Heard at the dealer today

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Dropped off the Traverse today to have a couple of minor things repaired that were promised when I bought it. A lady brought her car in to have some hesitation problem fixed while I was waiting for the loaner car, and was telling the service writer that she'd also like them to look into the problem with the dashboard lights getting dim at dusk.
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The service writer patiently tried to explain that the automatic headlight sensor dims the dashboard lights as it gets dark. She still insisted that they need to fix them so they don't do that. I couldn't help but wonder how long she'd had the car, and if she had read any part of the owner's manual.
 
Ironically, this seems to be a case of something being "automated" and what appears to be an "ignorant" person who doesn't want it to be automatic back to a manual process! Imagine that, someone who would normally drive a vehicle with automatic headlights and an automatic transmission not liking the dash lights being automatic too.

*

Actually, it can be kinda annoying. Work with me: if you turn on your lights during the day having the dash automatically dim (like my Toyota's do) it means I have to crank up the brightness in order to read it again. On long trips I will often turn on the parking lamps; and I don't need the dash dimmer than it was.

Yes, I can find the control and just move it up/down. But if I need to do that on a regular basis (like all the time) then what did I gain from it doing it automatically? It's no gain if it does it automatically wrong.

Also... how does it know when it's too dim outside and I want the dash lights to go down? Yes I know it has a sensor. But is the threshold it was programmed to the same as my threshold for when I wanted it changed?
 
the TPMS sensor either has a low battery, which I kinda doubt cuz you have a 2014. Or the tire was just low on air. Fill it with air and the light will eventually turn itself off.

As for the dashboard dimming, it's annoying for sure. Even when I crank up the brightness it's still to dim. Gets brighter when I turn the headlights off.
Long are the days of MANUAL controls of YOUR car!
 
Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
Automation for the stupid masses.
Now how do I reset my TPMS in my Nissan? It was on this morning in the cold?!

You "reset" it by putting some air in the tires. The colder the weather gets, the more your tire pressure is going to go down. Obviously it got cold enough to make the pressure drop below the threshold for the light.
 
Originally Posted By: needsducktape
The automatic anything is a solution in search of a problem.


This is very true. Not sure if you'd include DRLs in the list with 'automatic' anything, but I was behind a Honda Pilot this morning on the way to work for 10 miles with headlights, but no taillights. This aspect of DRLs can be dangerous when the car owner is dumb or negligent.
 
These are the same people that fill out J.D. Power and Consumer Reports with "problems per vehicle"

This is why those surveys are not worth very much.
 
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indeed! I hope I didn't hurt my optic nerves when my eyes rolled back in my head.

Originally Posted By: Dave Sherman
... The service writer patiently tried to explain that the automatic headlight sensor dims the dashboard lights as it gets dark. She still insisted that they need to fix them so they don't do that. I couldn't help but wonder how long she'd had the car,


...long enough!!


Originally Posted By: Dave Sherman

and if she had read any part of the owner's manual.


Highly unlikely.



How some people survive being an adult is beyond me.

To be fair though, I can understand this if the driver was very young and never taught anything. But this sounds different....
 
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Originally Posted By: exranger06
Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
Automation for the stupid masses.
Now how do I reset my TPMS in my Nissan? It was on this morning in the cold?!

You "reset" it by putting some air in the tires. The colder the weather gets, the more your tire pressure is going to go down. Obviously it got cold enough to make the pressure drop below the threshold for the light.
SO it doesn't reference a user set point?
I don't want to add air - I have the air where I want it for FALL - 29 psig rear cold at 65 degF. Anything else the car rides like the tires are made of stone. Terrible shock calibration on this pig.

It was 37F this morning. An I did help develop the packaging for g sensors and TPMS over a decade ago for BOSCH - but I don't know how this is implemented in the Nissan. Tiem to get the manual out - but there was no TPMS reset SW, low on the dash, like in our other cars.
 
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After having two cars with auto-lights, I couldn't go back to a car with manual lights. It works pretty darned well. Best part is knowing the lights will turn themselves out, as long as the system isn't in manual.

If that lady had wanted them at full brightness, it's a very easy fix. Cover the sensor to turn the headlights on, and hold up on the dial so the dash lights are bright all the time. Takes about 5 seconds.
 
Originally Posted By: Kuato
33.gif
indeed! I hope I didn't hurt my optic nerves when my eyes rolled back in my head.

Originally Posted By: Dave Sherman
... The service writer patiently tried to explain that the automatic headlight sensor dims the dashboard lights as it gets dark. She still insisted that they need to fix them so they don't do that. I couldn't help but wonder how long she'd had the car,


...long enough!!


Originally Posted By: Dave Sherman

and if she had read any part of the owner's manual.


Highly unlikely.



How some people survive being an adult is beyond me.

To be fair though, I can understand this if the driver was very young and never taught anything. But this sounds different....


Could easily just be her first vehicle with automatic lights. I was a little confused the first time I drove a car (Lincoln TC) that had them.
 
ARCOgraphite I don't want to add air - I have the air where I want it for FALL - 29 psig rear cold at 65 degF. Anything else the car rides like the tires are made of stone. Terrible shock calibration on this pig. It was 37F this morning. An I did help develop the packaging for g sensors and TPMS over a decade ago for BOSCH - but I don't know how this is implemented in the Nissan. Tiem to get the manual out - but there was no TPMS reset SW said:
Some versions of the Altima had a TPMS relearn procedure that required putting 26 PSI in one tire, 29 PSI in another tire, 32 PSI in another tire, and 35 PSI in the final tire. Some Chevy/GMC trucks were just as complex.

Anyway, my car and my mom's car have a much simpler system. The TPMS detects if a tire has low pressure, but it doesn't determine which tire. Fill the tire, drive for 10 minutes, and the tire pressure warning light goes out.
 
Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
I don't want to add air - I have the air where I want it for FALL - 29 psig rear cold at 65 degF. Anything else the car rides like the tires are made of stone. Terrible shock calibration on this pig.

It was 37F this morning.


There's your problem.

You set your tire pressures at 65 degrees, but now it's 37 degrees.
You pretty much lost between 2 to 4 psi of air in your tires.
29 psi is now 25 to 27 psi.
This is well below the threshold to set off your TPMS, so hence, you now have a light on.

You have two choices:

Live with the light
Inflate your tires to 29 psi when it's 37 degrees.

Actually, you do have a third choice:

Move to someplace where it doesn't get cold.

BC.
 
I wish every car made was required to have auto headlights at night and lights that come on when it's raining. As a truck driver, sometimes you just can't see when someone is passing you during a rainstorm there is so much spray coming from the truck's tires. They are easy to spot w/DRLs or headlights on.
 
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