Car lights

capt_slog

Whats going on with these nowadays? How long has it been possible to put on the front lights without the back?

I've seen 3 or 4 cars since the clocks went back, driving along with what looks like no lights, until I pass them and then see the fronts are on. I assumed it was a fault, or they had been unlucky enough to blow both bulbs, but it seems not.

Last night there was one in my avenue. I pulled up next to her and with some difficulty got her to wind the window down so I could tell her. She said it was a new car (hence the difficulty in getting the window open )and she must have pressed the wrong button.

Considering the opportunities for getting it wrong, coupled with the fact that you can easily see you're making light at the front and so assume you're lit, it seems a daft idea.

lesfirth

These are "daylight running lights". I have just got a Merc that has them.I have not worked out how to switch them off . IMHO if your car needs lights on it needs them back and front.

veronese68

lesfirth wrote:

. IMHO if your car needs lights on it needs them back and front.

Seems obvious really.

compuwiz_uk

doubt they had there dipped beam headlights ON BUT you can bet your ass they were the Daytime Running Lights that you will have seen ablaze at the front.

from around 2011 i believe they became mandatory on new vehicles ( or new designs of vehicles, any cars approved for sale before then i think got a free pass till they got a facelift or new model etc )

Stupid fecking law if you ask me as they only mandate that the front be lit up at all times, nothing said about the rear ( although you do see the odd sensible implementation that also brings on the rear too )

but along with this stupid thing came the fact car makers made the dashboard light up even during the day & simply dimmed them at night whereas before they were OFF during the day & were a nice reminder to switch ur lights on as you could not see feck all of ur dash at night without ur lights on lol

compuwiz_uk

BUT saying the above, i have noticed a few vehicles recently ( last 2 weeks ) where they just were not lit up at all ( not even the daytime runners as too old ) & no amount of other road users ( behind or oncoming ) flashing or turning their own lights off & then back on again repeatedly got the message over to the unlit drivers.

sadly i think its more a sign of the times as driving is now seen as nothing more than a means from A to B & alot of folks dont bother paying that much attention to the task compared with years past ( same goes for parking - before you used to park suitably whenever possible, now you just chuck the car anywhere thats near where your going & bang on the hazard lights if your not meant to be parked there - sod the fact your parked on a junction entrance, its nearer to the door of the shop than the carpark 15 yards further driving, thats all that matters.


-- edit --

sadly i too fall into said not paying full attention category on occasion as after 10 years with my current car that had automatic dipped beam lights & sidelights that came on with the ignition i had not had need to touch the headlight switch in years - so the 6 month old courtesy vehicle i was using for a week earlier this month saw me actually being one like you have seen for between 300 yards & 2 miles depending on which way i had parked the car as thats how long it took to get to a stretch of unlit road & it became clear i had forgotten to do something lol

meanredspider

I really like daylight running lights. If a car is going away from you, it represents very little danger. Any danger it does represent is in your hands to control (i.e. slow down).

I've driven the A9 between Inverness and Perth a zillion times. It's 115 miles of (mostly) single carriageway road. In less-than-optimal visibility conditions, I've found I've not had enough certainty to overtake because a proportion of drivers aren't using dipped headlights when they should be. Daylight running lights improve this no end. This is just one example of where they make sense.

I guess part of the logic of not having daylight running rear lights is that they'd make brake lights less obvious in conditions that rear lights are not needed.

dinyull

Think it's a combo of daytime lights and auto lights. Our old car had lights that would switch themselves on, which in theory sounds (and tbf worked) great. However, when you move to a car without (like we have) you forget regularly to turn them on. The streetlights, daytime lights and as above fully illuminated dash mask putting them on till I get a nudge off the wife.

compuwiz_uk

meanredspider wrote:

I really like daylight running lights. If a car is going away from you, it represents very little danger. Any danger it does represent is in your hands to control (i.e. slow down).

I've driven the A9 between Inverness and Perth a zillion times. It's 115 miles of (mostly) single carriageway road. In less-than-optimal visibility conditions, I've found I've not had enough certainty to overtake because a proportion of drivers aren't using dipped headlights when they should be. Daylight running lights improve this no end. This is just one example of where they make sense.

I guess part of the logic of not having daylight running rear lights is that they'd make brake lights less obvious in conditions that rear lights are not needed.

dont get me wrong, i love daytime runners for the reason they were fitted, but they forgot to account for the common dimwit they would be getting sold to ( like myself ) who will happily trot round at ALL times with just the daytime runners ablaze at the front.

be it a lovely sunny day which is OK but not so much when its dusk & beyond or a typical british drizzly number where rear lights are handy things to have lit up too even though its 12 noon as its much harder to see some cars your approaching clearly until they brake ( dark blue / dark grey & black are common here ). same for misty/foggy conditions, front daytime runners ablaze & nothing at the rear ( normally silver, grey & white cars in this category ).

so they should amend the daytime running specs now seen as LED lights are common place now they can be suitably dimmed so that there is a large distinction between side & brake etc so that rear lights come on too at all times ( or at the very least whenever the windscreen wipers are switched to any of the ON positions ( exclude wash of screen from that option ) the rear lights get brough on too as if its dull enough due to the weather to need the wipers flailing about then you could do with some light at the back too for similar reasons to the ones that have been at the front of the car for years now.

meanredspider

Now what I don't understand is that there are cars that have auto braking going forward but not in reverse. Auto braking when a kid steps behind your car as you're reversing just makes so much sense (and would save repairs to the damage that Mrs MRS inflicted on our car....)

compuwiz_uk

yup, that could be handy ( should it actually work right )

BUT i imagine it would not act too well when you bunged on a trailer or caravan though - OK if specced with towbar from the factory i assume it would be OK as they would fit suitable kit so that it was switched off whenever stuff was attached to the electrics point BUT how many folks would buy an aftermarket bar that also had the cutoff device ( you can bet they would go for the cheapest one 99% of the time & then moan at the dealer cos the car wont reverse due to the brakes coming on when owts on the back of the car :roll:


but as mentioned above, alot of this new tech stuff makes us ( me especially ) a lazy sod & its much harder work when swapping to a car without such gizmo's then. ( as i mentioned previously about my iffy driving habbits in the courtesy vehicle with regards lights - reversing it for the 1st few times was interesting too as i REALLY missed having my reversing camera - not helped by the fact the car had a screen for the radio & such in the dash ( just like i had in my mota ) but no reverse camera hooked up to it & so i found myself staring at the radio station information & how much battery charge & signal strength my phone had while awaiting a camera image that never appeared instead of doing like i should have been doing & looking out the rear windows lol

meanredspider

Every car I've had with parking sensors has the ability to turn them off - that would do the trick.

compuwiz_uk

not so my folks zafira ( only way to switch em off was to come out of reverse )

it had a switch to disable the Front sensors ( although they auto switched off if you went above 5 or 6 mph or so anyway ) but it was a handy switch for when you had parked on a cold day as it meant you could idle the car in the parking spot in peace without the constant noise of the sensors twittering away while the passenger went out into the cold to the shop.

so basically they had to reverse with a trailer on ignoring the sensors going nutty at em ( yup, they had opted for the bar without the disable sensors circuit lol )