truelies

In the morning, it's dark outside. So I set the lights to "Auto". In the afternoon, I found it changed to "low beam" automaticly. It's shining in the afternoon, but all the lights are on. How does the "Auto" lights work? The manual is not helpful.

Also in the afternoon, I found the dashboard will turn dark after driving about 20 minutes. Don't know why.

wrestrepo

What year car (assuming it's an RDX) do you have?

truelies

It's a 2010 RDX

VietNinjaJ30A1

There's an ambient light sensor (not sure if it's the same one used in conjunction with the auto climate control) that tells the car how bright it is outside. From what I've seen on Acuras (and other cars), the sensor is pretty quick to respond to light changes. For example, driving under an overpass will flip the headlights on for a moment and then they'll flip off.

Are you sure that your dashboard lights are turned up? If I remember correctly you can make separate adjustments for how bright the dash lights are when your headlights are on and when they're off. I think to do this, turn your lights off and make the dash light brightness adjustment, then repeat with the headlights on.

This is what I've noticed in my 2007 anyway. May be worth a try if the manual doesn't help. I'm sure the dealer would help you out if it came to that.

truelies

Yes. In the afternoon the dashboard lights will be off after some drive.

The strange thing is I set lights to "Auto" in the morning, when I back to the car in the afternoon, it will be at "low beam" automatically.

VietNinjaJ30A1

^^ oooooh you mean the little light switch knob is turned to the low beam position and not in the auto position anymore?

truelies

Yes. The little light switch knob.

black label

What are you guys talking about? The knob on the trun signal lever has nothing to do with high beams or low beams. These are your options on that knob 1) Off 2) Parking lights 3) Auto 4) On. To switch from low beams to high beams you push the turn signal lever forward, to switch back to low beams you pull it back again.

The auto option will turn your headlights on when its dark out and off when it's light out. It determines how much light there is using the light sensor in the center of the dash near the windshield (about the size of a postage stamp, has a little bump on it and a transluscent little window). You can adjust how sensitive the light sensor will be by going into the personalised setting, then going to lighting, then to auto light sensitivity (to adjust how dark it needs to be for the lights to turn on in the "auto" position.

Keep in mind that the RDX has daytime running lights (DRL's) so you will always see the headlights on but the DRL's are not as bright as the full headlights.

As a side note, your "headlight auto off timer" does not work in "auto" headlight position, the headlights will shut off when you shut car off. If you want the headlight auto off timer to function, you would need to leave the headlights in the "on" position, the timer starts after the car has been shut off and the drivers door has opened and closed.

truelies

So how do you use the knob switch? When it's dark outside, put it at 4)on, when it's day time, put it at 1) off?

I suppose when I put it at 3)Auto, the xenon light will turn on when it's dark and off when it's shining?

How does the "daytime running lights" work? Even it put knob switch to 1)off, it will turn on the light?


[quote=black label;12364627]What are you guys talking about? The knob on the trun signal lever has nothing to do with high beams or low beams. These are your options on that knob 1) Off 2) Parking lights 3) Auto 4) On. To switch from low beams to high beams you push the turn signal lever forward, to switch back to low beams you pull it back again.

black label

You can set it to "auto" and never touch it again if you choose. In this setting, the headlights will come on when the ambient light decreases (driving through a dim tunnel or at dusk) and go off when the ambient light increases (coming back out of the tunnel or at dawn).

DRL's will be on when ever the car is on unless you set the parking brake regardless of ambient lighting conditions.

The "off" and "on" positions are for those who just want to do it the old fashioned way like it was a 68 Chevelle.

Many people just leave the headlights in the "on" position because the car has a "headlight auto off" timer that will shut the headlights off for you after you have shut the car off and exited the vehicle. You don't have to worry about killing you RDX battery because you left the headlights on accidentally.

Personally, old habits die hard so I always turn my headlights on when it's getting dark and shut them off when I get home.

truelies

The problem is when I set it to "auto", in the afternoon the knob switch will turn to "on" itself instead of keep "auto". Then all the lights will on even the sun is shining.

truelies

I will check it this afternoon. Maybe I turned the knob switch accidentally when I sent the turn signal.

HondaGuy347

How does "Auto" deal with rain? I see a lot of newer cars driving around in rain storms with headlights off, I assume their auto headlights don't turn in in the rain? Always bugs me (my grandpa used to bitch about it ["What do they think, they're saving gas?!?"] and I guess it rubbed off on me.)

LuvMyTSX

Just got my RDX yesterday, and my sales guy had me turn the headlights to auto and said, "Now don't touch that ever again." (He has a sense of humor ) Still getting used to auto headlights, as this is my first car with them.

As for rain situations, I'm assuming most times during the day, it won't be dark enough for the lights to come on in the auto setting, so you probably have to switch them on yourself in that case. I always turn my lights on in the rain as well, it was ingrained in me from the beginning, and it's also the law in many states (wipers on, lights on). Bugs me when I see people w/o headlights on in the rain, too. You should have them on for people to see you more easily (taillights, not just headlights - I think many people think the daytime running lights are good enough).

VietNinjaJ30A1

I wish mine had auto headlights...mainly because I leave my lights on at night getting in/out of the car and I get annoyed at the dinging sound. It's like "I know they're still on! I ALSO know you'll turn them off for me!"

Scrib

My only beef with the auto setting is when I pull into the garage, the lights come on which really isn't needed.

Mr Marco

Wife uses this feature in the TL. I prefer more control and never use automatic options. However, the lights only come on a dusk (or garage), never in the rain.

Scrib

Yup.

Wifey doesn't use auto either. Love it when she listens to me!

LC2ner

I love this feature but it messes me up when I get into my wife's Fit. Killed her battery the first night she had her new car because it doesn't have the Auto Lighting like mine.

LuvMyTSX

I've turned it off numerous times already, just because I'm not used to having it yet. Old habits die hard.

discovermac

i normally just turn it to auto when it's dark and turn it back off when im home. (eg. yes, it defeats the purpose of auto, but...). the thing is: the manual does state that if you're not going to use the vehicle for 2 weeks or so (and i take frequent trips abroad for 2 wks or so), to have the auto set back to off -- i presume this has something to do with battery consumption if one has it in "auto" the whole 24/7...

Chas2

The manual does warn about leaving the lights in Auto all the time, I suppose because of parasitic draw on the battery....

Do not leave the light switch in
AUTO if you will not be driving the
vehicle for an extended period (a
week or more). You should also turn
off the lights if you plan to leave the
engine idling or off for a long time.

LuvMyTSX

Interesting. I really need to make the time to read the manual. That's a good thing to know.

tolram

How do I go to personalized settingSettings. Pardon my ignorance.

Thanks in advance