This has been happening for years, with many recent threads about it. Until these manufacturers get their heads out of their you know whats and design it so it's impossible to drive at night without headlights on, people are still going to make the mistake.

There's a reason why automakers don't do that. Sometimes, at night, it's necessary to have the car moving with headlights off or at a much lower intensity (or just parking lights on). Military bases, for example often ask drivers to do this when going in and out of the main gates, so that the guards at the gate aren't blinded or have their night-vision compromised.


Also, in some far-northern parts of countries like Canada, Russia, and Scandanavia/Northern Europe, in the middle of summer, it never really gets dark....the sun more or less circles the horizon and may briefly dip for only a couple of hours (or not at all). So, you are in perpetual state of twilight, and those are the conditions that DRL's were really intended for. That's why those countries required them on all new cars long before we did....in fact, I think they are still not actually required in the U.S., but most automakers include them. I think Kia and Hyundai are still among the exceptions, as my brother's 2015 Sportage did not have them.

Volkswagen has always been the best about this. Their gauges will dim in the dark (vs. staying at constant brightness) so you are forced to turn your lights on to see anything. Pretty smart.

Much like any other car these days, if they have LED's in the headlight cluster they have DRL's. I can't think of many cars that came standard with DRL's using incandescent bulbs except for some Toyotas and GM vehicles.

For the last ten to fifteen years, I don't think any car has been able to drive with just parking lights on in the. Like third brake lights, DRL's are required by law in the U.S.. Once they came into the scene, those automatically go on once the emergency brake is released, the car is rolling, and the main headlights are turned off. (Correct me if I'm wrong). Driving with only parking lights at night came in handy for cruising Candy Cane Lane.

If my memory is correct, my 2006 Subaru Outback came with DRLs and non-LEDs. Subaru's, though, of course, are heavily safety-oriented for what they cost.

When DRLs first became mandatory in Canada in 1989, the 2nd-generation Camry turned on the full headlights and taillights; but that soon changed when the 3rd-generation Camry was introduced and used high-beams at reduced brightness and no taillights.

Why do the manufacturers need to get their heads out of their behinds? People are driving around at night--on dark roads--with no lights on, and can't even tell. This is cluelessness of drivers, not car makers. Try it tonight--go on a dark road (maybe in an empty office park after working hours, when it's safer), and turn your headlights off--people drive around at night light that--how can they not even realize that something looks horribly wrong???

It's shocking at first, but look at the entire picture. You cannot fix stupid. People have been stupid behind the wheel since the beginning of cars. And you will never be able to make the blind see the obvious. Just look at how many people are driving around without lights on on any given night. That is why we have speed laws, signals, signs, curbs, airbags, etc. General public is loaded with those who can only reach a certain level. And remember, we are enthusiasts here. The less than average driver could care less about about driving skills, cars, features, etc.

DRL's are certainly not required by law in the U.S.

A lot of people driving around with their lights off are drunk. Cop buddy told me that's a huge tip-off for an impaired driver.

Also on most GM cars(might not be this way on ones made in the last 2-3 years), you have 4 positions on the headlight ****. Off means your lights stay off during the day but automatically turn on at dusk/night. This was the default position. Your lights would also stay on for a bit after you got out of the car and would then go off. Then there was parking lights one click to the right, and regular headlights two clicks to the right, as in if you needed to turn your lights on during the day, as if it were rainy or foggy. Also the lights would stay on after you shut the car off with it in headlights on position and it would bong at you to turn your lights off.

Some GM cars with this system also had a position where if you clicked the **** to the left it would kill the automatic headlights and turn them off at night. My old Camaro wasn't like this, it would automatically turn the lights on at night for you and the only way to kill them was to turn the car off, or start the car with the parking brake engaged. Very annoying feature that you couldn't turn the lights off at night, I ended up rewiring the headlight switch to where I could kill the lights at night.

Was told the same thing by a cop back in college.

Mercedes does something similar:

Similar issue with mid-90s BMWs: I used to have a Canadian-spec 1998 BMW 740i (E38), on which you cannot turn off the headlights at all. As soon as the ignition is turned on, all lights are on, as if the headlight switch is in the ON position (maybe if you set it to parking lights, the headlights went off, but corner lights, taillights, and instrument cluster were all still lit). That's a stupid way of doing DRLs if you ask me. But yeah, they've all learned since then... at least a little bit.

There should just be a warning ding and light on the dash when you're driving in the dark without your headlights on. But it should come on only above a certain speed (say 10mph) and you should be able to silence it by, say, turning the headlights on and back off manually. This will ensure that you don't ACCIDENTALLY forget to turn your headlights on, but if for some reason you purposefully want to have them off, you still can. What do you guys think?

I see this a lot on lit roads, but even there I still flash the lights to let 'em know the lights are off. It's not so much about seeing as being seen.

I caught myself with them off just recently leaving a gas station, since I turned them off as I pulled up to the pump in order to not blind the person at the adjacent pump. When I pulled out onto the street I immediately was like "Why can't I see!?", and it was somewhat scary. So, it makes me wonder/worry about people.

Now, for rentals I think it could be more understandable. For example, you might assume the lights are on "auto" if you're used to that at home and forget to turn them on. Even so, the aforementioned realization that the lights are off, like the one I had, should still happen...

I've also had the same issue you had with auto headlights. I turned them to the parking light position and drove off wondering why I couldn't see very far in the dark...

I guess I expected auto headlights to turn on automatically, even if the parking light setting overrides that. Two problems I see:

1. It's hard to see the headlight stalk setting, especially in the dark. **** controls like on most European cars would work better.

2. The green headlight icon in the driver display doesn't differentiate between parking lights, dipped beams and auto headlights. Just like there's a gear indicator in the display even for hybrids, there should be a light setting indicator.

I guess the only thing that can really save us is autonomous driving...