I have a 2009 XF, 23K miles. A few days ago, I parked it in the afternoon (headlight switch in AUTO). I came back after dark, and the parking lights were on. I turned the switch to OFF, lights went off, turned back to AUTO, parking lights came back on (along with associated tail and instrument lights). Started the car, and all switch positions worked correctly. The following night I parked in the afternoon with the switch OFF, and tried the AUTO position after dark, with no malfunction. I've also tried fooling the system by blocking the sensor, but can't reproduce the problem. The detent between ON and AUTO is very firm, no sense of looseness in the switch. Goes in the the dealer Monday, who hopes to find something like a loose connector, and they will leave it out overnight.

It would be great if someone else has encountered this oddity and knows a solution.

Thanks,

Dick

 

I posted this last August; the same symptom occurred once again last fall, and twice yesterday. Both times yesterday, I was driving after dark with lights in "auto" position. I parked (once outdoors, later in the garage), turned the engine off, headlights went off, but park lights stayed on. Turned switch to "off", all lights went off, turned switch back to "auto", park lights came back on. Turned switch to "off", waited a couple of minutes, turned back to "auto", and all lights remained off. I believe if I had originally left the position in "auto", the park lights would have stayed on indefinitely (that's what happened in August).
Thanks for any ideas.

 

Sounds like a sticky relay. Have the dealer swap it for a new one and I will bet the problem goes away.

 

Had another episode two weeks ago, headlights came on in bright sun. Dealer replaced the light switch last week. Will have to wait and see if it happens again.

 

My 2010 XFR does the same thing intermittently. however if I switch to off then back to auto the parking lights stay off for me. Havent let the dealer know of the issue yet.

 

Also happens to me if I'm coming out of a garage or am stuck in traffic under an overpass. I cycle the switch and sometimes that takes care of it. I plan to let the dealer know at the next service.

 

This happens quite often on my 09 XF SC. I've had it in to the dealer a few times and they can never get it to happen so they can't fix it. It's like the car thinks the auto position is actually the on position at times. I can flip the switch to off and back to auto and the issue will go away. I have seen the exterior lights flash and a low battery from it. Let me know if anyone is able to get the issue fixed so I can point the dealer in the right direction.

 

In my case, turning the switch off and on did not solve the problem until several minutes had passed. I got the "can't reproduce problem" answer from a couple of service advisors; the last time it happened another advisor was on the job, and she took the "let's do something" approach. They replaced the headlight switch, looks like "C2Z5018". May be bad luck to say it, but it's been over 2 months now with no problem.

 

This has been happening to me the past two days. My lights are in the "Auto" position. When I park and lock the doors, the parking lights stay on. I go back to the car and toggle the switch from off to on, and the lights go off.. Pretty aggravating.. Sooner or later I am going to forget and come out to a dead battery...

 

I originally posted this problem (with my '09) in Aug 2010. It happened occasionally until Aug 2011, when the dealer replaced the headlight switch. Part no. C2Z5018, I believe. I traded the car 4 weeks ago, but up until then I had no more problems with the headlights.