[makem]

Manual Page 45, Daytime running lamps:

Extract from first paragraph - The system does not turn on the tail lamps.........

Can anybody suggest a reason why if the weather is inclement and/or the in low lighting, the system should turn on the headlamps but not the tails lamps?

My car faces a wall when parked at home and until recently I had the lighting set to 'auto'.

I started the engine to reverse away from the wall, noticing without thinking, that the wall was lit. A mile or so later a following car stopped me to say my rear lights were not on. It was actually very dark, not just low light and as far as I was concerned I was well lit up!

I have tried checking, but the tail lights always seem to be on when switched to auto, except for that one occasion.

Not turning on tail lamps in low light conditions seem ridiculous so there must be some reason I am missing.

Edited by: makem

 

[Dan]

Thatdefinitelydoesn't sound right. Only thing I can think of is it was just your DRL that were on at the front. I suppose the test would be if your dash was lit up?

 

[makem]

I can't remember if the dash was lit or not, I don't look at the dash normally and the distance involved was quite short from start to being told. Yes, they were on, hence why subconsciously I thought the headlights were shining on the wall.

Have you any explanation for the text in the manual? That says no tail lights.



Edited by: makem

 

[Dan]

No the manual doesn't sound right to me. It's certainly not what I would expect from Auto Lights! I used to have it on my Mondeo but I can't recall reading the manual enough to know if it said the same.

Like you say - when would you ever require only your front lights on?

 

[Nes1L100hp]

The manual sounds like its referring to the daytime running lamps, not the night time lamps. The daytime lamps are the LEDs at the front, to improve the cars visibility to others. Either you have faulty Auto lights or, more likely, you only had the DRLs on. Is that possible?

 

[makem]

Yes it does refer to the LED driving lights however, until you become more familiar with the vehicle it is confusing.

The second paragraph should say, "The system switches the headlamps AND THE REAR LIGHTS on in low light situations WHEN AUTOMATIC LIGHTING IS SELECTED.

The LED running lights are lit automatically when the engine is started regardless of lighting settings and this cannot be changed. It can give the impression headlights are turned on when they are not. This can be dangerous as the rear lights will not be on."