Hi, any one here in Canada that has the Daytime Running Lights on their X-type ? when I turn on my car in bright daylight, all the lights come on instead of just the headlights. (front, rear & side marker) Is this normal or have I got a sensor issue. All my other DRL equipped cars only have the headlights on during the day.

 

My 03 X does the same thing. My other vehicles ('97 and '00) use a reduced power burn of the high beams during the day, but on the X all the lights are on all the time. The only difference in turning the lights on manually is that they don't go out when you turn the car off ! Strange.

 

JagXster, looking at the diagrams, what you are seeing is normal. If you want the lights to act differently, you would need to get a different headlight switch. In your case, you would want the Scandinavian headlight switch which only turns on the low beams as your DRLs and leaves all the other lights off.

 

You are probably right, Thermo, but it is kind of strange anyway. DRLs have been proven to reduce "I didn't see the other car" accidents significantly, and it's not really rocket science to make a car's high beams come on at a low level during daylight hours (rather than burn the lows, which get most used, and thereby shorten their life). Hell, if my Jeep can do it, so could Jag! No offence, but we (Canada) have to be a MUCH larger market than Scandanavia; you would think Jag would spec our cars out the way our laws require. Pure indifference! I think Her Majesty needs to stick a few Jag execs in the Tower for a spell.

 

Robert, you may want to look at the crash statistics again. While the number of incidents dropped right after the implementation of the law, because it has been around for awhile, the number of accidents are starting to climb again because "it is just another thing I always see".

As for using the low beams, I think that has to do more with the fact that they are using all the other running lights and if you had a white light shining in front of you when you know the other lights are on, you would not move the headlight switch which would then have you driving with your high beams on. Might **** off a few people.

On a side note, your comment about pigs flying: they also fly very well if you are Pink Floyd. Just saying.

 

As Thermo was saying the research behind DLRs was pretty poor, almost as bad as 'global warming' . Having headlights only is a dumb idea. Many people continue to drive into dusk and then dark without remembering to turn their lights on full and are therefore invisible from behind.

I'd leave your car just the way it is.

 

I agree with your point, however not seeing your dash lights as it gets dark is a good cue to turn on the rest of your lights.
I can live with the fact that all the lights are on continuosly. I'll have to perform regular circle checks & prolly replace the lamps all around more frequently. Hopefully when they blow, it won't be a PITA. The dash lights will definately be an issue. I wonder if I an train myself to turn them off during the day to save the lamp life

 

Many cars illuminate the dash lights with the DLRs for some dumb reason...........

 

Guys, in my old Caddy, I haven't touched the headlamp switch in years. When I put it into Drive, my highs come on at low intensity. When the Twilight Sentinal (tm) senses the cocktail hour, the full lighting system comes on, the DRLs go out, and when I shut the car off, the lights stay on until I make it to the door, and that's it. My Jeep is a bit more primative (surprise, surprise) : as soon as it starts to roll, my DRLs come on and stay on until I either stop the vehicle, or I notice that the headlamps seem kind-of dim (which they are) and I can't see the gauges, so I pull the headlamp switch, the DRLs go out, and the low beams come on, and away we go. Every Big 3 vehicle comming into Canada, every Asian/Japanese import has figured this out, so what's with Jag? Like Jagster, I'm going through ancilliary lights 'way faster than I should.

Mikey, I hope you just forgot to put a ;-) after "Global Warming" , and to both you and Thermo, I'll take 'lowered, but rising again' over 'just as bad as ever' any day when we're talking about head-ons and T-boning. And stats, as we know, can be used to prove anything we want them to.

 

Is that the dusk/dawn auto light sensor attached to the drivers side defrost vent ? I may bypass that and forget about DRL.

 

Except that they're not consistent- yes they have DLRs that meet Transport Canada regs, but seem to deviate from there. Some have instrument lights on at all times (bad idea for reasons stated above) and some don't, like your Jeep which acts as a pormpt for the driver to turn on full lights at dusk. You've never seen someone driving at night/poor conditions with no taillights? Some vehicles (older Ford Exploders) are wired so that it's possible to have the parks plus instruments on while the headlights are still only at DLR brightness. The driver has to remember to click the switch one extra position at dusk.

I'd sooner see full automatic lights on all vehicles since the common sense required to put lights on at dusk doesn't seem to be all that 'common'.

 

I haven't touched the light switch unless I want the fogs on.....here in Canada. All lights go on with the key.