How do you use your headlights?

My bad. That was me, and yes mine do come on when the car is started. They did with the CR-V ,C-Class, X- Trail and Rover 75. That said, it is finely splitting hairs in this regard imho.

 

Actually, it was kithmo.
How do you use your headlights? | Page 4 | PriusChat

 

Ha ha! Great minds, eh!

 

...and fools seldom differ...

 

You should know.

 

Yup.

 

Where were you doing that? I know there are a few "dark sky" areas in North America.

 

I guessed one of these:
Dark-Sky Sites - SkyNews
or these
The Darkest Parks in the U.S. | Outside Online

 

Headlight report:
During the drive this morning, it was raining moderately hard, and considerably dark and gloomy and foggy.
As I am trying to pull out of my neighborhood, here comes a black Gen3 Prius and a dark gray Corolla… And no headlights whatsoever.

I'm not sure if these people are brand-new drivers, or elderly, or just people that are ignorant in knowledge about basic safety and driving rules. I would say only about 40% of all the vehicles had their lights on this morning. Sadly, it is drivers like that who will cause accidents. (And I saw 7 or 8 Prii's, and only ONE was using their headlights. Makes no sense at all.)

 

I use the "automatic" setting. And as such don't know whether my lights are on or not. I let the car decide...

 

I do star parties from time to time too. Good to know the ole parking break trick still works. I'll make sure to test it prior.

 

In the past, I've always just kept my car parked all night long. That seemed to be the easiest way to deal with it. But I've always known how to disable all my lighting just in case.

 

You're kidding, right? You don't know if the lights are on or not… That's taking it to the extreme, for sure. I hope at least you have the auto set to "maximum sensitivity."

As dusk is approaching, I turn on my full headlights much sooner than the auto setting ever would. The same with cloudy and overcast days. Full headlights. I believe in the highest visibility possible. The Prius is not a large car. Maybe my thinking comes from driving motorcycles for so many years, and hundreds of cars making left turns right in front of me.

Yes, that's the problem with DRL's. In some cases a blacked-out rear end is just as bad as having no headlights on. Especially those dark grey or black vehicles. I don't mean to sound snarky, buy I don't understand the thinking of people who don't take safety into consideration, and are hesitant to turn on their headlights. I have no problem using FULL headlights, 24 hours a day if I want to. (Same with the AC). I am not concerned at all how those two items would affect the gas mileage. The least of my concerns is the darn MPG!

 

I let the AUTO do it's thing too generally, unless it's a heavily overcast day. But my DRLs are actually easier to spot than my headlights - I tried it from a distance one night - these photos are daytime obviously (right one is DRL). The DRLs shine in a wider angle than the headlight which wasn't visible as much from an angle.

HEADLIGHT......PARK LIGHT....FOG LIGHT..........DRL

And the Parking Lights (Side Lights) aren't very bright at all in daylight, but much better at night, and easier to see from an angle. I must get some night photos.

 

Brilliant (!) Al. The photos are great, but they don't convey the difference as well in daylight as darkness unfortunately. Personally, I think the problems encountered by North American cousins stems from their model dependent configurations and apparent lack of widespread educational info to the motoring fraternity at large. It is comforting to see that so many on here have got the message about DRLs, or should I risk saying "seen the light". Nah! I'd probably be lynched if I did!

 

Just so you are aware, I work in Lynchburg