working, then remember that the doors are still locked, panic-look for the unlock button, find it, unlock the doors then try to gesture to the person outside (who has given up by now) that they should try again and it that should work.

This fixes this. As soon as you put the van in P, the doors unlock. But it means that when you put the van in P when waiting at a traffic light or stuck in traffic, the doors also unlock. Which is loud and annoying. So not sure. I might revert that one.

What I couldn’t fix
I couldn’t change the minimum speed at which the auto-headlights activate. Other cars let you configure this but not the T6.1 Transporter it seems - the option is not there.

That’s really annoying. Auto-headlights only activate when you drive at 60km/h or more. Which makes it fairly useless on small winding country-side roads, unless you drive like a complete madman. I’ve no idea why this limit is there. Really wish I could lower it to 20km/h.

View attachment 131274

Very useful, I'm new to the 6.1 and I did not even know about some of these functions

 

[Agnes_Cali]

I have to change just one setting: Disable Undertaking prevention. It drives me crazy and I have to override it multiply times a day in London and on M25.

 

[66tim99]

Auto-unlock doors when shifting into park (P) -> Yes

There's a setting in the infotainment isn't there, to switch off all auto-locking features? I'd rather just lock the doors when I choose, with the button on the door, and normally have all unlocked (I don't have small children).
I've never felt the need to automatically lock all doors in the UK.

 

[66tim99]

I have to change just one setting: Disable Undertaking prevention. It drives me crazy and I have to override it multiply times a day in London and on M25.

That's possible?

 

[Mehdime]

There's a setting in the infotainment isn't there, to switch off all auto-locking features? I'd rather just lock the doors when I choose, with the button, and normally have all unlocked (I don't have small children).
I've never felt the need to automatically lock all doors in the UK.

Yes I think there is. But I do like the auto-lock (not that it’s really needed in Ireland or the U.K. mind you as you say. More of a “might as well - who knows, it might come handy one day” type of thing).

 

[Agnes_Cali]

That's possible?

It was possible in Cupra which had newer system, so should be possible in T6.1.

I will check and update the forum.

 

[California Rob]

Has anyone managed to get the sweeping dial needles to work with carista or carista evo ive tried both and nothing happens..

 

[wildslammer22]

Finally got to use my Carista to fix some of those little annoying things with the T6.1. Bought it 2 years ago when I got the van. But kept having to bring the van back to the dealer for warranty work and didn’t want to mess with the OBD settings until we got the van to a good place where everything was fixed and working well.

For those not familiar with OBD and the Carista:
- The Carista reader itself: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BBS73F6J?tag=vwcalifornia-21
- list of settings you can tweak: https://carista.com/en/supported-cars/vw/transporter/t6-1

Settings I’ve changed:

Ding when key is left in ignition -> off​

Finally. Stops that irritating and completely useless ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding when you’re opening or closing the pop-up roof and someone opens one of the doors.

Auto fold mirrors via -> single click​

For some incomprehensible reason, the mirrors on the T6.1 Ocean have the ability to fold automatically when you lock the door but they don’t as standard. Every time you lock the van, you have to then press and hold the locking button to get the mirrors to fold.

This setting fixes that. Mirrors now fold automatically every time the van is locked. As they should.

Scandinavian DRL: daytime running lights activate taillights and parking lights -> Yes​

For some reason, in Ireland and the U.K., daytime running lights are only at the front. Tailgate lights aren’t on by default during the day. Always found this odd as it makes it look like your lights are broken. And it’s the tailgate lights that you really want to be on all the time anyway as they make a huge difference in seeing the car in front of you in poor visibility daylight conditions.

This setting fixes that. Daytime running lights now switch on both your front and tailgate lights.

Refuel quantity in MFD -> Enabled​

This adds the “Refuel quantity” to the list of driving metrics you can choose to display on the dashboard display (see picture). Not exactly an essential feature but still useful for those pumps that require pre-payment. Quantity is displayed in 5L increment. Bit odd that this feature is there but hidden by default.

Auto-unlock doors when shifting into park (P) -> Yes​

Still on the fence on this one. By default, your doors remain locked until you remove the key from the ignition. Which is annoying when you stop for a few seconds to pickup someone from the side of the road. Always ends up being a kerfuffle where the person you’re picking up tries several times and fails to open the (still locked) door, you don’t really know why it’s not working, then remember that the doors are still locked, panic-look for the unlock button, find it, unlock the doors then try to gesture to the person outside (who has given up by now) that they should try again and it that should work.

This fixes this. As soon as you put the van in P, the doors unlock. But it means that when you put the van in P when waiting at a traffic light or stuck in traffic, the doors also unlock. Which is loud and annoying. So not sure. I might revert that one.

What I couldn’t fix
I couldn’t change the minimum speed at which the auto-headlights activate. Other cars let you configure this but not the T6.1 Transporter it seems - the option is not there.

That’s really annoying. Auto-headlights only activate when you drive at 60km/h or more. Which makes it fairly useless on small winding country-side roads, unless you drive like a complete madman. I’ve no idea why this limit is there. Really wish I could lower it to 20km/h.

