I was a little disappointed the other night when I had removed some packages from the rear seat of my car and had to turn on the rear ceiling light. I locked the car and only realized a few hours later when I went back outside and saw the light still on and the car was locked. This light doesn't automatically shut-off after 15 minutes so it does drain the cars battery? My '99 Jeep Grand Cherokee had this feature and it was great for saving your battery. How am I supposed to know if my passengers hit the light and forget to shut it off? I can't believe Acura can make a car that talks, but can't remember to add a battery saving feature like this one.

 

No, thats something honda hasn't done yet. If you press the button they will stay on. One thing you can do is to change the amount of time they stay on after you open and close a door, that might help.

 

When you arm your alarm twice, all interior lights shut off. If there is still one on, you know it was manually activated and can shut it off. I'm not sure why people dwell on these little dumb things.

 

The difference in the TL is that there are four individually controlled lights to check. It hasn't been an issue since I'm the only one in the car 90% of the time.

 

Glad you posted this, I did not know, all my cars since 96 have had the auto off feature, now I know to double check!

 

The first time you get up the next morning to find out that someone left the light on and you can't start your car is when you'll figure out why people dwell on stuff like this. I know you can't have everything in every car, and I'll take a side curtain airbag over these little niceties, but with all the bells and whistles this car does have (like the ability to determine how long the interior and exterior lights stay on, for example), you'd think they could have included features like this and like auto-on headlights.

 

Can't argue with that.

 

Interesting.....

I noticed the same thing last night with the Trunk....I was EXTREMELY disapointed.....

 

I would argue that if that one little light drains the battery in only an overnight, that there's a problem with the battery.

Mike

 

Umm.. this TL *IS* supposed to turn off ALL interior lights after 10 or 20 minutes, I'll have to find the manual page, but it was stated as a feature.

On the other hand, I have left interior lights on in my 98 Accord and in my 00 TL overnite and one time a few days and it doesn't hurt the battery, they are little 12v lights that don't suck much.

 

Obviously you have not left a light on then. My mom has a Chevy and accidently turned on a light when removing something from the car. After about 20 hours returned and it would not start. I did not believe her until it happened again. I just removed the lights....

 

A healthy battery will run the car's lights easily all night. Many European cars are designed to have the left side parking lights left on ALL night for safe parking on narrow roads. If the little dome light runds down the battery, you have a battery problem.

Better you find out at home than stranded out somewhere.

Bear in mind that ALL new cars come with batteries that are barely adequate, and that you should replace them with a REAL battery as soon as you see any weakness.

When the battery on my Solara died 3 months before lease end, I put in the cheapest rebuilt battery I could find. It turns out that the rebuilt battery started and ran the car better than the factory one EVER did!

 

Not true at all. Just recently I left the interior lights in my Contour on for 5 days before noticing (it was just sitting; I had bought the TL and it was for sale), and the battery was fine.

Mike

 

WoW, that explains it.. I've seen an old 190E benz on the street a few times on my way home and always wondered why the the drivers side light was left on..

 

Well, I have an 03 Accord Coupe and its battery died after I left one of the interior lights on over approximately a 24-hour span.

Since it's a very similar car, I wouldn't be surprised if the same thing happened in a TL.

As for the Euro car thing, that may be true, but the TL isn't a European car. ;-)

 

On my 02 Type S, I left the drivers door open in the garage over night. When I went out the next morning the lights were off. I thought the battery had died but it started fine. It must have shut off automatically at some point. That was my only experience.

 

in some GM trucks, if you leave the interior light on for too long, it will melt the plastic cover and can cause a fire! - this has been reported many times.

On the TL, set the duration to 5 seconds, and as soon as you lock the car, you will find out, if any lights were left on... I do this because of the kids... they play with everything.

 

our batteries are really good.

One time I was working on my headers and I had to disconect the alternator. After I was done, I forgot to reconected.

So we drove out to dinner with out an alternator. The car was fully running with just the battery. I'm talking A/C, CD, every electric instrument is running from the battery. It lasted about 2 hours, when on the way back from dinner my dashboard lights started diming.....then the car shut off at the light and did not start until I was jump started. That is pretty crazy.

 

My old GM car had some feature where the interior lights would NOT drain the battery..l some sort of protection or something.

I do not remember everything about it anymore.

Mike

 

In my old GM Bonneville the battery went dead the day after I picked up the car from the dealership and I had to be towed as the battery was defective. Once I left the overhead light on and again the battery went dead. I'd rather take my chances with my TL!