LP...headlights are on during daytime in "AUTO" setting.....why?

[PENROSE]

The only time I can tell what my headlights are doing is when I'm stopped at a red light and I look at the reflection in the car in front of me

But sometimes just my "U's" are lit. And sometimes my headlight inside the U is lit as well....even when it's very light outside

Why so random?

 

[nype]

Set the auto headlights setting in the menu to turn on "late". It will be more in tune with what you're expecting.

 

[Ray128]

The only time I can tell what my headlights are doing is when I'm stopped at a red light and I look at the reflection in the car in front of me

But sometimes just my "U's" are lit. And sometimes my headlight inside the U is lit as well....even when it's very light outside

Why so random?

I noticed that my headlights we're always on in the daylight after about a week of having the car. This was because I had the headlight switch on AUTO but also had it pulled out for fogs, which I didn't know, overrides the auto feature by turning the fogs on along with the headlights. I thought that the fogs wouldn't come on until the sensor would turn the headlights on, like many other cars do. My MK6 didn't have the AUTO light switch, so didn't know it worked like that on this.

 

[up4speed]

I noticed that my headlights we're always on in the daylight after about a week of having the car. This was because I had the headlight switch on AUTO but also had it pulled out for fogs, which I didn't know, overrides the auto feature by turning the fogs on along with the headlights. I thought that the fogs wouldn't come on until the sensor would turn the headlights on, like many other cars do. My MK6 didn't have the AUTO light switch, so didn't know it worked like that on this.

Same thing happened to me and I was confused.
The logic I came up with (totally made up), is that the fog lights are for FOG. Therefore, when the fog lights are off, the headlights, when set to auto, will come on when it gets dark and only the DRL's would be on in the day. Once you pull that fog light switch, that means that you are driving in fog, so they programmed it to turn the headlights on as well, so you can have the most light possible.
Just my theory, but I can't think of any other reason for the life of me!

 

[Ray128]

Same thing happened to me and I was confused.
The logic I came up with (totally made up), is that the fog lights are for FOG. Therefore, when the fog lights are off, the headlights, when set to auto, will come on when it gets dark and only the DRL's would be on in the day. Once you pull that fog light switch, that means that you are driving in fog, so they programmed it to turn the headlights on as well, so you can have the most light possible.
Just my theory, but I can't think of any other reason for the life of me!

Yeah thats the assumption I made also. Guess they're called for lights for a reason. I actually keep them off now because I get more use from the cornering lights, which are deactivated with the fog lights on.

 

[SD11]

I just leave it on auto and let the car figure it out. I have only had the car for a few minutes so not sure how this car reacts, but on my other cars, the lights go on and off depending on lighting conditions. My Ram is very responsive and will turn them on if you drive under a bridge or any situation where it measure disparity in light. Its doing what it was designed to do.

 

[The Fed]

Don't use AUTO. I only use it at night to enable "High Beam Assist".

 

[Chris43]

I think there's a setting in the MFD that defaults the lights on when the rain sensor activates the wipers

 

[TheWombat]

Don't use AUTO. I only use it at night to enable "High Beam Assist".

Just out of curiosity, why not use the AUTO setting? I find it simple to just set it and forget it. It certainly doesn't hurt to have the lights on at any time, for other people's being able to see you, and I find the system does a good job of switching on and off with conditions.

 

[2slowvw]

Using the Auto setting on headlights won't hurt anything other than potentially going through the bulbs quicker.

As far as the fogs are concerned, some states have a law where the fog lights can only be used in conjunction with the headlights not in substitution of or as a DRL. So that may be why the auto feature gets overridden by the fogs.

 

[avenali312]

Pretty sure my Auto function is broken. Headlights always come on with the switch in that position and after about a minute I get a Vehicle Fault: Lighting error (no specific bulb warning, the head unit just shows all four corners of the car highlighted). To make things even more fun, when I scan for codes, nothing pops up. I'll let the dealer handle this one.

 

[The Fed]

Just out of curiosity, why not use the AUTO setting? I find it simple to just set it and forget it. It certainly doesn't hurt to have the lights on at any time, for other people's being able to see you, and I find the system does a good job of switching on and off with conditions.

I don't drive that much at night since I retired. The main problem for me is that on AUTO the lights pop on in the garage when I start the car and go out as soon as I back out of the garage. That's got to "strain" them. I had Xenon's on my MKV as DRL's. Two bulbs and one ballast burned out within four years. If I needed to pay to replace them it would have been expensive, and that was when you could get to the bulbs without removing a lot of things that are in the way in a MK7. You can buy cheaper aftermarket bulbs but I don't think you can buy ballasts. Dealers want hundreds for one. And I suppose the bulbs are as hard to install once you get the covers off. If you never had Xenons they are nothing like halogens. One tine, the dealer replaced a Xenon bulb but warned me that if it goes out again in a few days to bring it back and they would replace the ballast. They had no way to test it and suspected the bulb was good. Sure enough, the bulb went dark a few days later. In our cars that would mean unbolting a lot of stuff again.

 

[The Fed]

Pretty sure my Auto function is broken. Headlights always come on with the switch in that position and after about a minute I get a Vehicle Fault: Lighting error (no specific bulb warning, the head unit just shows all four corners of the car highlighted). To make things even more fun, when I scan for codes, nothing pops up. I'll let the dealer handle this one.

Strange. I would have guessed a bad module. VCDS shows nothing? Are you using the latest software/firmware. MK7's use a new network protocol older versions won't read.

 

[avenali312]

Strange. I would have guessed a bad module. VCDS shows nothing? Are you using the latest software/firmware. MK7's use a new network protocol older versions won't read.

It's possible that my OBD code reader from the MKV isn't picking it up. Still seems like something that should be covered under warranty, so I may not worry about it.

 

[nype]

I don't drive that much at night since I retired. The main problem for me is that on AUTO the lights pop on in the garage when I start the car and go out as soon as I back out of the garage. That's got to "strain" them. I had Xenon's on my MKV as DRL's. Two bulbs and one ballast burned out within four years. If I needed to pay to replace them it would have been expensive, and that was when you could get to the bulbs without removing a lot of things that are in the way in a MK7. You can buy cheaper aftermarket bulbs but I don't think you can buy ballasts. Dealers want hundreds for one. And I suppose the bulbs are as hard to install once you get the covers off. If you never had Xenons they are nothing like halogens. One tine, the dealer replaced a Xenon bulb but warned me that if it goes out again in a few days to bring it back and they would replace the ballast. They had no way to test it and suspected the bulb was good. Sure enough, the bulb went dark a few days later. In our cars that would mean unbolting a lot of stuff again.

Makes sense for you, since as you said, you don't do much night driving.

I also don't like how the lights come on when just pulling in/out of the garage. And thanks for the heads up. But I just like the auto setting too much for everything else.

Here in Raincouver, I do like the auto setting with it also set to turn the low beams on during rain. And as I said earlier, I find having the "turn on" time set to "late" seems to work best. If it's set to normal or early the low beams sometimes come on during the day when they sky is dark/overcast.

Also, if you haven't, consider using VCDS to set the coming home/leaving home lights to fogs instead of low beams. Looks better IMO. And less use of the low beams.