Author Topic: Whats the point of having daytime running lights on newer cars?  (Read 6778 times)
wide-lite 1000
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Re: Whats the point of having daytime running lights on newer cars? « Reply #15 on: February 24, 2019, 10:27:40 PM » Author: wide-lite 1000
years ago i saw a tv commercial about daytime running lights, (i think it was a gm commercial), anyways in the commercial the guy was standing in bright sunshine holding a lit headlight, he walked into a shaded area on the road and all you saw was the headlight ! My point being that they definitely are a safety advantage
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Re: Whats the point of having daytime running lights on newer cars? « Reply #16 on: February 25, 2019, 12:22:57 AM » Author: lightinglover8902
years ago i saw a tv commercial about daytime running lights, (i think it was a gm commercial), anyways in the commercial the guy was standing in bright sunshine holding a lit headlight, he walked into a shaded area on the road and all you saw was the headlight ! My point being that they definitely are a safety advantage

Yep, as regulations get strict with these car manufacturers.
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Re: Whats the point of having daytime running lights on newer cars? « Reply #17 on: March 21, 2019, 08:00:46 PM » Author: Cole D.
Well, on my car that I had before, it had the daytime running lights. And they turned on whenever I shifted into drive. But my new car, I'm not sure if it has them or not.

But our lawnmower, which is a Sears Craftsman from, I think 2006 or 07, has incandescent headlights, but not running lights. And there's a switch that controls them. But we never mow at night, so don't use it.
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Re: Whats the point of having daytime running lights on newer cars? « Reply #18 on: March 21, 2019, 10:00:11 PM » Author: lightinglover8902
I guessing for mower tractors that have headlights, I guess its use for safety, and for (for someone who rarely mows after sunset) at night?
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Re: Whats the point of having daytime running lights on newer cars? « Reply #19 on: March 22, 2019, 12:07:46 AM » Author: Medved
But my new car, I'm not sure if it has them or not.


Nowadays (thanks to LED) they use to be in the form of an iluminated edge of the main headlight, very often together with the turn signal (the DRL then temporarily turns off, when you activate the turn signal). So when off, it uses to be quite invisible.
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Re: Whats the point of having daytime running lights on newer cars? « Reply #20 on: March 25, 2019, 10:39:44 PM » Author: CEB1993
I think daytime running lights are a safety feature to make your car more visible from further away.  In my car, the 9005 high beam halogen lamps run at about 25% brightness all the time.  They turn off completely when the low beams are on, and then turn on 100% when the high beams are activated.  I like having daytime running lights, but it seems like they use up the bulbs more quickly.  The original halogen bulbs from my new car I got last year were oxidized from evaporated tungsten.  I promptly replaced them  ;)
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Re: Whats the point of having daytime running lights on newer cars? « Reply #21 on: March 26, 2019, 02:05:01 AM » Author: Medved
I think daytime running lights are a safety feature to make your car more visible from further away. 

Well, it is very deceiving. What I observed since the daytime light became mandatory, it brought two safety problems:
First problem is related to the idea of illuminated car during the day in general.
Yes, when you have one car illuminated against many others without any light, it is clearly visible better. But humans are humans and the brain has a limited capacity to process informations, mainly for longer time without a break. So it tend to "filter out" what look like not important.
That leads to a problem, when this "filter" starts working according to "light -> car" and "no light -> no car", so it starts to ignore whatever is not illuminated, like pedestrians, cyclists and so on.
It is possible to overcome by a sharper focus, but then the fatique comes sooner.
Plus motocyclists, who were required lights on way before the cars became very hardly visible in time in the chain of cars (something appearing as a gap between cars ideal to merge in, is often a motocyclist, to be overlooked an "shot down").

The other problem, related to the dedicated DLRs, was mentioned already: The DLRs may appear as light ON to the driver, so he forget to turn ON the headlights when it is needed. That leads to cars at dark without tail lights.



In my car, the 9005 high beam halogen lamps run at about 25% brightness all the time.  They turn off completely when the low beams are on, and then turn on 100% when the high beams are activated.  I like having daytime running lights, but it seems like they use up the bulbs more quickly.  The original halogen bulbs from my new car I got last year were oxidized from evaporated tungsten.  I promptly replaced them  ;)

