I'm a new owner of a Silver '05 Acura TL. I went from a Lexus GS300 2003 to a 2005 Acura TL. I'm a computer programmer, and what sold me over was the TL's technology. Now, from being a lexus GS owner, i noticed the TL does NOT have daytime running lights. Could anyone tell me how to modify this car to get that to work???? I was looking around one day(in the washington DC area, I saw this TL with daytime lights....or maybe she manually pushed a switch or something, but what's better than a daytime running HID??? to me, that shows class. If anyone knows, please let Me Know!!!!

 

Welcome to the forum.



As I know, I haven't heard anyone successfully converting their foglight or HIDs into DRL yet...

 

Since the TL's headlamps have auto-shutoff, why not just leave it switched on? Doesn't this accomplish the same thing as daytime running lights?

Or is it a bad idea to have the headlamps on all the time because it shortens the usable life?

 

Well, you can do it, but it's not entirely satisfactory. Just program the headlights to extinguish immediately upon turning off the ignition and exiting the car. Then leave the headlights in the "on" position. The "down" side is that the lights will turn on when you enter the car rather than when the ignition key is turned on, and will not turn off until you open a door after the ignition has been turned off.

 

I suppose the lifespan of the HIDs will be compromised a bit, but it's a small price to pay for having DRLs.

 

I agree. I just leave my headlights on all the time. Safer that way, plus then you see my car coming up and running down your ass.

 

How much are HID bulbs? replace them once or twice during the cars life is definatly worth it.

 

Is it true that the Canadian version of the TL has DRL? Maybe you saw one of those.

 

This is correct... Canada TL has DRLs, US TL has fog lights

 

Yes, considering that Canada has DRLs by default, then the diminished lifespan of the HID bulbs are probably not a real problem.

 

I agree!

 

Wow, didn't realize i would get as many replies this quickly! Amazing forum! I will try leaving the lights on all the time and see how that works, but aren't DRL's usually at a lower beam than the "normal" lights that run at night? I also was wondering "where are my fog lights?" Initially I thought they were DRL's that didn't work but now i know where they are! It's neat how they designed them inLine with the HIDs.

 

The bulbs are $170.00 a piece from the dealer, last time I checked. Plus the bumper cover has to come off so that the headlight assembly can be removed to replace the bulbs. So figure another couple of hours labor for that. Probably around $500.00 to do both sides. A bit steep, for me anyway.

The multiplex electrical system in this TL makes mods like this tough to do. The DRL's in the Canadian TL's are wired in a completely different way than the fogs, according to the service manual diagrams.

 

The fact that they use up the space for the fogs to put in ANOTHER set of lights to do the DRL means that it WOULD be a problem for the HID, otherwise they would just use them in the daytime. Also, DRLs do not have the tailights on, which WOULD be on if you use the HID in the daytime. Lack of DRLs is my one complaint about the TL. I have driven at night a few times without turning on my headlights, by mistake, due to the fact that the dash is always lit. In my previous car ('99 Beetle, which DID have DRLs), When it got too dark to read the dash, I would put on the lights, but, if I forgot, at least the DRLs were on & I wasn't exposed to being ticketed! In NYC, the streets are so brightly lit that it's easy to forget your headlights!

 

Canadian DRLs are in the USA fog lights, they switch the bulbs to 9005's and connect them in series so each only gets about 6 - 7Volts, so they are reduced in brightness (down side is if one goes out the other does too, just like christmas lights).

 

I wasn't aware of this side-affect. This is so funny.

 

Since I live in an area with many elderly drivers, and I mean seriously old, with poor vision I did not feel safe without drls. For my y2k tl my solution was to just leave the HIDs on for four years. Didn't seem to hurt a thing and they were bright as new when I traded it in. Honda says that, on average, your lights should last the life of the car. Remember, there is no filament to burn out.

 

Thank God the TL doesn't have DRL's... or auto-on headlamps. I know, an opinion, but I cannot stand either of those "items".

 

kinda funny canadians are trying to get rid of DRL and americans are trying to add them.

 

Aight, forget it then. Screw whoever gets in my way. Ill just drive at high RPMs so maybe they can hear it?! Jeez thats steep for a bulb replacement. Is it covered under the initial warrenty, or is normal ware?

 

Ah, I missed that. I thought the Canadian DRL *were* the HID being used as the DRLs.


Seems like you have the reason to use the HID as your DRL. Based on others' anecdotal experiences in this thread, there doesn't seem to be much of a downside on the HID.

As far as having the taillights on all the time if HID were used as DRL, aren't they LEDs on the TL?

 

Automatic / always on DRL's are required by law here in Canada since the late 1980's - so the TL - and all other cars for that matter have them. Often they take the place of fog/driving lights on cars.

The other thing is the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) - our version of the FCC - does not allow American based Satellite broadcasting of TV or radio. So all TL's sold in Canada have the XM radio feature removed. Even though here in Toronto receiving the signal would never be an issue.

Bleh

 

Same here. I absolutely hate it when a car behind me has them on during the day. Like it's not bright enough outside already, with someone behind you, you have to squint even more.

