Automatic headlights. A pain in the butt or genius invention?

[RustyNuts]

Think the title says it really lol.

 

The astra has them. At first I thought it was a great idea.. until I noticed that they turn on when it's still daylight with a very mild hint of dusk. At that point they don't go to the position / parking lights but skip straight to dipped beam which will obviously require more energy at a time when the planet is facing energy supply problems for the future and we're all being told to cut our consumption.

 

Seems to me that a simple click of the switch is far less energy to burn than a mile or two less of fuel economy for an entire journey.

 

What do you think?

 

Rusty

[SiC]

Both the Civic and Laguna have them, they're useful to have. I still have to turn it on manually occasionally when its wet+dull during the day. The Saabs lights stay on all the time when the ignition is on.

 

The extra energy to drive 2x 55w bulbs (well 2x 35w on the Civic+Laguna as HID), is bugger all. You're less likely to have an accident with lights on, and having an accident is going to require far more resources to fix/scrap the vehicle than the bulbs energy use.

[Squire_Dawson]

Nothing new under the sun, q.v. General Motors' Autronic Eye, Twilight Sentinel or whatever they decided to call it in the ads. Though I think this was automatic dipping as opposed to automatic lighting up.

[dave21478]

They are shit, and it has nothing to do with energy conservation and everything to do with taking yet more responsability away from the driver.

 

-"The car does that for me" people say.

-They get used to the car making the decision on when to turn the lights on.

-The dials are lit up whether lights are on or off and DRLs are bright enough to reflect on signs and the car in front in traffic that they cant tell if the lights are on or not anyway. Not that most people even know the difference between DRLS and dip beam.

-Its a foggy day, visibility is reduced enough to need headlights but its not dull enough to trigger the auto lights.

-Nobody thinks to switch the lights on because "the car does that for me".

-People drive at 60 mph in silver grey cars on foggy days with no headlights.

[strangeangel]

Same as all the other unnecessary shit they load up new cars with nowadays - it's just another expensive 'feature' to go wrong. Absolutely pointless.

[RoadworkUK]

I habitually drive with my dip beams on anyway.

 

I do find high-beam assist annoying, though - there's usually a slight delay, just long enough to blind you before the oncoming car's HID / LED Laser death beams flick to dipped mode.

[myglaren]

I quite like mine but sometimes have to give them a kick when it is twilight - they usually come on at the same time as streetlights.

I have no DRL's and the dash doesn't light up unless lights are on - manual or automatic.

[Kiltox]

I like them HOWEVER people need to realise that when the car hasn't turned your lights on for you, they might still fucking be required!

[Lacquer Peel]

Too many times I see people driving cars with DRLs in the dark, no tail lights at all.

[Pete-M]

I like auto headlights. Like them so much I'm going to retrofit them to my Golf.

[Alexg]

They're annoying when you're used to them and jump in a car without. "why's that prick flashing me?"

[Cavcraft]

Surprised to find them on my 406. Couldn't care less if they effect MPG figures, I like them. 

[Captain Furious]

Genius invention that mostly works flawlessly

 

Only strange quirk is sometimes when the sun is low in the sky and beaming through the windscreen it interprets this as being dark and the lights come on...driven more than one car that does it too so must be some weird phenomenon

 

And as kiltox says above, sometimes it's light and lights are still required - e.g. Raining on the motorway, you have to remember to turn them on manually which is an easy habit to get out of

 

Overall though a positive addition to motoring life.

[LessThanEqual]

They're okay so long as you can manually turn the lights on or off. Auto full beam, however, is another story... That and shitty blue HIDs on everything.

[chodweaver]

Pain in the butt. Bad idea. Sign of the times. We're all going to die in a disaster and it'll be the fault of some bright spark like the one who invented automatic headlights. If I meet him, I'll be done for gbh, but it'll be worth it.

[Pillock]

My Focus was a bit shit with the auto lights and misty conditions would need them turning on manually.

 

The BMW seems to be cleverer, I have a feeling that if you have the wipers on, it doesn't need to be as dark to trigger the lights.

 

The Astra didn't have them so I left the lights on all the time sept-april as they went off properly with the ignition. Fuck the 0.0002mpg, I like being seen.

[cobblers]

The best feature of my car is that the headlights turn off with the ignition, so I just leave them on all the time and can't really think of any reason to turn them off other than if the alternator was fucked or something, they really make no difference to MPG. 110w of a pair of headlamps is equivalent to 0.14hp.

