New to Site, New Saab 2009 9-3 SportCombi.
On the dash, I found an extra button with a dash mark on it that doesnt do anything. The people at saab said it was an "auxillary button" that can be programmed later. I asked them if I could program it so that only the fog lights light up and nothing else and they told me that they couldnt do it because it is illegal. My main point im trying to find out here is: What can I do to program this button for just the fog lights to turn on, have i missed a previous post about this? if so, please post as a reply, and how difficult (if even possible) is it to do this on my own. Probably something you guys know and thanks for the help in advance
It's actually the ejection seat. So don't play with it while the car is running!
The "saab people" are correct. It's an auxiliary button. I've heard of it being used for aftermarket driving lights. Think big light bar with a couple of pairs of Hella WRC-car style lights for scaring away errant moose.
I
think that I remember once seeing some european Saab-parts site that sold a kit that allows you to use that button to trigger a relay that would let you run, well, anything. You'd need to do some searching both here and on the great Google.
AFAIK, there is no way to make that button turn your OEM foglights on and off, unless you were to find/buy the afore-mentioned kit, have the dealer enable the kit (via TechII), then cut-and-rewire your foglights. I suppose that would be technically possible, though I've not heard of anyone around here doing that. And it's likely that doing such a thing would throw the car's diagnostics systems into a tizzy too.
Back in the 'olden days' (2003-2006), you could get
some dealers to do what's called a 'DRL disable w/ ROW fogs'. DRL = Daytime running lights. ROW = Rest Of World. If you do a search, you'll find a whole lot of threads about it. This was a procedure that the dealer would do with the TechII system (the computer system/connections that let the dealer 'talk' to your car), to basically configure your 9-3's lighting to behave as if it were a European-spec 9-3 rather than a US-spec one. My '06 is configured like this. My dealer did it for me for free as part of the 60-day Tech II customization back in the fall of '06. I can turn my headlights on and off (with the switch - no always-on DRL's), and the foglights can be on when the parking, regular, or high-beams are on. Not just with the regular beams as it is with the 'normal' US-spec setup.
However, you may be out of luck.
I believe that dealers lost the ability to do this a year or two ago. I've not heard of anyone with anything newer than an '07 be able to get their DRL's disabled and/or ROW fogs enabled.
Many Saab dealers have told many Saab owners that doing this is illegal - so you're not alone in that. It's not. It's just a convenient scape-goat for them. The actual reason is that they don't know how, can't figure it out, or aren't allowed to by GM/Saab. It used to be reasons #1/#2, but it's likely #3 now.