Dusk Sensor

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Bryan
  • Start date Start date
J

John Bryan

I have just bought a V40, and the headlights are permantly on, either theres
a setting within the car ive not spotted (havent got a manual) or the dusk
sensors bust

any one help me shed some light on this either way - and if its a dusk
sensor bust, anyone have any experience of how much this cost, and what kind
of job they are to replace


All the best

John
 
John said:
I have just bought a V40, and the headlights are permantly on, either theres
a setting within the car ive not spotted (havent got a manual) or the dusk
sensors bust

any one help me shed some light on this either way - and if its a dusk
sensor bust, anyone have any experience of how much this cost, and what kind
of job they are to replace


All the best

John
Click to expand...
Those are daytime running lights. It is a safety feature; it makes your car more visible to other drivers during the day.
It is required by law in the US for all cars made after a certain date.
 
I have just bought a V40, and the headlights are permantly on, either theres
a setting within the car ive not spotted (havent got a manual) or the dusk
sensors bust

any one help me shed some light on this either way - and if its a dusk
sensor bust, anyone have any experience of how much this cost, and what kind
of job they are to replace
Click to expand...

You've just hit on one of the pseudo-religeous subjects of this group.
The evangelists will tell you that you absolutely must drive with
these lights on, and you have no business wanting a choice in the
matter.

In the UK it is not (yet) an offence to drive in clear visibility
without lights, and there is no clear evidence of any advantage in
doing so. A recent European study found it did not reduce the
likelyhood of being involved in an accident.

But this does not answer your question - there may be a way of turning
them off, or at least down to the sidelight version of Day Running
lights, but not having any knowledge of the V40 I don't know about it.
One of the less sanctimonious posters here may help, or it may be
worth phoning your local dealer and asking.
--

Stewart Hargrave


For email, replace 'SpamOnlyToHere' with my name
 
Stewart Hargrave said:
You've just hit on one of the pseudo-religeous subjects of this group.
The evangelists will tell you that you absolutely must drive with
these lights on, and you have no business wanting a choice in the
matter.

In the UK it is not (yet) an offence to drive in clear visibility
without lights, and there is no clear evidence of any advantage in
doing so. A recent European study found it did not reduce the
likelyhood of being involved in an accident.

But this does not answer your question - there may be a way of turning
them off, or at least down to the sidelight version of Day Running
lights, but not having any knowledge of the V40 I don't know about it.
One of the less sanctimonious posters here may help, or it may be
worth phoning your local dealer and asking.
--

Stewart Hargrave


For email, replace 'SpamOnlyToHere' with my name
Click to expand...

Conservative Englishmen!

Why don't you just take out the lamps during

daytime and put them back when YOU need them.



Pepe

Jaguar XJS 6.0 Conv -95 (Summer car)

Jaguar XJ 40 Sovereign -94 (Winter car)
 
Thanks stewert, your email was very interesting and informative,

I expected to get a load of people taking the P**s out of me for being
stupid



Very grateful



John
 
Thanks Marvin, thats cleared that up, however; does anyone know if this
safety feature can be switched off, here in the UK we are the only drivers
on the road that have our lights permanently on, and im fed up of telling
people that i'm aware that ive 'left' my lights on :)
 
not very helpul of you Pepe, it was a perfectly civil question from a new
Volvo owner
 
John said:
Thanks stewert, your email was very interesting and informative,

I expected to get a load of people taking the P**s out of me for being
stupid
Click to expand...

I am of a more moderate view, I like the low beam running lights for
two reasons-

The first is I believe they make my car more visible under certain
conditions.

The second is having the low beam lights (as opposed to reduced
intensity high beams on some other brands) on all the time prevents
forgetting to put them on at night (there are some truly stupid
drivers out there).

Note that neither reason applies to you. The first is about my car,
not anyone else's. As for the second, you definitely exceed the
requisite intelligence to turn on one's own lights when it is dark :)
 
Here in the U.S., I get a discount on my auto insurance for having the
daytime running lights enabled. It's not much, maybe $20/year but, if
they're willing to give me a discount, I figure the safety advantage of
enhanced visibility must be real. My only complaint is that it runs down
the battery awfully fast if you turn on the ignition key without running the
engine (for instance, during the several hours per month every Volvo owner
spends tracking down electrical problems).

When I got my 850, they were disabled and I had to figure out the little
screw setting to turn them on. It wasn't so tough, it's described in
detail, with photos, in the owner's manual.


-RL
 
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