Its true that they actually are not. Every once and a while you'll find a car that doesn't have them. My 2015 Kia Sedona did not have DRLs. Nor did my 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee (although higher trims of the Jeep that year did)

 

As I understand it, they are legally required in Canada and some Northern Europe countries, but not in the U.S. They were first required in far northern locations like that, because proximity to the Arctic Circle means long hours of twilight in the summer, and long hours of complete darkness in the winter, necessitating near-constant headlight use for safety. Alaska, though....a U.S. state, may require them, though.....I'm not sure.

 

True.....the Koreans were late installing them in American market vehicles. My brother's 2015 Kia Sportage did not have them either.

 

Those comparisons are disproportional in terms of effort.

 

 

while drl's may not be legally required in the u.s. (i stand corrected although i just asked the question, not made a statement), it's pretty irrelevant since i'd say almost all new vehicles at this point have 'em.

 

 

That will never happen. First of all, it states in my drivers book(Missouri) that you must turn on headlights at dawn. But dawn can have so many different meanings for other folks. Also, if your'e depending on your headlights to turn on when its dark outside, that may not be a good idea since people have different levels of light thresholds.

Like I said, headlights are better to be switched on manually.

 

In most cases, I agree. Some states define "dawn" as one-half hour before official sunrise, and "dusk" as one half hour after sunset, but that is not necessarily universal. Plus, most of us don't keep track of the official predicted sunrise or sunset that day....nor necessarily of crossing a time zone boundary.

 

even if they're automatic you can still turn them on manually, so federally mandating automatic lights won't preclude people from turning them on manually.

 

I'm not sure what one thing has to do with another. They are called "daytime" running lights for a reason--not "many hours of darkness even during the day running lights". DRLs are essentially useless for the driver in twilight or darkness. Sure--it allows oncoming drivers to see the idiot coming at them without their headlights on.

DRLs are the same concept as motorcycles being required to have headlights on all the time--studies show that the headlight/DRLs make the car more visible to other drivers, even in daylight hours.

 

Why would it not happen? Just have every car with DRL as well as headlights that automatically come on a dusk, make it a requirement similar to an a airbag.

 

Here. You can read it for yourself. This article explains how DRLs got started in far northern countries.

http://www.usroads.com/journals/rmej/9912/rm991203.htm

 

Are you sure that it does?

 

I am quite certain. I thought I read in a Toyota press release on an update. I would have to look it up.