What is this? I just thought they maybe covered electrical parts or maybe was something for towing, but my friend has an 04 A6 and the bumps on his car pop up and spray his headlights. But they don't on mine...do they have a purpose?

 

They're supposed to be headlight washers. If yours don't work that prolly means the pump is burned out, pretty common problem.

 

You need your headlights on and pull the wiper lever towards you for 3 seconds to make magic.

 

Fluid pressure overcomes spring tension when the squirters are applied , the little covers raise & squirt.

 

Well I did not know that. They don't work on my car, I just tested it. How much money would this typically cost to fix?

 

Most owners consider it a blessing that they don't work cause it could get messy

 

Any reason why you'd want to fix it? If they've never worked then you're not missing much IMO. Mine never worked either so I removed them. The space taken up by their fluid reservoir is much more useful than the headlight washers themselves (especially on the 1.8T, makes removing the oil filter a million times easier. Not to mention that's where my catch can now is).

 

They also only work when the headlights are on IIRC, so try that.

 

The pump isn't too bad, less than $100 I think.

This.