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Comment by IgorPartola | Hacker News Reader

Being used to riding motorcycles in the US, why are headlights not always on for all vehicles at this point? LED bulbs last a very long time and there is little reason to not have them on during the day. I know, it’s much more fun to anthropomorphize the car in this case, but the simple solution is to just hard wire them.

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It's been required to do so in some northern European countries. The practical reason there is that dawn and dusk can take many hours during much of the year at higher latitudes thus creating a weird situation where it's not really clear when exactly you should have the lights on or off in exactly the kind of situation where a lot of accidents can happen if you don't have them on.

The simple rule of "always have your lights on" fixes that and it slightly improves visibility even in broad daylight. The only downside would be the increased power usage and the light bulb wearing out sooner. A minor issue a few decades ago when this became normal and a very minor one now that we have LEDs that last a long time without using a lot of power.

My rental bike (a Swapfiets) has the LEDs permanently on; there is no off switch. If you ride it, the lights are on. That's indeed how it should be. I can't think of any good reason to voluntarily reduce my visibility while cycling through potentially lethal traffic.

I've gotten so used to lights being on always that I classify cars with lights off as parked. I won't focus on them. I'm very surprised when they move.

It should really be hardwired, because people forget.

> I can't think of any good reason to voluntarily reduce my visibility while cycling through potentially lethal traffic.

Watch more horror movies and you'll think of some.

Rephrase to "any good non-fiction reason".

Probably some special forces/police operations in countries with a reasonable road system. Vans and SUVs are much more convenient than MRAPs or humvees.

Headlights always being on was the biggest thing I noticed when I visited Iceland. It is so much easier to see vehicles even during a sunny day, they simply stand out much more. As a result, I always turn my lights on right after I get into a vehicle.

Mechanics need to be able to turn them off when they work on them or they’ll get blinded. Every car I’ve driven in the last 10 years seems to have an auto mode though.

I’d be surprised if the Chevy’s these are based on don’t have an auto mode. It could be that a fuse blew here.

I bet it is something boring, like a fuse blew, or maybe they still have the auto/manual lights selector even though the car is autonomous, and somebody misconfigured it.

You'd think 'are the lights on' would be a self-check it would perform, though. GM has to know that headlights go out occasionally, right?

> You'd think 'are the lights on' would be a self-check it would perform, though.

If it wasn't before I would bet it will be soon.

It could also be that some bumbling meat-man clumsily knocked the switch out of the "Auto" position. The Bolt has a truly idiotic headlight switch which always indicates "Auto" even when its been disabled by turning the switch counterclockwise.

In Canada it's programmed to reset to Auto every time the car is started, but not the U.S. model.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZlYCSmtD_4

Somehow I thought they would have hooked the selector up to the AI but you’re right. This probably just got missed on the checklist when the car went out. That selector also makes it seem highly likely to be missed.

Detailers always turn headlights off. (At least they do for my car.) They probably always turn them off when they come in to be cleaned then need to be turned back on when they go out.

> In Canada it's programmed to reset to Auto every time the car is started, but not the U.S. model.

That's a Volt. My Bolt & Camaro (in the US...) also have momentary switches that default to auto, and they both actually default to auto. You can only turn off the headlights until the next time you turn off the car.

The same cars sold in Canada have the tail and head lights on when it turns dark since September 2021. If the mechanic is scared for their eyes they can just have well lit area to work and the lights will not turn on.

Let’s not be so dismissive of issues for the plebs. You wouldn’t want bright lights in your face while trying to work either.

Artificial lights are not very bright in terms of lux, even very bright ones. Headlights need to come on at dusk which is still far brighter than a shop.

It seems Canada thought of this by allowing lights to be disabled when the car is in park.

I have been working on my vehicles for a while. Removing the fuse or unplugging the lights is stupid easy.

I don't know how you've come to the conclusion that's a reasonable solution. Wiring harnesses on cars are a pain in the ass and definitely are not heavy duty enough for being removed many times. With a fuse you have to find the fuse box, remove the cover, find which fuse to remove, then pull it out with pliers. It's far more work than you're implying. Also, this is done every time I take my car in for service whether it's a tire change, oil change, or engine change.

