Speak EV - Electric Car Forums banner

Brake lights not on during regen

5K views 11 replies 7 participants last post by  meetyg 
#1 ·
Anyone notice that the brake light don't light when using regen (even in B mode)?

Tonight I noticed it, since in the dark, the brake lights reflect a bit off the rear window wiper and can be seen in the rear view mirror.

Even when driving at speed and letting off the accelerator pedal at once (slowing the car down pretty quickly) the brake lights didn't light on.
This worries me, cause I'm afraid to get rear-ended when using B mode.
Now I understand why drivers behind me get agitated... :rolleyes:
Doesn't seem like a safe decision PSA made with these cars.

I did try using ACC (my model has it), and in ACC it does light the brake lights when the car slows down by itself.
 
#2 · (Edited)
As you say, it doesn't sound sensible. I have no idea of the law in Israel, but in the EU they are only required when regeneration causes deceleration above 0.17g. So for example my LEAF 30 never lights it's brakelights on regeneration alone but that may be due to being approved before these regulations.

More details here:

The battery health thread!
 
#4 · (Edited)
I just did another little test in the city: Tried to accelerate and then lift off at once. The blue regen (charge) bar filled about 2/3 of its capacity. Couldn't get any more than that in B mode, but still brake lights were off.

I have seen the regen bar go 100% in the past, but I if I recall correctly it was either while braking, or going down very steep slopes.

So regen in the Corsa-e isn't really that strong, but it's still enough to slow the car down quite quickly, which could surprise drivers behind you.

If the brake lights are configured to come on according to some G sensor, I think they should have tuned it to correlate with the weak regen we get in the Corsa-e.
Let's say when the regen bar fills half of the bar...

Anyways, now that I'm aware of this I suppose I should drive more cautiously in regards to drivers behind me, knowing that they may be surprised from my deceleration, without any indication.
 
#10 ·
Dealers here are pretty much useless after sales...
When you mentioned DIAGBOX did you refer to VW or the Opel/Vauxhall?

I recall using DIAGBOX on my Skoda Octavia a few years back.
It's really cool and I was able to turn on some features not enabled by default.
I wonder what PSA use for these EVs...
It used to be Lexia for PSA cars, but I didn't have much success changing stuff of my previous Peugeot 208 ICE car.
I think that now they verify the use of the tools through their servers, so if your not a qualified dealer, it's very hard to get and make use of.
 
#11 ·
As stated by someone above, there is no requirement for brake lights to activate when the deceleration is below 0.17G. If you're worried that some arsehole is going to rear-end you then use the footbrake very lightly as this does not apply the physical brakes but uses regen for the first bit of travel. It does, however, activate the brake lights.

Anyone who is irritated by your use of regen without brake lights is a complete knob and is obviously far too close behind you. Then again, I have lived and driven in Israel and I can attest to the fact that driving standards are akin to somewhere like Italy but nowhere as near as bad as, say, India.

Here in the UK, those drivers who tend to get irritated by my use of regen retardation tend to be the retards that generally drive luxury german manufactured cars. (I know that's a broad generalisation but they are much more likely to be the ones that are aggressively trying to intimidate you)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top