View attachment 131274

Interesting, With Carista on my T6 I can set the speed threshold for auto high beam but there is no option to set the door mirrors to auto fold on lock without the long press! Swings and roundabout's…

 

[Flower Power]

Re folding mirrors....when you live in snow and ice belt (as I do) you do not want mirrors to close every time you lock the car. In the morning they might not go back to open. So the default setting is great. You choose. Although in 6.1 this is not an issue, you do not want a car which automatically sets emergency brake when entered in Park.

 

[Mehdime]

Re folding mirrors....when you live in snow and ice belt (as I do) you do not want mirrors to close every time you lock the car. In the morning they might not go back to open. So the default setting is great. You choose.

Fair - in some parts of the world, you probably don’t want this. But the whole point I guess here is that you can’t choose actually. For some reason, even though mirrors can fold automatically when you lock the car, VW does not provide this as an option in the vehicle settings. That’s the baffling part.

But thankfully, there’s Carista.

 

[Andy C Berks.]

Fair - in some parts of the world, you probably don’t want this. But the whole point I guess here is that you can’t choose actually. For some reason, even though mirrors can fold automatically when you lock the car, VW does not provide this as an option in the vehicle settings. That’s the baffling part.

But thankfully, there’s Carista.

I have read on here somewhere that the reason the mirrors don’t fold on the short press to lock is because on the base vans the delivery drivers don’t want that. The cold weather reason seems sensible too.
But did you know from default that a long press on the lock button on the key fob will fold the mirrors, provided you have it set on the menu. So effectively you have both options, to fold or not to fold, from default anyway.

 

[dspuk]

I have read on here somewhere that the reason the mirrors don’t fold on the short press to lock is because on the base vans the delivery drivers don’t want that. The cold weather reason seems sensible too.
But did you know from default that a long press on the lock button on the key fob will fold the mirrors, provided you have it set on the menu. So effectively you have both options, to fold or not to fold, from default anyway.

I believe it is a starter battery issue. The base van is “designed” to be a work/delivery van. For the use case of it stopping and starting hundreds of times a day, potentially, having the mirrors open and close each time you lock is a drain. That said, it should be an option on the menu rather than hidden in the ECU programming.

 

[Mehdime]

But did you know from default that a long press on the lock button on the key fob will fold the mirrors, provided you have it set on the menu. So effectively you have both options, to fold or not to fold, from default anyway.

Oh yes I know. Supremely irritating. Always had to press and hold (and it worked about 80% of the time).

 

[Maidment_Ocean]

I have to change just one setting: Disable Undertaking prevention. It drives me crazy and I have to override it multiply times a day in London and on M25.

Just tap your accelerator and it will ignore.

 

[Flower Power]

Is "undertaking prevention" a safety future making sure that an undertaker will never be needed at your van ?

 

[Viktorgeorge]

Just tap your accelerator and it will ignore.

Undertaking prevention’ is also called ‘inside overtaking prevention’, from my internet search. I had not heard of or suffered from this, and wonder if it is provided in MY23 vans.

I take it this only operates when you have adaptive cruise control (ACC) operating.

I had noticed a tendency to self-brake in ACC if I get too close to an adjacent lane vehicle, but resolved this by adjusting the ACC so that the distance setting was ‘far’ and keeping a greater distance accordingly (not that I tailgate).

I will now experiment with a tap of the accelerator, thank you @Maidment_Ocean.

 

[Maidment_Ocean]

Undertaking prevention’ is also called ‘inside overtaking prevention’, from my internet search. I had not heard of or suffered from this, and wonder if it is provided in MY23 vans.

I take it this only operates when you have adaptive cruise control (ACC) operating.

I had noticed a tendency to self-brake in ACC if I get too close to an adjacent lane vehicle, but resolved this by adjusting the ACC so that the distance setting was ‘far’.

I will now experiment with a tap of the accelerator, thank you @Maidment_Ocean.

Yes on ACC, works well, I never had an issue with Cali as was trained in my previous Tiguan that had the same system.

 

[WelshGas]

On the T7 Multivan besides the ACC automatically adjusting to the relevant speed limit based on GPS data and Speed Sign recognition I've not noticed any Undertaking notification upto 60mph and nothing in settings.
Useful in Wales with the 20mph restrictions and dual carriageways/motorways where the inside lane turns off.

 

[Viktorgeorge]

On the T7 Multivan besides the ACC automatically adjusting to the relevant speed limit based on GPS data and Speed Sign recognition I've not noticed any Undertaking notification upto 60mph and nothing in settings.
Useful in Wales with the 20mph restrictions and dual carriageways/motorways where the inside lane turns off.

What form would an “Undertaking notification” take exactly @WelshGas? I am struggling to understand what this is, but interested to do so.

If I understand you correctly, you get these above 60mph, but not in slower traffic conditions. Unless you are saying you have not yet exceeded 60mph concurrent with someone overtaking you on the inside.

 

[wildslammer22]

What form would an “Undertaking notification” take exactly @WelshGas? I am struggling to understand what this is, but interested to do so.

If I understand you correctly, you get these above 60mph, but not in slower traffic conditions. Unless you are saying you have not yet exceeded 60mph concurrent with someone overtaking you on the inside.

I have rented T6.1's in the past and from memory it applies some braking force if it detects you are 'undertaking'.