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Dear Car Talk: I have an obsession with the number of cars going down the road at night with no headlights on. Whether it be nighttime, dusk, dawn, or rain, it is amazing to me to see so many cars with their lights dark.
In many cases, I am sure the driver is not aware that his lights are not on because the switch is not in automatic. I’m surprised this isn’t the default setting. For some reason, after an oil change, it seems the workers take the switch off auto.
Most cars now have an automatic setting now that uses a photo-cell to turn the headlights on when it gets dark. What’s the downside of making this the default setting on all cars? — Richard
I’m not sure what the downside is of having headlights come on automatically by default, Richard. But I have no doubt that some cranks would start a “save the headlight switch” movement to oppose it.
It does make good sense. Headlights should come on when there’s insufficient light outside — as much for making you visible as for helping you see the road. And having them come on in the rain is easy enough to do now.
A related issue is that, with video screens replacing instrument clusters, the cluster is always lit up, day and night. So, it can be hard for drivers to tell that their lights aren’t on.
Not too long ago, when you could no longer see your speedometer, that would be an urgent reminder to turn on your lights. But with the instrument cluster always lit, that reminder is gone.
And the reason some oil-change guys are in the habit of turning off the headlights is so they don’t accidentally leave your lights on when they’re done with your car. Then, when you pick up the car four hours later, the battery’s dead, and the boss has to come out and jump-start the car and issue a raft of apologies. I know, because I’ve been that boss.
But that’s easily remedied, too, these days, as a lot of cars will automatically power down if they’ve been sitting idle in the run mode for 20 minutes or half an hour.
Maybe readers have other good reasons not to use their automatic headlight setting. Let me know by writing to me at cartalk.com, and if you come up with anything really compelling, I’ll start printing “Save the Headlight Switch” bumper stickers.
In the meantime, I’d urge anyone whose car has an “automatic” setting on their headlight switch to use it and leave it there.
Got a question about cars? Write to Ray in care of King Features, 300 W. 57th St., 41st Floor, New York, NY 10019, or email by visiting the Car Talk website at www.cartalk.com.