More importantly you need to remember to put it all back together when you return the vehicle—not necessary with a switch.

It seems Canadian vehicles handle both use cases by allowing the vehicle to have the headlights off but only when parked.

What are you talking about? Remove plastic cover from fuse box. Remove fuse. Done.

Or open hood. Unplug bulb. Done.

Also most times when you work on a vehicle it is off.

Have you actually had this problem yourself? Or are you doing this on behalf of imaginary other people?

> Mechanics need to be able to turn them off when they work on them

Couldn't you just turn off the car?

Mechanics need to turn the car on for various reasons like diagnosing problems and verifying things are seated.

It's required in Canada, but in the US, we tend to prefer our freedoms. There are also credible scenarios, say when someone is being stalked, when you would want to keep them off for security reasons; or, if you are parked in front of a house, or pulling into your driveway, perhaps you just don't want them to rake across the front windows and wake your sleeping children up. Many people won't buy a GM vehicle for precisely this reason.

When I had a GM car with daytime lights, they would switch off if you applied the parking brake. So a trick is to apply the parking brake enough that the lights go out (happens at the same time the parking brake indicator illuminates on the dash), but not enough to really grab the wheels. Then you can pull into a driveway with the lights off.

I'm also not sure why this is a thing. With all of the various sensors, etc. in cars, there's safeguards to prevent me from typing an address in the GPS while moving, so why can't there be something that turns your headlights on while driving at night above a certain speed.

On Saturday, I drove from NJ to MA and saw 3 vehicles on the highway at night with only daytime running lamps, and one with no lights on whatsoever.

I haven't driven a modern car in a decade or more that didn't have light sensors in the dashboard to know when to automatically turn on lights. They even turn them on when the wipers are engaged. Everytime you go through a tunnel you'll see headlights pop on automatically. My 2009 BMW is the oldest car I have that has auto lights, but it doesn't have wiper sensors.

Older cars? Of course not.

The problem with auto lights is that they can be turned off or set into other modes that prevent the auto part from working. Throw in drivers who don't seem to notice that their headlights are not or barely illuminating the road and we get what I experienced over the weekend.

Maybe there's hope: https://www.edmunds.com/car-news/make-sure-your-headlights-a...

My current car (2020 model year) defaults to Auto every time the car is started. I haven't had a car without auto headlights in a very long time, but this is the first one that actually defaults back to Auto.

The Bolt has auto headlights, something malfunctioned.

Many EU countries (especially those on the North) mandate them to be ON at all times when car is moving. The cars sold in those regions have light switch on Auto by default, which you can manually override in both directions.

I believe that (having headlights on) was locally required before Daytime Running Lights (DRL) became mandatory in the EU some twelve years ago: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daytime_running_lamp

What I find annoying is the people whose cars DO have headlights that are automatically "on", yet all the OTHER lighst on the car are off.

It's common to come across one of these cars at night from behind - no visible tail lights, but when you pull up next to them, their headlights are on, yet dim (daytime running lights?).

> why are headlights not always on for all vehicles at this point

It's been that way for over 30 years in Canada (since 1989 I think)...

I'd be curious to know how many more replacement headlights they see per car per year

Headlights do burn out. I'd rather not pay $1,000-$2,000 to replace my headlights since they are LED built into the headlight. I'd much rather have auto headlights be mandated. Even that can be a pain in the ass if you have HID bulbs and travel in areas where they turn on and off often reducing the life of them.

https://www.hondapartsnow.com/parts-list/2021-honda-accord--...

Automotive LEDs made by an OEM should not burn out for the life of the vehicle.

Should not sure, but I have seen people on the Accord forums complaining about headlight leds being dead, and being shocked at the replacement cost.

I mean they can be pretty annoying on some cars whose manufactures have decided its ok to have the beams right at eye level.

> LED bulbs last a very long time

LEDs are a high-end feature even in new cars, never mind all the existing cars on the road.

$20 bulbs are widely available on Amazon.

They're so poorly designed that they are completely useless. Also 100% illegal to use on road.

You may be approaching a check point and be asked to turn off the outside lights.

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