Hey peeps,

This dude at work also has a TL and I noticed when he unlocks the car his lights will turn on. He told me he leaves his lights 'ON' all the time and when he locks the door they turn off. Sounds simple enough, but is this OK? Talked to my other TL buddy and he doesn't recommend this but I'd like to know what everyone thinks.

Thanks

 

doesnt the 07-08 TL's have auto lights any way??????

it wont harm anything the way your friend is doing it, as its designed to turn off the head lights after i think 5 mins of inactivity after you shut your door.
With that being said, I always turn off everything before I get out of my car.

 

Yes, 07-08 TL's do have auto lights but when unlocking the car the headlights do not turn on. It's not the biggest deal but IMO looks cool....

 

I probably wouldn't do that. I know I forget sometimes and leave them on. When you unlock your car they do turn on, but after about 10-15 sec they turn off again. This probably isn't the best thing for the ballasts over time.

 

Yeah, I read somewhere that turning them on and off within a short period decreases their life. I always turn them on and off only when the engine is running so they get all the power they need. I never use auto (so they don't turn on when I pull into the garage).

 

turning them on and off will shorten the bulb life, not the ballast. it doesnt matter if the engine is running or not.

 

If one side is dimmer than the other, could that be the ballast (everything else has been swapped out)?

 

yeah i use to do this because it looked sick seeing the lights turn on wen i unlocked my car and walked up to it at night but it ended up killing my battery after so many times so dont do it

 

Cool thanks for the replies so far...

 

wow interesting i clicke don this thread to give this guy some advice but after reading the posts im the one that got some advice. i will not leave them on anymore. i did know they shut off in 15 sec. you can adjust to your preference from 10- 30 sec. i believe. but it makes sence that the ballasts can suffer from this so i will leave them off from now on. good point guys.

 

You would have to leave the headlights running for a very long time to kill the battery. They only take 35 watts each.

I leave mine on all the time. You can adjust the length of time they stay on after you walk away. I like being able to turn the lights on with the remote as I'm walking up to the car. They turn off when the alarm is set or 1 minute of inactivity (your choice). I dont' unlock the car until I'm pretty close so there's no issue with unlocking and forgetting about it. Besides, my remote has a range of about 2 feet.

 

i leave my lights on at night if i know that i will be getting back in the car later that night. (e.g. going out for dinner, etc)

saves me the trouble of turning it on again, just make sure you open the door within 15sec of unlocking and it will stay on for a longer period of time so you don't do on/off/on/off on the lights too often

 

I've got a 7G Accord and my car can do this as well. For those worrying about shortening bulb life, you can just unlock the car when you're close to it. If you unlock my car and don't do anything for something like 15 or 30 seconds, the car will lock again and the lights will turn off (I think lights turn off before car locks). If you open any door while the lights are still on, they won't turn off after 15 seconds, no matter when you start the car.

The only annoying thing about leaving them on is when you lock them, your lights will turn off while your parking lights flash, and then come back on again quickly. I can see how this would be bad for the bulb.

My , but I like leaving them on because it's a great feature to show off, along with rolling down your windows with the remote.

 

LOL. I don't know about using it to show off. Most cheaper cars will now do everything the TL does.

 

i'm ashamed to admit i didn't know about this.

so you guys are leaving your headlights on when you turn off the car? and they turn off on their own after a little while? then when you hit your key fob to unlock, the lights come on?

 

If you leave your lights on. They will turn off as soon as you lock your car, at least in my case anyways. When you unlock your car they will turn on, I sometimes unlock my car from a further distance, so by the time I come to my car they are turned off, then when you open your door they turn on again.

 

i wouldnt do it because they turn on and off really quick if you dont close the door in time/ open the door in time. from what i have heard this decreases the life of the hids

 

Of course now they do, but my car was built almost eight years ago. I don't think it was so common then. Even if it was, let's just say college girls are VERY easy to impress.

Pretty much

 

i always turn the lights on and off myself....i dont use the auto feature

 

i do it every now and then. i dont normaly get to see my cars lights on from a distance and it looks nice as i am walking towards it when i get out of work and such

 

Yep. If you don't set the alarm, they will go out after the user programmed time. You can lock it and it won't make a difference. If you set the alarm they will go out. Hit the unlock and they come back on. It's nice when you're in an unfamiliar place and can't see that well.

 

Thanks again for the replies - but my other question now is if they turn off somewhere between 15 and 30 secs how can I change the amount of time they stay on then?

 

inside the car.
on the MID, near the dash on the right side.
scroll through the options, there will be one that says user settings or something similar.

 

I'll check it out - thanks..

 

This is also a safety feature. If you park in a dark parking lot at night, then your headlights will stay on so you can see where you're going.

When walking away from the car with the lights on, hitting lock once will not affect the headlights. Hitting it twice so it beeps will shut them off.

I don't know why people think this would kill the battery, ballasts or bulbs. They are left on for such a short period of time, it will not harm anything. I've been doing it for just about two years and have had not one headlight problem.

 

lol at people who think that's a "show off" feature....lol again.
guys, it's just lights staying on and turning off later....that's it.

my gosh, maybe you guys should buy some spinners for your rims so they'll keep spinning when you walk away from your TL! yea!! that's right! that'd "show off" your car! they'll keep spinning til you come back, or you can manually stop them with your hand!

rant end~

 

The only reason I was concerned is because you'd be leaving the headlight switch "on". When you're walking out of your car you can hear the warning beep letting you know you left lights on. So my point is - if it's ok to leave the lights on then why is that warning beep sounding? I understand that they shut off but just wondering about that warning beep...

 

edited...stupid post lol

 

I don't think it gives you the warning "beep" if you position your lights to the "ON" position, at least it doesn't for me. As mentioned earlier, you just hit the lock button once and they will shut-off automatically within 15-60 seconds, or pressing it twice will shut them off completely.

I really like this feature, not so much for showing off but it does look pretty cool at night. It also provides safety and can warn other drivers if you're somehow in there blind spot.

 

So you leave the lights to the 'ON' position all the time? Right?

 

I leave mine on too. I got into the habit years ago with my 7G Honda Accord. My wife did the same with her 1G Honda Pilot and prior to that. I think it's a good feature, and I like driving with lights on at all times anyways.

 

This topic has been discussed numerous times. Leave your headlights on, exit the car, press the lock button twice and they turn off. Unlock the car, the turn back on. Yes this is a feature, if it was bad for the car, Acura wouldn't have designed it this way. I haven't heard of anyone blowing their headlights out prematurely because they turned them on too much. Some perspective: my dad's GL450 uses the xenons for DRLs in addition to being headlights. So they're on at all times the car is running...the car has 90,000 miles on it with stock bulbs. It takes a lot to burn out a xenon headlight.