DRL, waste of energy or worth keeping on?

[exranger06]

Originally Posted by NO2
According to some studies from the 70's-90's in Canada and Scandinavia, DRL's reduce multi-vehicle accidents as much as 32%, mostly around dawn and dusk and in bad weather. Energy use is minimal since your alternator probably produces excess energy during the daytime.

At dawn or dusk or bad weather, everyone should have their headlights on anyway! So in other words, DRLs are useless except to the idiots who don't turn on their headlights when they're supposed to. I hate DRLs; they do nothing on a bright sunny day, and they only encourage people to not turn on their headlights when they should be on. It's the law to have headlights on any time the windshield wipers are on, and DRLs don't count! (Your taillights also must be lit, and DRLs do not necessarily make the taillights light up) I can't count how many times I've seen people driving when it's pitch-black out, with nothing but the DRLs on.

On my Sienna, I can leave the headlight switch on "Auto," which turns on the DRLs whenever the real headlights aren't required, or I can just leave the switch in "Off," which disables the auto function and always keeps the DRLs off. I always leave the switch "Off" and turn on the headlights manually when I need them.

 

[Brigadier]

My Santa Fe has separate LED DRLs, and auto headlights. Never a problem...

 

[DGXR]

Originally Posted by exranger06
Originally Posted by NO2
According to some studies from the 70's-90's in Canada and Scandinavia, DRL's reduce multi-vehicle accidents as much as 32%, mostly around dawn and dusk and in bad weather. Energy use is minimal since your alternator probably produces excess energy during the daytime.

At dawn or dusk or bad weather, everyone should have their headlights on anyway! So in other words, DRLs are useless except to the idiots who don't turn on their headlights when they're supposed to. I hate DRLs; they do nothing on a bright sunny day, and they only encourage people to not turn on their headlights when they should be on. It's the law to have headlights on any time the windshield wipers are on, and DRLs don't count! (Your taillights also must be lit, and DRLs do not necessarily make the taillights light up) I can't count how many times I've seen people driving when it's pitch-black out, with nothing but the DRLs on.

On my Sienna, I can leave the headlight switch on "Auto," which turns on the DRLs whenever the real headlights aren't required, or I can just leave the switch in "Off," which disables the auto function and always keeps the DRLs off. I always leave the switch "Off" and turn on the headlights manually when I need them.

My thoughts exactly. DRLs (in auto mode) are useful ONLY if the daylight sensor turns on the regular headlights and running lights (markers) when it gets dark. Otherwise this is just another nanny (like braking assist and lane departure assist) that are turning us into stupid, incompetent, and dangerous drivers. The best safety feature ever was and ever will be, is a smart driver. Makes me almost wish for the driverless cars to become mainstream so we can stop killing each other "accidentally."

 

[Benzadmiral]

Originally Posted by Vern_in_IL
Originally Posted by Leo99
Originally Posted by caprice_2nv
It doesn't matter if it is sunny, cars are more visible from a long distance with the headlights on. That's why Young Drivers driver training taught us to always turn the headlights on and I've done that for 20 years now.

I still don't understand why they're making modern cars without auto lights, or people are turning them off? They're always some dummy driving around in the dark with no lights on. Sometimes the running lights are on at the front but they have no taillights.



Exactly. One less thing to think about. Let the car do the work for you. I've been a lot of dummies driving around in the dark without lights lately. And I know their cars have auto headlights.


It still won't work! Ever been in town at night? The streets are so lit up that you don't NEED your headlights, therefore you forget to turn them on! Then you realize it.

Maybe your streets are lit up. Da Swamp's cart-tracks are lined with useless burned-out street lights which no one ever seems to think about repairing -- and the same is true of great swaths of the Interstate in town.

I seem to recall this topic being thrashed out here 10-12 years ago. The upshot seemed to be that, as more and more cars have DRLs, their value as something to make other drivers notice a DRL vehicle will decrease. When one car in ten or twenty has lights on in daylight, that's a novelty. When one in twenty doesn't have them, that one will be noticed and the other nineteen won't . . . thus decreasing the utility and safety of the DRLs.

 

[Brigadier]

Originally Posted by DGXR
Originally Posted by exranger06
Originally Posted by NO2
According to some studies from the 70's-90's in Canada and Scandinavia, DRL's reduce multi-vehicle accidents as much as 32%, mostly around dawn and dusk and in bad weather. Energy use is minimal since your alternator probably produces excess energy during the daytime.

At dawn or dusk or bad weather, everyone should have their headlights on anyway! So in other words, DRLs are useless except to the idiots who don't turn on their headlights when they're supposed to. I hate DRLs; they do nothing on a bright sunny day, and they only encourage people to not turn on their headlights when they should be on. It's the law to have headlights on any time the windshield wipers are on, and DRLs don't count! (Your taillights also must be lit, and DRLs do not necessarily make the taillights light up) I can't count how many times I've seen people driving when it's pitch-black out, with nothing but the DRLs on.

On my Sienna, I can leave the headlight switch on "Auto," which turns on the DRLs whenever the real headlights aren't required, or I can just leave the switch in "Off," which disables the auto function and always keeps the DRLs off. I always leave the switch "Off" and turn on the headlights manually when I need them.

My thoughts exactly. DRLs (in auto mode) are useful ONLY if the daylight sensor turns on the regular headlights and running lights (markers) when it gets dark. Otherwise this is just another nanny (like braking assist and lane departure assist) that are turning us into stupid, incompetent, and dangerous drivers. The best safety feature ever was and ever will be, is a smart driver. Makes me almost wish for the driverless cars to become mainstream so we can stop killing each other "accidentally."


Then get rid of the automatic transmission and make every vehicle a manual again.