I’d noticed this on a few vehicles a while ago, but I’ve recently seen it a lot. When a vehicle has their headlights on and use their turn signal, the corresponding headlight turns off. Mostly I’ve noticed this in newer SUV or crossover-type vehicles, but I’ve seen in enough different makes and models it must be an intentional design.
My WAG is that it makes the blinker more apparent, but I’m just guessing.
Am I right, or is there some other reason?
It’s not the headlight, it’s the running lights. Some of the super bright LED headlights are small relative to the older halogen lights.
Coupled with some of the weirdly styled light layouts.
Hmm. Then a lot of people appear to be using their day runners at night, because that’s mostly when I’ve noticed it.
This is 6 years old, so things may have changed somewhat since then.
Interesting. Thanks.
A lot of people forget to turn on their real headlights at night. I blame the fact that most dashboards have backlit screens nowadays, so they can see their gauges fine, and they see the running lights illuminating something in front of them, so they assume their headlights must be on when they’re not.
There are, of course, plenty of six year old cars on the road, too, though.
Yes! DOT really blew it on this one. Pretty amazing given that they used to allow exactly FOUR headlight varieties: single and dual square and single and dual round. I guess the guy (probably) who cared about and understood headlights retired.
Since every care I’ve had for the past 20 years or so has headlights that turn on automatically at night, if they get turned off for some reason (ie I did it by accident or a mechanic turned them off), I won’t likely notice until it’s really dark out.
Personally, I’m surprised they didn’t just skip the DRLs and go straight to requiring the headlights to remain on as long as the car is on and/or in gear. I could see an override switch to shut it off, but it would have to reset itself each time the car is turned off/on.
Yep. My headlights are permanently in the ON position, even though there is an AUTO setting. I really don’t see any reason not to keep them always on.
And they don’t stay on when you turn the car off?
I will have to double-check, but I think that on my 2017 Ford Edge, when I turn the headlights to the ON position, they stay on even when I turn off the car. And it will let me know that they’re on, with an annoying constant beep when I open the door.
ETA: On the same wavelength as @DCnDC!
No, they do not. On neither my car (2014 Mazda 3) nor my wife’s (2022 Hyundai Ioniq). Nor any car I remember owning before that, at least in the 2000s.
Is it possible to turn on the headlights with the car off?
I annoy my wife sometimes by pointing out the cars that have fog lights on (for no reason). It’s generally about 1 in 10. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything, because now you’ll notice tooooooo!
I admit I made that mistake a few years ago, in a rental car. The car I owned at the time had automatic headlights, so when I picked up my rental after dark, saw the gauges lit up, and the DRLs on, I assumed that car had automatic headlights as well. And in the well lit airport parking lot I could see fine. It was only after I left the airport and got on the highway I realized I couldn’t see anything. I tried to turn on the high beams, and they only flashed but didn’t stay on. And then I realized what the problem was.
In my car when the lights are on it dims all the screens, to the point where I can’t read them in bright light.
There’s a little setting for that on all the cars I’ve had. Usually like a little knob you can twist or a dial by the steering column. Besides, when it’s bright, I don’t need any backlighting, anyway. I can see the dials fine. But maybe you have fewer analog displays. Still, even with the 2022 Hyundai, even the electronic displays are readable.
The only car I ever had with automatic headlights was my Crown Vics. IIRC the knob had OFF, AUTO, and ON positions. OFF was just off, ON they came on whether the car was on or not, and AUTO they turned off with the car.
In my cars, the main lights turn off automatically after about 10-20 seconds when the car is off. If I fiddle with the knob while the car is off from OFF to ON, they will turn on again without the car being started, but will shut down after a short period if the car isn’t started. I believe this was true going back to at least the 2004 model of Mazda 3, I had, but I just checked with the 2014 Mazda and 2022 Hyundai and it’s true (though with the Hyundai, the daytime running lights seem to come on.) (I keep having to edit Kia to Hyundai because we had a 2019 Kia for a spell before it got totalled, and it did the same thing, as far as I know, but I can’t go out and check.)
What’s annoying about this (and very unsafe, IMHO), is that in this situation the rear running lights aren’t on. I often see cars driving late at night with no lights in the rear. I often try to flash my lights at them to let them know, but few seem to get it and turn their headlights on.
Interesting. You must have a better model Mazda 3 than me. Mine is a 2012 and I don’t have automatic lights. 