Lighting Query

[guest1045]

If there is one thing that I don't like with my week old Jazz EX is the position of the steering wheel stork switches.  I drove around the M25 this afternoon in the pouring rain.  The lights were switched on manually as it wasn't obviously dark enough for them to come on automatically.  The green light on the dash was showing up but to my horror on parking on my drive I realised that I only had the side lights on.  You cannot see the switch position while driving a straight path.  The light doesn't differentiate between side and head lights like my other car did.  If the wipers can detect rain surely there should be a link with the lighting switch on Auto to turn the light on in heavy rain. No doubt I will soon get used to which side of the Auto setting is the Headlight side!

[Rory]

Are you sure there isn't a link if the lights are on Auto?  Certainly on my Mercedes, the headlamps come on once the wipers are on continuously.  If they will do that, then you defeated the system by manually turning on the sidelights.

Having said that, I hate auto lights - the driver should decide when to turn them on and off and they have the potential for causing accidents if they come on at the wrong time and some interprets that as a flash.

I'm also not thrilled with the auto-wipers on our Jazz EX - they don't cancel when parked as on other cars I've had with auto wipers, so they could try to wipe if the screen was frozen.

[Garyman]

I only have the ES so cant comment directly.

However, on my wife's Mazda6, the auto wipers and lights can be over-ride manually.

BobH> i would guess it wasnt dark enough for the sensors to tell it to switch the lights on. I would have a guess that you only turned the light stalk once, and therefore only having dipped/side lights on. I presume you would have to turn it twice to have the full lights on.

Rory> as above, I'm sure you can turn off the auto function manually so in the example of the screen being frozen, turn off the auto before turning the engine.

Gary

[guest986]

I also have the ES, but there is indeed no way to tell from the instrument panel whether you're on sidelights-only or full headlights. You have to check the switch position.

[RichardA]

Same on my '07 GD Jazz. The green light doesn't differentiate  between the two. On my previous 53 reg Jazz the was no green light, just the instruments backlit if the lights were on.

The Accord-style permanently backlit instruments have caught me out twice into thinking my lights were on when actually they weren't - once in my current Jazz and before that when my dealer loaned me a 54-plate Civic SE (also with the same backlit instruments) back when I had my previous Jazz.

I could be wrong, but I think my Mk2 Fiat Punto did have a different light lit up to indicate the dipped beam were on.

[RichardA]

Anyone who has been in front a car such as Golf or other cars with auto lights will know the lights will come on along wooded roads, giving the impression the driver behind is flashing you.

[Rory]

I only have the ES so cant comment directly.

However, on my wife's Mazda6, the auto wipers and lights can be over-ride manually.

BobH> i would guess it wasnt dark enough for the sensors to tell it to switch the lights on. I would have a guess that you only turned the light stalk once, and therefore only having dipped/side lights on. I presume you would have to turn it twice to have the full lights on.

What happens is the switch hass 4 postions - off, auto, sidelights, headlights.  So you turn the switch a couple of clicks as on a car without auto lights and you only get the sidelights.  You can't see the switch and you can't tell from the dash as the tell-tale lamp is same for sidelights and headlights.

Rory> as above, I'm sure you can turn off the auto function manually so in the example of the screen being frozen, turn off the auto before turning the engine.

Yes, you can turn them off, but of course it's a matter of remembering!   I'm sure many of us have got into cars in the morning having driven home in the rain only for the wipers to operate on starting the engine.  With auto wipers they may have gone off long before you get home so you don't think to set them to off.  They really ought to cancel until re-selected again (as Peugeot certainly do on their cars).

[guest765]

On my Daimler super 8 the auto headlights can be adjusted to whatever you personally call dark...there is an adjustable switch / sensor behind the interior mirror..........the auto wipers come on at the slightest hint of wet or sometimes the odd wipe even if its just damp.
I don't know if the Jazz has an adjustable switch or not as i have only got the 55 SE but give the hand book a good looking at.........Joe

[culzean]

Why so much fuss about auto lights and wipers? In over 30 years of driving in many countries I have never felt the need for them. When I get to the stage when I am happy to drive along in the rain without turning my wipers on, and don't know when conditions require me to turn on my lights, I will ask someone to take me to Swansea DVLC and will hand in my driving licence.

I have fitted LED DRL's to my Jazz and will be happy when all vehicles have them (they become mandatory on new cars within next couple of years).

By the way, do some cars have 'auto fog lights', I think so because I am fed up with having cars with both their headlights and foglights on either approaching me or in my mirrors on dark roads, and when you flash your own front or rear fogs at them they put on their main beam headlights as if they don't realise that their own fogs are on, and are telling you that YOUR fogs are annoying them.

[Rory]

I don't know if the Jazz has an adjustable switch or not

The auto light level can't be adjusted but the auto wipers can - there's a rotary knob on the wiper stalk to adjust the wiper sensitivity.

By the way, the rear wiper is intermittant now - the continuous rear wiper on our old SE really annoyed me.

[Rory]

Why so much fuss about auto lights and wipers?

..because more and more cars come with these features now whether you want them or not!

...as if they don't realise that their own fogs are on, and are telling you that YOUR fogs are annoying them.

People know full well that they've got their front fogs on.  For some weird reason they think it's cool.  If you flash them then you're giving them the attention they crave.  It's best to ignore them - they're not usually dazzling.

[culzean]

If their lights weren't dazzling me then I wouldn't flash them, I can ignore them in well lit areas, but on dark country lanes they do dazzle - that is the reason it is illegal to have your fogs on unless visibility is poor (that's it - maybe these people have bad eyes and just think visibility is bad).