[Volksy]

The ones on the Jag were great, and had an adjuster so you could alter the sensitivity.

 

The Auto wipers on the 306 however were a different story. And Peugeot thoughtfully* deleted the intermittent setting.

They would either not come on at all, or would wipe like mad when they weren't needed.

[Richard]

I believe that PSA auto wipers revert to a normal intermittent setting if you delete the sensor.

[New POD]

I have this "Thing" where I automatically reach for the light switch if I need to use my wipers due to rain. and this other thing that if it gets dark, I automatically reach for the light switch. Do I have automatic lights? or is this just man and machine in perfect harmony?

[myglaren]

My Focus was a bit shit with the auto lights and misty conditions would need them turning on manually.

 

The BMW seems to be cleverer, I have a feeling that if you have the wipers on, it doesn't need to be as dark to trigger the lights.

 

The Astra didn't have them so I left the lights on all the time sept-april as they went off properly with the ignition. Fuck the 0.0002mpg, I like being seen.

There's a thing I forgot - the lights come on after four sweeps of the (auto) wipers - as it is law that you have lights on when it is raining (conditions of reduced visibility).

My father in law was fined £50 years ago for driving without lights in rain.

How many police cars ignore that regulation though!

[Captain Furious]

Automatic wipers are a totally different story, for some utterly unfathomable reason if you leave it set to auto the wipers do a sweep of the windscreen every time you turn the ignition on whether it's wet or not

 

So you have to leave the switch in the off position, and then eer, manually switch it to auto if it starts raining

 

Slow clap to whoever came up with that

[For Fiats Sake]

Drivers around these parts automatically* put on all lights, including fogs at all times, especially if they are in a wanky pick up truck/4wd and think they are a real dude and not just a sad wanker driving a wanky cunt stain of a twat mobile*

 

I may become said sad wanker when I get my "classic" Panda 4x4 back with additional lights fitted....

[Snipes]

A mate's vectra would auto engage the rear wiper when he put it into reverse with the front wipers going. Sounds fine but the rear wiper was stuck because it was frosty and it burned the motor out lol.

 

Whenever I hear about modern conveniences I always think of that.

[Noel Tidybeard]

the spaceship is fairly good at turning the lights on at roughly the right time, whereas the 208 puts them on if a sparrow farts within 1/2 a mile

 

spaceship has auto wipers with a volume control wich work pretty well

the 208 gets 4* spots* of rain and puts wipers on speed 1- they wipe too often most of the time

 

BUT the biggest PITA is the washers which sqirt for 3 secs regardless of what you actually want on the screen, the rear one dont half waste alot- i'm sorry but where the wasers are concerned I DO KNOW BETTER HOW MUCH I WANT!

 

cant comment about the Fucarse as ford are too mingy to fit them

[Guest Hooli]

A mate's vectra would auto engage the rear wiper when he put it into reverse with the front wipers going. Sounds fine bye huge wiper was stuck because it was frosty and it burned the motor out lol.

 

Whenever I hear about modern conveniences I always think of that.

We had a '58 festa that did that, it was the ONLY good thing about the car.

 

 

Autolights are shit. Anyone too bloody stupid to turn their lights on when needed deserves a kick in the face & their licence removing.

[Noel Tidybeard]

there is one fairly clever bit of automation on a diseasel spaceship- when the outside temp drops to a certain level the HRW comes on to load up the alternator to help warm the engine quicker

[Guest Hooli]

I get a similar effect when I push the button for the HRW & turn the blower up.

[Negative Creep]

Surprised to find them on my 406. Couldn't care less if they effect MPG figures, I like them. 

 

 

406 is the only car I've had that came with auto lights, worked fine and I never had a problem

[overrun]

They are shit, and it has nothing to do with energy conservation and everything to do with taking yet more responsability away from the driver.

 

-"The car does that for me" people say.

-They get used to the car making the decision on when to turn the lights on.

-The dials are lit up whether lights are on or off and DRLs are bright enough to reflect on signs and the car in front in traffic that they cant tell if the lights are on or not anyway. Not that most people even know the difference between DRLS and dip beam.

-Its a foggy day, visibility is reduced enough to need headlights but its not dull enough to trigger the auto lights.

-Nobody thinks to switch the lights on because "the car does that for me".

-People drive at 60 mph in silver grey cars on foggy days with no headlights.

 

And no tail lights, because they think their front 'headlights' are on.

 

I do like auto lights and wipers in some ways, but I still don't expect the car to know what to do all of the time.