Here in S. Korea it is common practice for drivers of all sorts of vehicles to turn off their headlights when stopping for a red light; when the light turns green again, on come the headlights and everone drives away…
When I asked a Korean friend about this he gave me a ‘stupid foreigner’ look and said “It’s to save gas!” as if everybody show know this…
It seems to me that any savings from turning off your headlights during red lights would be so miniscule as to be useless; but many people here do so routinely, and will honk at you if you don’t do it too!
People seem to have a similar aversion to artificial illumination further south in Asia. In Indonesia, people drive with only their parking lights on until it get really, really dark. Presumably to “save fuel.”
What will the Koreans do when cars with daytime running lights start turning up on the road? In Indonesia, if you turn on your headlights during the day for safety, people with honk at you.
As most cars here are Korean models (it is VERY expensive to get a foriegn car here), and most Koreans seem to believe that turning off the lights saves gas; I doubt daylight running lights will appear here anytime soon…
Maybe turning off your lights at a stop is the ‘courteous’ thing to do overseas. At a stop, you are facing the oncoming car lights; this can leave your vision slightly impaired. Rather than blind the other vehicles across the way, people turn off their lights.
Geez; even at night? Half the reason for having head lights is to make sure other people see you. I can’t imagine myself being so trusting in other drivers’ alertness that I would be willing to go into stealth mode at an intersection. How do cars turning left onto your road know where you are?
Yeah. Of course. Sure, that sounds reasonable. I need my vision unimpaired when I’m at a full stop in case I need to slam on my brakes for some reason :rolleyes: What about when we’re driving at 60mph looking into the oncoming headlights? That seems like the time when you wouldn’t want your vision impaired.
If I ever go to Korea (which I never will), they can honk at me all they want.
Astroboy14: As a minor hijack, how’s the Korean auto business doing? I know that Kia has gone under and Daewoo is on the auction block. Does that leave Hundai as the only new car available in Korea?
As the owner of a car with Daytime Running Lights (DLR), I had to reply.
If you were at a stop light, and wanted to turn off the headlights, all you have to do to is put on the parking brake. That makes mine go off.
I can’t imagine how turning off your lights would save gas. Don’t the lights work off the battery?
***Kinsey:*I can’t imagine how turning off your lights would save gas. Don’t the lights work off the battery?
Yes, but the alternator charges the battery, and it gets energy from the engine. The engine gets its energy from the gasoline. So theoretically, turning off the lights does save gas.
I’m on the safety side. After seeing DRL in Quebec, I’ve turned on my headlights no matter what the time or driving conditions.
It’s very common in Japan as well. My father (Japanese) claims that if you turn the lights on with the engine at idle you drain the battery, at least on older Japanese cars. But he did admit that he never had a flat battery as a result. Others claim it is a courtesy thing, as madd1 suggested, though I personally think it more courteous to announce your presense by keeping the lights on. At least they don’t turn off all the lights though - they keep the, um, whatever you call the little white lights in the front. Come to think of it, do American cars have those?
No, once the engine is running, the alternator takes over to recharge the battery and supply the rest electrical needs. Only if the alternator/regulator is not working properly (or is shut off, see below) are you drawing power from the battery.
Slight diversion:
My high school shop teacher (keep in mind high school is over 25 years ago for me) claimed a fully loaded alternator (all electrical systems on) took up to 4 horsepower to turn.
He was into street rodding, and had an alternator cutoff switch in his car (among other things) to give him every possible advantage. This guy was serious about his street racing. He had an old Studebaker (skyhawk?) with a Pontiac 421 CI V-8 shoehorned into it. Man, would that mother haul! That little-bitty car with a 7 liter V-8 and monster 4 BBL carb would blow away all kinds of traditional muscle cars. Anyway, he claimed you could easily feel the difference when you hit the cutoff switch.
End diversion.
It is obviously true that turning off the lights would lighten the load on the alternator, which in turn would save some gas. The question is, how much? After that long story, I’m ashamed to admit I have no idea. Oh well. My opinion? It wouldn’t save much. But if you’re on a tight budget and gas is $3 a gallon, maybe enough to notice.
And of course, from a wider viewpoint, 20 million times a little bit isn’t so little any more.
I was curious enough to go look at my car manual - my reccomended headlight bulbs are 60W. It just gives a part # for the other bulbs, it doesn’t list their wattage. I’d find it hard to believe that the lights controlled by your headlight switch total up to more than 400 watts, in any case, particularly on low beams. That’s a bit over 1/2 hp, and 400W is probably high for most cars.
Another factor to consider - by switching the lights on and off you are probably shortening the life of the bulbs, and maybe you will cause the switch to wear out during the lifetime of the car, which is otherwise unlikely.
Ok, I get this, but then it would seem that you would want to turn off anything else…radio, heater or AC, cell phone or anything plugged into the power port or lighter…right?
I still can’t see where turning off your lights at red lights would save THAT much gas.
And as yabob said, you will probably just wear out your headlights faster.
The real question is…if you are driving a car that is a stick shift (not an automatic), when you come to a stop, should you shift into neutral and brake to a stop or downshift to a stop? One way wears out the brakes, the other wears out the clutch. Any thoughts?
I think we are missing the point here. Anyone who thinks that cutting your lights at a stoplight will save you anymore than a nickel a year is a moron, and should not be allowed the priviledge of driving.
Isn’t it your engine you are supposed to shut off to save gas? IIRC, turning off you engine saves gas (compared with letting it idle) as long as you turn if off for at least 30 sec (or is it a minute? or two minutes?).