And for me, if it gets too bad I move my rear-view mirror to the side so I don't have to see it. I'll need someone to explain to me how THAT is a safety feature. Believe me, a car is big enough that during the day a headlight isn't going to make it any more visible...

 

At the present time, DRL's do make your car stand out in the daytime because not that many cars have them. But if there comes a day when they are mandated in the U.S., then every car and truck with have them.. so you will no longer stand out.

The problem I have is government mandating them. I hate seat belt laws and baby car seats, too. I have enough sense to use my seat belt when I get in my car.. I certainly don't need the government telling me this. Same for baby car seats and using my headlamps in darkened or rainy conditions.

 

Sorry to be the guy that ticks you off, but here's my basis for running headlights on all the time: I read in some newsletter from my insurance company about 15 or so years ago that studies showed that driving with lights on during the day reduced accidents by about 22% for those with lights on. My recollection may be somewhat faulty, or their statistics may have been misleading, but that combined with the requirement that motorcyles have their headlights on all the time made me a believer.

Where it really makes a difference is at dusk or in the rain (lots of that in Seattle). People who don't think to turn on their lights because they can still see themselves (earlier post admitted to this) aren't going through the thought process on whether they can BE SEEN. I can't make the most convincing case for safety based upon anecdotes, but I've had enough times where I picked up other cars due to lights to convince me that I should drive with mine on at all times.

 

I'm not questioning your recollection. I remember the study as well. I simply flat out don't buy it. The study was done by the car manufacturers - the same ones who needed a new "safety feature" to add to their cars after a few years of stagnation. First came air bags and anti-lock brakes, but with the Japanese invasion of the mid-80's the American Companies began needing to cut costs while still giving the impression of improved safety. Hence the big new safety feature of the late '80s: Driving with your headlights on!

And I don't mean to be confrontational - I'm certainly not arguing having lights on at dusk or in the rain. My problem stems entirely from those with their lights on at noon on a perfectly sunny day...

 

I think DRL's were created to sell more lightbulbs.

I believe VW was the first to boast that feature right?

 

ntaylor, I agree with you 100%. I have been using my headlights during the daytime for over 40 years and will continue to do so. I originally used them only on rainy or grey days and on two-lane highways, but now I just leave them on all the time. Like Southernboy, I hate government intervention, and it is unfortunate that there comes a time that you have to legislate against stupidity for the common good. So be it. It's a small price to pay. My

 

A great man once said, "Those who give up essential liberty for temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety". (Benjamin Franklin, 1759).

As I said, when there are maybe 5% of the cars and trucks on the road with DRL's during daylight hours, yoy are certainly going to notice them. But if, due to regulation, those numbers rose to 90%+, then they're just all going to look like the next guy.

Small prices to pay soon become large costs to bear. Witness the erosion of our Second Amendment rights just to name one. Or the absolutely ridiculous warning labels on so many household products. At what point to we say enough of this nonsense.. we know what's best for us?

Now, I don't at all mean to equate the "privilege" of driving with the "right" to bear arms. One is indeed a privilege and one is an absolute cast-in-stone right. Big difference. But some of our representatives are so far off base, you have to wonder about their sanity.


Repecat.. if you want to use your headlamps during the daytime, then by all means you should do just that. And if you believe it makes you safer, go ahead and have at it.

 

True, they'll look like the next guy, but they'll still all probably be more visible than if they didn't look like the next guy. The marginal benefit might be small, but if we can all see each other better, aren't we safer? At some point the above-quoted logic fails (night is an obvious example; the third brake light mandated since 1986 might be another), question is where? By the way, I'm not necessarily in favor of government intervention in this area, I agree with you on your rants about the government getting a bit too carried away. But more cars with lights on does not make things less safe for everyone in my mind.

 

I still don't think we're safer if I have to move my rear view mirror to the side to avoid being blinded. I am fairly confident I can not be the only person who does this...

 

DRL's don't blind anyone. There is a HUGE difference between DRL's and having your lights ON. At least in the 1st gen TL (Canada), the DRL's are actually the high beams, but run at a MUCH lower power output. They are not bright at all. I've been driving for 7 years and I have NEVER ever had an incident of being blinded during the day by DRL lights. At night, when I turn on my headlights, the lower power DRL high beam filament deactivates, and the high power low beam filament activates. The night low beams are probably 5-8 times as bright as the DRL. And if I want high power high beams at night, that's done in the normal way.

 

People must be running some pretty bright DRLs then, or running their normal headlights during the day. Up here in Canada, I've never had to adjust my rear view mirror during the day simply because someone had DRLs going. They're generally pretty well balanced between providing "hey I'm here" illumination versus not getting in the way.

That may change as more cars become equipped with brighter lights, and if manufacturers decide to run HIDs all day rather than some low power bulbs. DRLs only need to be bright enough to make oncoming cars more visible, they don't need to actually provide enough light to drive by at night.

I don't think they become "invisible" the way the third rear eye level brake lights have. The risk seems to run the other way. You expect cars to have lights, and you start looking for lights instead of looking for cars. The older cars that don't have them become even less "visible" as a result.

