Woofman

Having been perturbed since purchase about the lack of proximity switched puddle lights under the exterior mirrors, I looked under the mirrors yesterday and saw small rectangular clear plastic "lenses". Shazam! My first thought was that I had mirror puddle lights all along and that they just weren't enabled. On further inspection, all I can see through the plastic lenses are mechanical bits but nothing resembling lights. 2022 Cayenne.

Does anyone know the purpose of these things?

Kalson

Maybe a radar for blind spot monitoring?

chassis

Puddle “PORSCHE” light projectors.

Woofman

Possibly. I don't know about Porsche but other vehicles we've had with blind spot monitoring used fairly large radar sensors at the rear corners - essentially behind the rear bumper cover but attached to the body structure and not the bumper cover.

I just snagged an image from a video about the 2024 European market Cayenne that appears to show a puddle light under the driver side exterior mirror. I wonder if this is something that the U.S. market didn't get. I really liked the feature on the Toyota van that the Cayenne replaced where the puddle lights under the mirrors and the interior lights would illuminate as I approached the van with the key fob in my pocket.

Woofman

The Cayenne configurator seems to indicate that the PORSCHE logo light projectors are under the doors instead of under the mirrors. Don't they replace the existing puddle lights at the bottom of the doors?



Edit: Suncoast sells these Porsche puddle lights and says that they replace the existing puddle lights on all four doors of the Cayenne: https://www.suncoastparts.com/product/SKULEDPRO.html

Woofman

OK, a Google search found an old rennlist thread that seems to indicate that previous generations of the Cayenne had puddle lights under the mirrors: https://rennlist.com/forums/cayenne-...de-to-led.html

I wonder why the 9Y0 sold here doesn't have them. LOL, Porsche could have charged their typical ransom fee to get them as an option.

Woofman

Duh! I'll answer my own question. Yes, my Cayenne has little lights under the exterior mirrors after all.

"Courtesy lighting on mirror" (the term used in the feature list) is part of the "Welcome Home Lighting" feature and functions only when the mirrors are extended. I've not noticed these little lights since I always retract the mirrors via the switch on the driver's door before driving into our garage. And I've rarely parked the Cayenne away from our house when it was dark.

I had hoped that these little lights could function based on key fob proximity a la Toyota/Lexus but that doesn't seem to be the case.

A workaround, as long as the exterior mirrors haven't been retracted with the door switch, is to use the fob to unlock the Cayenne ... which extends the exterior mirrors and turns on the courtesy lights under them. That's better than nothing but the whole point of keyless entry is not having to get out the key fob.