Daytime running lights

[swill453]

Interesting survey https://www.petrolprices.com/news/dayti ... r-drivers/

8% of respondents had front daytime running lights, but didn't know whether they had rear DRLs.

That'll be why you see loads of cars with lights on at the front only, in conditions where you'd previously have expected headlights and tail lights. Unintended consequences or what...

Scott.

[Dod101]

My car has an automatic position on the light switch and I just leave it there so I have no idea whether I have rear running lights or not. I have always assumed so but will try to check.

Dod

[redsturgeon]

My car has an automatic position on the light switch and I just leave it there so I have no idea whether I have rear running lights or not. I have always assumed so but will try to check.

Dod

Mine have similar "auto" settings. They run front lights only in daylight and front and rear in dark conditions. I am sometimes taken by surprise if someone else has been using the car and switch the auto setting off.

John

[swill453]

As I understand it, both of your "auto" switches don't have anything to do with daytime running lights. These have to be "always on" at the front for any new car since 2011.*

Rear DRLs are only optional fittings, and as has been already shown in this thread, some people don't know if they have them or not.

* - but will be switched off when headlights come on, so I suppose there is a link with the "auto" function.

Scott.

[redsturgeon]

As I understand it, both of your "auto" switches don't have anything to do with daytime running lights. These have to be "always on" at the front for any new car since 2011.*

Rear DRLs are only optional fittings, and as has been already shown in this thread, some people don't know if they have them or not.

* - but will be switched off when headlights come on, so I suppose there is a link with the "auto" function.

Scott.

Correct, in my case the auto setting switches on headlights and rear lights and switches off DRLs.

John

[Dod101]

Very interesting. I pay very little attention to what is happening and just leave the 'auto' switch on and as far as I am concerned everything seems to be fine but I will now try to take a look and see.

Dod

[swill453]

Very interesting. I pay very little attention to what is happening and just leave the 'auto' switch on and as far as I am concerned everything seems to be fine but I will now try to take a look and see.

So everything probably is fine. You do the same as I do, but I just happen to know that I don't have rear daytime running lights.

The problem is those who:
- don't use or have an auto setting
- have front daytime running lights
- don't have rear DRLs, but think they do

They're the ones running about in dim light or heavy rain with no lights showing at the rear.

Scott.

[JohnB]

The 2011 date was for new car type approval, cars approved before that date could be sold without them afterwards, as my 61 model is. It is the most scarlet car you could imagine, so I think people can still see me!

[Watis]

I saw several cars last winter with just their front lights on.

It was properly dark so I have no doubt that the drivers thought that their rear lights were on as well.

Which just reinforces my decision to never use the auto lighting option on my car. I'll decide when the lights are turned on and off, thank you very much!

Watis

[DrFfybes]

My car has an automatic position on the light switch and I just leave it there so I have no idea whether I have rear running lights or not. I have always assumed so but will try to check.

Dod

Mine have similar "auto" settings. They run front lights only in daylight and front and rear in dark conditions. I am sometimes taken by surprise if someone else has been using the car and switch the auto setting off.

John

You might also find they don't come on in foggy conditions either.

The problem is people think DRLs are related to headlights, they're not.

DRLs are brighter as they are dsesigned to be used in daylight, so they can dazzle at night, and DRLs do not illuminate the road.

MrsF's BMW (2006) has auto lights that don't come on in fog, but also the dash is lit all the time, so the old giveaway of a dark dashboard at night meaning your lights are off doesn't count.

I've actually told a woman in a newish Beetle (no DRLs) that she was driving around with no lights on. She replied "they're automatic" and drove off, unlit.

Paul

[redsturgeon]

My car has an automatic position on the light switch and I just leave it there so I have no idea whether I have rear running lights or not. I have always assumed so but will try to check.

Dod

Mine have similar "auto" settings. They run front lights only in daylight and front and rear in dark conditions. I am sometimes taken by surprise if someone else has been using the car and switch the auto setting off.

John

You might also find they don't come on in foggy conditions either.

The problem is people think DRLs are related to headlights, they're not.

DRLs are brighter as they are dsesigned to be used in daylight, so they can dazzle at night, and DRLs do not illuminate the road.

MrsF's BMW (2006) has auto lights that don't come on in fog, but also the dash is lit all the time, so the old giveaway of a dark dashboard at night meaning your lights are off doesn't count.

I've actually told a woman in a newish Beetle (no DRLs) that she was driving around with no lights on. She replied "they're automatic" and drove off, unlit.

Paul

You are possibly right, although they do come on under bridges and think tree cover.

John

[Alaric]

DRLs are brighter as they are dsesigned to be used in daylight, so they can dazzle at night, and DRLs do not illuminate the road.

I regard them as a hazard. With the traditional design, if you are starting your car at night in a dark area, outside your house say, then you can immediately tell that you haven't switched the lights on, because there's no illumination to the front of you. With the DRL you lack this visual clue. What amazes me is that in a car with a gadget and a warning for everything, there's no warning that it's both dark and you haven't switched on the main lights.

