Hi folks,
Noticed this morning that when my wife unlocked the car and tonight after pulling up the courtesy headlights didn't activate. We haven't as far as we are aware made any adjustment to the settings... Any advice welcome..
This Q made me realise that it works erratically on my car as well, so I did some trial and error to try to work out why that was. I think it’s all to do with what you do with the rotary switch on the end of the LH stalk when you park the car.
The first thing to note is that the “off” position isn’t a simple make/break that cuts power to the lights. What it seems to do is disable the automatic systems that turn the lights on, or keep them on. And, once disabled, those systems don’t reset until you start the engine and drive away. Consider two scenarios:
#1. You park the car in the dark and want the headlights to stay on, so you don’t touch the off switch, just lock the car and walk away. The lights will stay on until the auto-off timer turns them off. When you return to the car and unlock it, the auto-on function is still enabled so the lights come on (if it’s dark enough), and will stay on until the timer turns them off.
#2. You park the car in the dark and don’t want the headlights to stay on, so you use the off switch to turn them off, which actually disables the auto-on function. Then you lock the car and walk away with the lights off. When you return to the car and unlock it, the lights won’t come on because the auto-on function is still disabled. That function will only reset when you start the engine and drive away.
At least, that’s what seems to happen with my car. Six years of ownership and still uncovering quirks!