# A Car Question - Who can answer this one? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 25, 2011, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-car-question-who-can-answer-this-one/590258 "2011-07-25T12:47:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hondo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/aeb1de/32.png) [@Hondo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hondo)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-car-question-who-can-answer-this-one/590258/1 "2011-07-25T12:47:43Z")
Oh great Cecilites, can you please solve a burning mystery for me? Why on earth do cars have “parking lights”? - They are entirely too dim to assist in parking maneuvers in tight spaces at night. - I’ve never seen a Valet turn them on when parking my vehicle. - In most states, if you have an accident and have your parking lights on, you’re not considered to have your lights on. Considering that many cars didn’t have turn signals till the 1950s, I’m thinking this new feature evolved sometime around that time. But for what purpose??? ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-car-question-who-can-answer-this-one/590258/2 "2011-07-25T13:04:31Z")
They make your vehicle more visible when you are forced to park in a potentially hazardous area (say due to a breakdown) & don’t drain your battery as quickly as the headlights would. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-car-question-who-can-answer-this-one/590258/3 "2011-07-25T13:09:35Z")
They sort of served the same function as hazard lights before cars came with those. They’re basically for situations where you’re parked somewhere that you need to be visible, but you don’t want to leave your headlights on. Why they still have them, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-car-question-who-can-answer-this-one/590258/4 "2011-07-25T13:11:28Z")
Back in the day, when you entered a drive-in theater, you turned off your lights so they wouldn’t bother the people making out. But you still needed lights to keep from hitting something. Parking lights. ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-car-question-who-can-answer-this-one/590258/5 "2011-07-25T14:55:18Z")
Parking lights are just that, to make a parked car visible. I think they go back a lot longer than turn signals. I can’t say I remember a car without them. I will look for them at the next old car show I go to. I think Greasy is right that much of their function now is taken over by the 4 ways. Tail lights still serve a function of alerting people behind you. I was caught in a nasty rain twice over the weekend. The headlights and wipers were of little value to me, but at least the taillights may have helped keep me from being rear ended. So did selecting the right lane. I was disgusted with one guy on the interstate that slowed down to about 40 and stayed in the left lane. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-car-question-who-can-answer-this-one/590258/6 "2011-07-25T15:05:46Z")
When you are parked in a place with no street lamps, and you want your car to be visible - leave your parking lights on. For a quick errand, for example. They won’t drain the battery. Some European cars have a feature that allow you to turn on only one side of the parking light, either the left or right side. The streets are so narrow that cars are parked halfway on the sidewalk and the other half of the car is still in the street. Since both situations can occur you use the turn signal lever either to the right or the left to turn on that side of the car’s parking light. This way cars will see your car and avoid smashing into it. Also… sometimes they are called running lights… for when you are driving at dusk. You don’t need your headlights but the running lights allow your car to be seen. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-car-question-who-can-answer-this-one/590258/7 "2011-07-25T17:24:58Z")
My 2002 (Canadian) Subaru Impreza had “ordinary” parking lights available on the main headlamp control, which would turn themselves off when the engine was off. But it also a separate button to turn on a special set of parking lights (white instead of yellow), which would remain turned on. According to the sales lady, this was for the narrow-European-streets context described in **lukeinva** ’s post above. Here, it served no purpose other than to drain the battery by pressing the button unintentionally. ---
**Author:** ![ducati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-car-question-who-can-answer-this-one/590258/8 "2011-07-25T18:02:43Z")
[Here](http://www.benzworld.org/forums/attachments/w124-e-ce-d-td-class/181645d1212621519-88-w124-300d-turbo-question-picture.jpg)is a picture of the switch to select the right or left parking lights on an older Mercedes Benz. I drove a friend to a party in Buckhead recently. It’s an upper-class hood near the Gov’s mansion here in ATL. There must have been 50 cars parked along the street, with at least 30 of them Mercedes-Benz. All had their street-side lights on. I should have taken a picture, it tickled me so. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-car-question-who-can-answer-this-one/590258/9 "2011-07-25T18:06:21Z")
At night, and when I am sitting at RR Crossing, I turn off my headlights and leave on parking lights. I wish others would do the same so I am not staring at headlights that are blinking every time another railcar passes by. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-car-question-who-can-answer-this-one/590258/10 "2011-07-25T18:07:24Z")
> [@ducati](#): > > [Here](http://www.benzworld.org/forums/attachments/w124-e-ce-d-td-class/181645d1212621519-88-w124-300d-turbo-question-picture.jpg)is a picture of the switch to select the right or left parking lights on an older Mercedes Benz. That must be one of the worst-designed combination of obscure icons and controls I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-car-question-who-can-answer-this-one/590258/11 "2011-07-25T19:16:39Z")
“Mercedes Benz, engineered like no other car in the world” was the tag line of the commercial. ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-car-question-who-can-answer-this-one/590258/12 "2011-07-25T19:45:38Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > At night, and when I am sitting at RR Crossing, I turn off my headlights and leave on parking lights. I wish others would do the same so I am not staring at headlights that are blinking every time another railcar passes by. A wise, considerate deed. That leaves your tail lights on too. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Blackhawk441](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/76d3ee/32.png) [@Blackhawk441](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackhawk441)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-car-question-who-can-answer-this-one/590258/13 "2011-07-26T03:59:11Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > That must be one of the worst-designed combination of obscure icons and controls I’ve ever seen. I was about to post the same thing. I haven’t the slightest idea what the hell that 1/2/3 switch on the right is. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-car-question-who-can-answer-this-one/590258/14 "2011-07-26T04:21:01Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > That must be one of the worst-designed combination of obscure icons and controls I’ve ever seen. You should some European washing machines. When I lived in Budapest, I had a Siemens washing machine with all sorts of weird symbols I was never able to figure out. I more-or-less set it to random settings that seemed to make sense and hoped for the best. [Here’s a website with a picture](http://grazu.com/?p=392) of something similar to what I had to contend with. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-car-question-who-can-answer-this-one/590258/15 "2011-07-26T04:25:11Z")
> [@Blackhawk441](#): > > I was about to post the same thing. I haven’t the slightest idea what the hell that 1/2/3 switch on the right is. It raises or lowers the aim of the headlights. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-car-question-who-can-answer-this-one/590258/16 "2011-07-26T05:10:32Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > “Mercedes Benz, engineered like no other car in the world” was the tag line of the commercial. Engineering and design are two different things, no?