[swill453]

What amazes me is that in a car with a gadget and a warning for everything, there's no warning that it's both dark and you haven't switched on the main lights.

Because they've gone beyond that with the "auto" setting. If you think about it, it would be the same sensor and the same logic to give you the warning.

Of course if people switch the auto off, and then don't switch them on manually at appropriate times, what can you do?

Scott.

[Alaric]

Of course if people switch the auto off, and then don't switch them on manually at appropriate times, what can you do?

It seems logical to me, that if the lights are switched off, you start the engine and it's dark, then you get a warning. But perhaps I have a traditional attitude that when you park up a car, you switch everything off, unless you need the lights left on because of where you are parked.

[swill453]

It seems logical to me, that if the lights are switched off, you start the engine and it's dark, then you get a warning. But perhaps I have a traditional attitude that when you park up a car, you switch everything off, unless you need the lights left on because of where you are parked.

Headlights with an "auto" setting are designed to be left at that setting permanently. You may have a reason for choosing not to use it, but I can understand why manufacturers would consider a warning feature superfluous when they provide the auto facility.

Scott.

[DrFfybes]

It seems logical to me, that if the lights are switched off, you start the engine and it's dark, then you get a warning. But perhaps I have a traditional attitude that when you park up a car, you switch everything off, unless you need the lights left on because of where you are parked.

Headlights with an "auto" setting are designed to be left at that setting permanently. You may have a reason for choosing not to use it, but I can understand why manufacturers would consider a warning feature superfluous when they provide the auto facility.

Scott.

I don't use the Auto setting for 3 reasons..
1) only 1 of the cars has it, so I'm used to taking responsibility for my vehicle lights
2) they don't come on in Fog
3) they come on then flicker off and on again when the engine starts, which is the main cause of wer on the very expensive HID units fitted to 2 of the cars.

Now if they had a warning system if you went over (say) 50mph with rear fogs on then that would be useful on the motorway at night:)

[Dod101]

My answers to DrFfybes (difficult!) are

1) I only have one car (Audi Q5)
2) I know that and switch on fog lights when required. I do not understand why one switch does not light front and rear but I have to do both independently, but no big deal once you understand that.
3)I do not care about the flickering - do they? Never noticed that.

Dod

[scotia]

My car has three light positions.
Daylight Running Lights (front only)
Parking Lights (sidelights front and rear)
Headlights.
The car senses the ambient light, and if you are not on Headlights, yet it thinks you should be, then it darkens the Rev Counter and Speedo Dials. This can happen transiently - e.g. under bridges or overhanging trees, so I suppose it is preferable to transient switching of headlights

[Dazza]

Just want to add to this. I have a 2017 Fiesta (pre-facelift). I live rurally and pulled out of the driveway this morning onto the back of a slow moving flow of traffic. A BMW came hurtling round the corner behind me and in an instant started blaring their horn at me, I thought it was because I had perhaps pulled out slower than they were travelling. They overtook me and I blared my horn back at them. I trundled on for about a mile behind the BMW and there was a van behind me too, it wasn't until I turned into a side road that I thought things didn't look quite right on the road ahead. It was at that point that it struck me that my headlights weren't on and I was running off the DRL's only, I was horrified, that poor BMW driver must got the shock of their life hurtling towards me and not seeing me.

The DRL's on my car are so damn bright that I was fooled into not realising the headlights weren't on, here's also why:

1) The dashboard is lit up like a Christmas tree at all times, there is no option to manually control the DRL's either (which would be helpful).
2) There is no visible indicator on the dashboard at any time comfirming whether your headlights are on or not, nothing.
3) The headlight switch on this car does not have an 'Auto' option, my previous Passat did.
4) The headlight switch is obscured completely from view by the steering wheel and indicator stalk. To look at the state of the switch I have to put my head quite wide of the steering wheel to see it.

I have conlcuded that DRL's are actually incredibly dangerous particularly if you get distracted when entering your vehicle in the dark, they should be toned down, there should be in indicator that the DRL's only are on and for the love of god the Dashboard should NOT be lit up fully when only the DRL's are in operation this is just plain damn stupid and dangerous. Perhaps it's just Ford's, I don't know.

If that BMW driver ever reads this, sorry pal, I take the horn blaring back and huge apologies....

[kiloran]

I have conlcuded that DRL's are actually incredibly dangerous particularly if you get distracted when entering your vehicle in the dark, they should be toned down, there should be in indicator that the DRL's only are on and for the love of god the Dashboard should NOT be lit up fully when only the DRL's are in operation this is just plain damn stupid and dangerous. Perhaps it's just Ford's, I don't know.

I can't believe that a modern car has no indication on the dashboard for the headlights (and by implication, the rear lights). Every car I have owned (since around 1970) has had a headlight indicator. And another for full-beam. I don't think your problem is down to the DRLs, it's about concentrating on what you are doing.

--kiloran