Maui19

We just got my wife's Q5 back from the body shop (don't ask ) and the wiring for the tail lights is messed up. I think they attached to brake/turn signal wiring to the rear fog lamps and vice versa (althought the backup lights still work properly. The shop wants us to leave it with them for a day to fix their error. This is a PITA, and I'm wondering if it is fairly straightforward to hook up the lights properly.

Thoughts?

Maui19

I just read that the light bar in the bumper takes over for the mail taillights when they malfunction. I wonder if the shop simply didn't re-connect the main taillights.

rdgrimes

The lower light bar also takes over when the hatch door is raised.

Maui19

Hmmm...so maybe the problem is with the hatch closing sensor. Thanks!

Maui19

Hmmm...so maybe the problem is with the hatch closing sensor. Thanks!

toomanymc

What kind of body work did they do at the body shop?

I recently had to replace one of my power liftgate motors and the taillights mounted on the hatch would not work until I ran through some basic settings for the hatch control module(6D). The basic settings are lost if you unplug anything related to the hatch electronics and you have to "re-teach" the car with a scan tool.

I also know that the sensor/latch assembly is very sensitive and if it's out of adjustment it will default to only using the secondary lights in the bumper(this could be the case if the hatch was removed or repaired).

Either way it's unlikely you can fix this without a scan tool but it's also probably a very simple fix.

Maui19

It turned out to be the hatch door sensor. The broken sensor was replaced and everything is fine now.