We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.

This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
The Forum now has a brand new text editor, adding a bunch of handy features to use when creating posts. Read more in our how-to guide

Daylight Driving Lights

1356

Comments

  • Deneb
    Deneb Posts: 421 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts
    neilmcl wrote: »
    And what position to you have your headlamp control set?

    According the manual you will only get the rear lights on during daytime if you deliberately set the switch to the position/parking light setting and if you have DRLs these will come on in lieu of the front position lights. If you set the control to O or Auto then DRLs will be used and position lamps will be off. I'd imagine this to be no different to most other cars with DRLs, you just choose to drive with your position lights on, personally I wouldn't for the safety reasons I highlighted above.

    Volvo V40 2017 MY owners manual:

    AUTO

    Daytime running lights, side marker lamps, rear and position lamps in daylight when the car's electrical system is in key position II or the engine is running.

    Dipped beam, side marker lamps, rear and position lamps in weak daylight or darkness, or when rear fog lamps are activated.

    The tunnel detection function is activated.

    The active main beam function can be used.

    Main beam can be activated when dipped beam is switched on.

    Main beam flash can be used.
  • DUTR
    DUTR Posts: 12,958 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Deneb wrote: »
    Volvo V40 2017 MY owners manual:

    AUTO

    Daytime running lights, side marker lamps, rear and position lamps in daylight when the car's electrical system is in key position II or the engine is running.

    Dipped beam, side marker lamps, rear and position lamps in weak daylight or darkness, or when rear fog lamps are activated.

    The tunnel detection function is activated.

    The active main beam function can be used.

    Main beam can be activated when dipped beam is switched on.

    Main beam flash can be used.

    As far as I remember Volvo's have always had DRL, the modern DRL operate front lights only, these dim when the side lights or dipped beam is in use.
  • photome
    photome Posts: 16,742 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Bake Off Boss!
    Deneb wrote: »
    Volvo V40 2017 MY owners manual:

    AUTO

    Daytime running lights, side marker lamps, rear and position lamps in daylight when the car's electrical system is in key position II or the engine is running.

    Dipped beam, side marker lamps, rear and position lamps in weak daylight or darkness, or when rear fog lamps are activated.

    The tunnel detection function is activated.

    The active main beam function can be used.

    Main beam can be activated when dipped beam is switched on.

    Main beam flash can be used.

    not sure I understand all that but does it suggest that your sidelights and rear lights are on ( as I thought all volvos are or used to be) plus DRL at the same time
  • Deneb
    Deneb Posts: 421 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts
    photome wrote: »
    not sure I understand all that but does it suggest that your sidelights and rear lights are on ( as I thought all volvos are or used to be) plus DRL at the same time

    Yes, "sidelights" (front and rear position lamps) are always on when the engine is running, and with the light switch in the Auto position, either DRLs or dipped beam headlamps will also be on according to ambient light conditions.

    if you have the light switch set to "sidelights" only, DRLs will also automatically illuminate as soon as the engine is started. It is not possible to drive either only on "sidelights" or with only DRLs illuminated and no rear lights.
  • photome
    photome Posts: 16,742 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Bake Off Boss!
    Deneb wrote: »
    Yes, "sidelights" (front and rear position lamps) are always on when the engine is running, and with the light switch in the Auto position, either DRLs or dipped beam headlamps will also be on according to ambient light conditions.

    if you have the light switch set to "sidelights" only, DRLs will also automatically illuminate as soon as the engine is started. It is not possible to drive either only on "sidelights" or with only DRLs illuminated and no rear lights.

    That makes sense I think but that is a different set up to what the OP was talking about in as much as DRL are front only but on Volvos they are additional to the sidelights which have always been on automatically on volvos ( and saabs I think)
  • Deneb
    Deneb Posts: 421 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts
    photome wrote: »
    That makes sense I think but that is a different set up to what the OP was talking about in as much as DRL are front only but on Volvos they are additional to the sidelights which have always been on automatically on volvos ( and saabs I think)

    Yes I know, but I posted it in response to another poster's assertion that no vehicles show rear lights when DRLs are illuminated, and subsequent suggestion that another poster's Volvo only did so because he had the light switch in the wrong position or deliberately chose to do so.

    I fully agree that DRLs can cause a problem in that some driver's become unaware that they haven't switched the correct lights on in poor visibility or at night, because the illumination from the DRLs makes them think otherwise.

    Volvo seem to have designed out the incapacity of the nut behind the wheel in that situation.
  • DUTR
    DUTR Posts: 12,958 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    photome wrote: »
    That makes sense I think but that is a different set up to what the OP was talking about in as much as DRL are front only but on Volvos they are additional to the sidelights which have always been on automatically on volvos ( and saabs I think)

    Ah yes it was Saabs, I knew there were two, both Swedish at the time.
  • neilmcl
    neilmcl Posts: 19,460 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 21 July 2017 at 12:17AM
    Deneb wrote: »
    Yes I know, but I posted it in response to another poster's assertion that no vehicles show rear lights when DRLs are illuminated, and subsequent suggestion that another poster's Volvo only did so because he had the light switch in the wrong position or deliberately chose to do so.

    I fully agree that DRLs can cause a problem in that some driver's become unaware that they haven't switched the correct lights on in poor visibility or at night, because the illumination from the DRLs makes them think otherwise.

    Volvo seem to have designed out the incapacity of the nut behind the wheel in that situation.
    My "assertion" was/is that DRLs are independent of main and position lighting and that DRLs on their own wont also have rear lights on. The rear lights are on your car precisely because the front side lights are also on by default. Set you light switch to 0 and see what happens.
  • Mercdriver
    Mercdriver Posts: 3,898 Forumite
    Fifth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 21 July 2017 at 12:24AM
    Driving on a rainy motorway with poor visibility I sensibly had my dipped headlights on.
    I was obviously aware of other vehicles that stupidly only has their daylight driving sidelights on.
    I then became aware of something rather strange.........
    Some makes & models of cars that had their daylight driving sidelights on did not have any rear red lights showing........
    Very strange.......never noticed it before !!
    I then started to take more notice & it became obvious that the drivers of these vehicles were probably not aware that when the daylight driving front lights were on no rear lights were showing.
    New Kia Sportage was one of them although there were several others.

    Daytime running lights in the UK generally (excluding the exceptions above) only work on the front. They are usually either small led lights or halogen lights, often the fog lights running at a lower intensity. When just using DRL, no rear lights are used. To use these, the driver has to switch on side or main dipped lights. DRLs run regardless of conditions.

    There are two sides to the coin. I have had to draw a drivers attention before that they don't have their headlights on at night because their DRLs are so bright they aren't aware they don't have their headlight on when it's dark and therefore their taillights aren't illuminated
  • neilmcl
    neilmcl Posts: 19,460 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Deneb wrote: »
    It is not possible to drive either only on "sidelights" or with only DRLs illuminated and no rear lights.
    Not what YOUR manual states.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 354K Banking & Borrowing
  • 254.3K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 455.3K Spending & Discounts
  • 247.1K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 603.7K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 178.3K Life & Family
  • 261.2K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.7K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.