Especially when the cars are all a nice grimy salt-grey to match the roads

 

His problem is probably caused by people like me in the U.S. who run with their headlights on at all times. A legitimate concern I hadn't really thought about. EpiK, you probably aren't the only one, but I've never been bothered by it. Others?

 

To ntaylor;

I respect your assessment regarding DRL's, but I suspect we'll just have to agree to disagree. The one thing I most definitely do not want to see is a government regulation requiring their inclusion and use in cars at some point down the road. But I fear that this is going to happen. I suspect we'll see people disabling them. And even though I don't like them, I won't do that because of the resale value of my property.

We have seat belt and child safety seat laws here in Virginia which I find repugnant. More extreme cases of regulation into the private lives and business of people are smoking bans in public places. There is a local village in Montgomery County, Maryland where several years ago, the mayor tried to ramrod a law through outlawing smoking in public.. period. Now I don't smoke, but I find this more than a little appalling. The worse case I heard of was during the Clinton administration. His cabinet person for EPA was Carol Browner (hope I got the last name right). This woman was nuts. Under her administration of the EPA, suggestions were offered that if there are young children in a home, smoking not be allowed.. in your own home! And if you lived in close proximity to another dwelling which had its windows opened, you could not smoke because your "second hand smoke" might enter your neighbor's house and cause God knows how much damage.

Like I said, these people are nuts.

 

I think that DRLs can definitely be useful if you drive on two-lane roads. I used to drive such roads very frequently in Southside Virginia (the area between I-64 and the North Carolina state line) and since I didn't have DRLs I'd turn on my headlights on the two-lane roads. Makes it MUCH easier to tell when a car is coming the other way if you are looking to pass. One time during my college years I was first in a group of cars driven by three or four friends and I was the only one with my lights on. They all thought I was nuts at first until one of them pulled out to pass only to find a silver car coming the other way. Funny, all of their headlights suddenly went on.

I continue to use my lights on two-lane roads and I first learned about it in Canada back before DRLs were required there. In the Maritimes and Newfoundland we drove on two-lane highways a lot and people always used their lights. The big difference there is the nice wide shoulder in many places, so people can pull to the right to assist in passing. I always laugh at how Americans are taken aback by that practice. I was driving on Highway 307 in the Yucatan between Playa del Carmen and Tulum and I would move to the shoulder at 130 km/h to let people pass, and Ms1995hoo thought it was the weirdest thing. Funny, though, she's big on using headlights at all times because she drives a 1988 RX-7 and she feels that people don't see such a small car unless she puts on the headlights.

In my experience many of the anti-DRL opinions come from people who live in urban areas or from people who primarily travel on Interstates. I can understand why such people would not see the need for DRLs. As soon as you begin to do a lot of your driving on roads where people pass in the oncoming traffic lane, however, I think your opinion can change really quickly when you see how much easier it becomes to see whether it is safe to pass.

Finally, speaking of disabling DRLs, my mother drives a 1996 Volvo 850 on which DRLs are standard (I believe the taillights come on as well, although I won't swear to it). The car has a switch you can turn to disable the DRLs. Funny thing is, I don't think I've ever seen a single person do it.

 

DRLs are great. Pedestrians are much safer for having them as well.

One problem though is people who have DRLs tend not to turn their lights on in the heavy rain thinking their lights are on. But of course the tails are not on. I am hoping that there comes a day when a small tail DRL is mandatory. Then the time you'd need to turn your lights on would be when you go out to a dark area or outside the city.

On my TL, I'd like to mod the DRLs so that I have an option to use them as driving lights to enhance the pathetic cutoff of the TLs low beams.

I think it its the Audi A8 that uses the first LED DRLs. They are an array of 5 Luxeon Star high output LEDs and very sexy. http://www.lumileds.com/newsletter/F...Newsletter.htm

The TL should have used these as a compliment to the LED tails then you'd all be singing the praises of DRLs.

 

A fair number of people in the DC area have adopted the annoying habit of just failing to turn their lights on at night, period, or of just running with the parking lights on. (Don't get me started on rainy days!) I'm referring to using NO lights, that is, people who don't have DRLs but still don't turn on their lights at night. At first I thought it was just the foreigners, because apparently in Third World countries it is common to drive without headlights at night to try to prolong the life of the bulbs. But as it's become more and more common, even on the Interstates, I've noticed that it's not just them. Unbelievably stupid thing to do, and yet the cops go on whining about people doing 65 in a 55 zone. You tell me, which is more dangerous?

 

DRL are stupid. If you can't see an object 5 feet wide and 4 feet high painted a shiny color (a car) coming at you during the day but without lights, then you shouldn't be driving, period.

At night, obviously turn on your lights. Durning rain or limited visibility, sure turn on your lights. But for goodness sake don't have them on all the time even in perfect clear, sunny conditions.

besides, think of the worse mileage you will get by having your lights on all the time when you don't need them!

 

I have never once driven without my headlights on...sun, rain, day or night. Not only does it definately increase your visibility to other drivers, but the car looks so damn cool with the headlights on!