4th Oct 2017, 10:34
It amazes me that people cannot reach a headlight switch at night. Like my car sound system I had put in came with a remote. I could live fine without it. In fact a lower price would have been better. My right hand is less than 2 feet away. Or I can change my factory horn from city horn to country horn. People buy all this stuff and likely have a car loan on top. The only high tech device I really need in a car is an EZ pass.
5th Oct 2017, 21:44
More than half of the cars on the market have their headlights always on when driving. First, it doesn't need to have an ambient light sensor to work: the lights are on when the engine is on. Eazy breezy.
Second, and most important, a light bulb lasts years even when it's always on. My Philips are still there 5 years later with the headlight always on.
6th Oct 2017, 09:07
Lights whose switches have an "AUTO" mode DO have a light sensor. Modern cars whose headlamps are always on (especially North America) will have their Daytime Running Lamps (DRLs) on. When the ignition is turned on, the headlamps (in these cars) turn on to low beam. Some cars, instead of headlamps, have other means of complying with DRLs - some have LED strips, some have bulbs that light up either within the headlamp cluster (but not the low beams) or the foglamp assembly. Operational difference between DRL and AUTO mode - many cars with DRLs do not turn on tail lamps (or other related lights) when activated, the sole purpose of the DRL is to make sure the car is visible from approaching vehicles, especially in 2-way roads. The AUTO mode, sensing it is actually dark (not just night, when you drive through a tunnel for example), and turns on the main lighting system - low beams, tail and side (parking in the US) lamps, and instrument cluster lamps in lieu of the driver turning the lighting switch to the second click stop. There are also cars which WILL turn on tail lamps with the DRL. One difference also - in DRL, if the low beam headlamps are used for such, you cannot change from low to high beam (even if you can flash them normally); in AUTO mode, functioning as if the light switch has been turned to the second click, you can operate the dipswitch/dimmer to change between low and high beams.
6th Oct 2017, 22:15
Uh, yeah. They're called "daytime running lights".
That is NOT what you were proposing.
3rd Oct 2017, 22:37
Cars with automatic headlights incorporate a light sensor so the lights only come on during periods of reduced natural light.
Whereas your idea of just having the lights come on whenever the car is started, even in bright sunlight, would only be of benefit to holders of stock in Sylvania, Phillips, or other automotive bulb manufacturers!