Auto headlight modification on the Gen 4?

You notice the wipers on or off because they are right in front of you and easy to see, but If the daytime running lights are on and not the marker lights with it, then you don't notice that you don't have any tail lights.

 

Ok, rule of thumb suggestion. It's getting darker - turn your headlights on without waiting for automation.

 

In my Three, when the DRL's are on, they will automatically switch over to FULL headlights & tail lights upon encountering a low-light situation (like in a tunnel) or when the gloomy night comes upon us. And I have mine set to "high sensitivity."

The DRL/Auto is one in the same.... the same position on the light stalk. But I always beat the auto function to the punch, as RCO wrote. When dusk comes, I turn on my lights! As simple as that. I never wait fot the auto.

(In fog, too. And heavy rain. All these dummies running around in the fog with NO lights on! Who taught those idiots how to drive??!)

 

Yeah, it's just going to take awhile to get out of the habit of relying on auto headlights! After getting stopped one time for not having tail lights on I think I should be ok now. Really though, the point I'd like to make is that with all the other automatic safety features that come as standard on this car, auto headlights should be standard too. I'd rather have auto headlights than the useless (to me) lane departure and parallel parking assist for example.

 

I agree with that part, I don't need all those gadgets. But even with no auto headlights, I think it's pretty disturbing if people forget to turn their lights on! It may be a case of being too distracted while driving?

Everybody needs to put down the damn cell phones. This is not an office, or a social media hub, it's an automobile that requires our full attention.

- spoken like a true old guy

 

I drove my previous car, a 2006 Corolla, with auto headlights for 12 years. I loved that feature and whenever I had to drive another car without it, I thought how archaic it was. Habits are hard to break - especially if you have 3 screaming kids in the backseat and you're not quite used to the new car idiosyncrasies yet. Anyway to me, not having auto headlights kind of goes against the technologically advanced character of the car. It's just unexpected and a little disappointing. Can I learn to do without it? Of course, but the disappointment remains.

 

By contrast, I have always manually turned the headlights on with my 2008 Corolla LE. Old habits, I guess. No disappointment here. Of course, my 2000 Tundra does not have auto headlights. We were fortunate to get one with DRLs.

 

My disappointment only applies to the lack of auto headlights. As far as the rest of the car, I'm pretty happy - especially the over 60 MPG overall average gas mileage!

 

I can sympathize with you, of course, but I do feel that if the feature was so important to you, perhaps a 2 was not the best choice. Keep safe, and (edit: hope) the law didn't fine you too severely.

 

Another $2000 for the 3 just for auto headlights? Thanks, but no thanks!

 

Trouble is, cars driving on motorways which, here, are very well lit, as the sun goes down, it's not obvious to them that they haven't noticed - because it's still plenty bright enough to see, but their dark grey/black car is almost invisible. I see it often, as that's when I drive many times.

And - having been used to headlights which worked automatically, it ceased to be an automatic thing to do.

 

That's right, but I've never found a shortage of other motorists eager to flash their main beams if my lights weren't on, or some other thing that displeased them. Perhaps that's another cultural difference. Another thing, if the street lights are on - your lights should be on as well.

 

There are plenty of drivers here who flash headlights at cars that need to have their headlights on and paradoxically I've done it myself on occasion. But don't forget in my case anyway, I had my daytime running headlights on; it was just the tail lights that weren't on.

 

Yeah, I know it sucks but you'll soon get into the swing again.

 

My solution for now is to leave on the drl's with marker lights and then try to remember to turn on the full headlights when it gets dark. That way I'll always have at least the minimum lights on for safety.

 

The other thing is, most cars these days have graphic displays on the dashboard rather than clocks as on older cars, which were backlit by bulbs, so they don't notice their lights aren't on because their speedo is lit, whereas on older cars the speedo would be dark.

 

Actually, on mine, the dash dims when the headlights are on.

 

Mine do to some extent - but I never notice it at dusk. I do if, say, I go into a tunnel or underpass.

 

Possibly two separate features. The dashlights and HUD, if fitted are dimmed by the ambient light sensor and I know that has a dramatic effect after entering a tunnel.

 

I wished that the Sat Nav screen would just go into night mode and stay in night mode the whole time the head lights are on. It must be fed by the ambient sensor as at times it can constantly switch between day and night mode which I find very distracting. On all other cars I have had it would stay on night mode as long as the headlights were on. I know I can disable night mode in the settings, but then it would be too bright in the dark....