My experince was from VW Golf mkV, where in the DRL mode the low beam was ON at about 75% (my guess), what was enough to keep the lamps long lasting (H7 lasted over 70k km). Using high beam is quite common too, because the beam pattern is very close to what is needed for a DRL, so just dimming down the high beam does the job quite well too...
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Re: Whats the point of having daytime running lights on newer cars? « Reply #22 on: March 26, 2019, 08:03:45 AM » Author: suzukir122
I keep forgetting to mention this in this thread... my current motorcycle, was made in 2004, in the UK. It has daytime running
lights... although they're currently HID, formally halogen. Unless I cut power to them, they always turn on any time I turn the
key and start the bike.
So yeah Medved is correct... seems like some motorcycles out there were required to have daytime running lights. I guess it depends on
the bike though... and nowadays, motorcycles have the option of turning off the daytime running lights. There are many with LED daytime
running strip lights as well, much like the cars.
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Re: Whats the point of having daytime running lights on newer cars? « Reply #23 on: March 26, 2019, 04:41:57 PM » Author: lightinglover8902
I think I seen some Harley Davidson motorcycles that have daytime running lights. Just the newer ones.
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Re: Whats the point of having daytime running lights on newer cars? « Reply #24 on: March 27, 2019, 07:58:05 AM » Author: suzukir122
Yep, new Harley motorcycles definitely have them too. I'm pretty sure that new electric motorcycle they've recently created, has them as well.
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Re: Whats the point of having daytime running lights on newer cars? « Reply #25 on: April 19, 2020, 09:36:25 PM » Author: icefoglights
I seem to remember seeing daytime running lights on motorcycles for a long time.  I think the old late-70s Honda that my brother used to have had them.  Interesting thing about the two Yamahas that I have is that they seem to operate slightly differently.  On my 2005 V-Star, the headlight comes on immediately when the ignition was turned on.  On my 2007 V-Star, the headlight doesn't turn on until the bike has been started and is first put in gear.  It than stays on until the ignition is shut off.

I just discovered that my truck has programmable options for daytime running lights.  Since it was sold in the US, they weren't enabled from the factory, although they would have been if it was sold in Canada.  The options include reduced intensity low beam headlights, reduced intensity high beam headlights, front facing turn signals on bright, and fog lights.  From the factory, if DRLs were enabled, for halogen headlights, reduced intensity headlights would be used (don't know if they used low or high beams).  If it were equipped with HID headlights, the factory DRLs would have been the front facing turn signals.  I like the idea of using the fog lights, since they are non-critical for night time use, and easier to replace than the headlight or turn signal bulbs.

My car uses low beam headlights (dimmed via PWM) for DRLs.  The next model year, they changed to using a strip of LED lights above the fog lights for DRLs.
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Re: Whats the point of having daytime running lights on newer cars? « Reply #26 on: April 19, 2020, 10:05:48 PM » Author: suzukir122
The motorcycle I currently own has daytime running lights, and it seems to be a safety measure. Mine are halogen though,
since LED wasn't really a thing, back in 2007.

My old 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix had a similar feature though, *kinda* similar to your 07 Yamaha V-Star @Icefoglights.
Although it didn't have daytime running lights, during the night the lights would not operate unless you released
the parking brake. Why is it that some companies did these kind of features, operating lights after certain things
are enabled?
« Last Edit: April 20, 2020, 07:37:14 AM by suzukir122 » Logged

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Re: Whats the point of having daytime running lights on newer cars? « Reply #27 on: April 20, 2020, 07:10:46 AM » Author: icefoglights
In my Cruze, the DRLs only turn on when it's in gear, and turn off when shifted into Neutral or Park.
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Re: Whats the point of having daytime running lights on newer cars? « Reply #28 on: April 20, 2020, 07:41:22 AM » Author: suzukir122
While I was editing a typing error from my previous message, I just remembered one other thing... on occasion, for
some odd reason my pontiac G6 turns on one of it's lights dimly as soon as I put the car in drive. Driver side
headlight, even during the day. I wonder if it's a malfunction? Doesn't seem like it happens all the time though,
which makes the situation even weirder.
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Re: Whats the point of having daytime running lights on newer cars? « Reply #29 on: April 20, 2020, 10:27:43 AM » Author: Medved
While I was editing a typing error from my previous message, I just remembered one other thing... on occasion, for
some odd reason my pontiac G6 turns on one of it's lights dimly as soon as I put the car in drive. Driver side
headlight, even during the day. I wonder if it's a malfunction? Doesn't seem like it happens all the time though,
which makes the situation even weirder.

Wasnt that the "corner" function? A feature turning on either a fog or a dedicated lamp on the side of where you are turning.
The logic use to be: The car is in drive (or in a non reverse gear with stick shift) AND (turn signal OR wheel turned) to the given direction AND speed below about 40km/h (25mph)...
So when parking with wheels turned to a side, it is off when reversing there, but turns on onceyou put it in drive.
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