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can you turn off daytime running lights?


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i am a new turbo forester owner and wondering if you can turn the daytime running lights off and how? i didn't see anything in the manual. i thought there was something wrong with the car. lights were turned to off but they are still on. what gives?

i sold my beloved tacoma double cab and picked up the turbo forester 2004. i went for a test drive and really had no intention on buying the car. i just could not believe the acceleration this car had. i had so much fun i knew i had to have the car. i purchased it that night. i know that the forester is suppose to be a family suv but this thing is 100% sports car driving it. i'm loosing sleep at night because i can't wait to drive it the next day. i think i got a pretty good deal. paid about $400 below invoice.

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I'll play devils advocate.

 

Here's a mod over at scoobymods.com:

http://www.scoobymods.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2876&highlight=forester+drl

 

I agree with the others, especially since I've wanted driving lights for several years and my new OBS is the first for me.

 

I don't care if they're on all the time. My only complaint is that at night if I forget to switch on the headlights I'll tend to think they are on and yet I realize the tail lights are not when only driving lights are. It's been taking some getting used to. That and the parking lights switch, I've learned that having the parking lights on at night works to help with the mistake of driving off without lights all around. But then they (parking lights) have to be used more and I'm not so sure that's a great idea.

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i am a new turbo forester owner and wondering if you can turn the daytime running lights off and how?
I concur with TheSubaruJunkie and Dave Moore -- please leave 'em on, I'll want to see you coming next time I'm traveling through Sparta, NJ. ;-)

 

I promise I'll have my lights on, too. I've already survived one head-on collision in a 1963 Beetle going up against a 1967 Dodge Monaco station wagon. The Monaco driver's explanation for causing the accident in the middle of the afternoon? "I'm, I'm, I'm so sorry, I, I, I, I just didn't see you!" (Words I will never forget.) It seems that not seeing the other vehicle is a pretty common reason for accidents; last I saw, the use of DRLs was shown to reduce daytime head-on and right angle collisions by about 15%. I'll gladly replace headlight bulbs more often and burn a tiny bit more gas than to ever have an accident like that again...

 

I feel as unsafe riding in a vehicle without it's headlights on as I would riding without a seatbelt. Think of it as a Star Trek thing: Shields Up!

 

BTW, DRLs have been mandatory in Sweden since 1977, in Canada since 1988. They ought to be mandatory on every new vehicle sold in the U.S., too, but our lax lawmakers succumb to influence from auto manufacturers who lobby against regulations of any kind. Imagine: DRLs would save about 6,000 lives and prevent 100,000 disabling injuries every year, with very little cost and no additional driver training. Think Congress really cares about it's alleged constituents? Go figure...

 

- Bright1

(a DRL user since I learned about it in 1986)

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BTW, DRLs have been mandatory in Sweden since 1977, in Canada since 1988. They ought to be mandatory on every new vehicle sold in the U.S., too, but our lax lawmakers succumb to influence from auto manufacturers who lobby against regulations of any kind. Imagine: DRLs would save about 6,000 lives and prevent 100,000 disabling injuries every year, with very little cost and no additional driver training. Think Congress really cares about it's alleged constituents? Go figure...

I'll add my voice to the chorus.

 

I think the US car manufacturers' reluctance to make DRLs a standard feature is simply "profit, profit, profit". DRLs might add $10 to the manufacturing costs for each car. Most people would object to paying extra for their new cars if they knew that the extra cost was due to DRLs. So, multiply that $10 by the number of cars built each year, and you end up with a large amount of lost profit.

 

I think the DRLs could be improved even more if the tail lights were on too. That way, you wouldn't make the mistake of driving at night with no tail lights showing. What's wrong with building an auto-on feature into the system?

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Why not do everybody else on the road a favor, and just leave them on? There is a reason they are on the car.

 

-Brian

Brian,

I didn't ask if I should use them or not. I asked how to turn them off. Free country dude, so if i don't want to leave them on it is my business. there are a lot of cars on the road that don't even have DRL. when it is a super bright sunny day and i'm wearing sunglasses because i'll be blinded otherwize i don't think i need lights on. my personal choice.

this cracks my up how everyone is so patienant about daytime running lights.

Steve

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Brian,

I didn't ask if I should use them or not. I asked how to turn them off. Free country dude, so if i don't want to leave them on it is my business. there are a lot of cars on the road that don't even have DRL. when it is a super bright sunny day and i'm wearing sunglasses because i'll be blinded otherwize i don't think i need lights on. my personal choice.

this cracks my up how everyone is so patienant about daytime running lights.

Steve

 

 

Don't be a douche.

 

I think it should be a law you must always have your lights on. Start giving out small fines for it and then all would be well.

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Neither of our cars have DRL, but we both drive with our lights on all of the time. The statistic I heard when I worked for the company that makes GM's DRL control computers is you are 6 times less likely to get hit head on with DRL.

 

I agree that we should do away with DRL, and make lights on all of the time on all cars. Frankly, people are incapable of making the decision as to when lights are needed. It seems to be the worst when it's foggy, half of the people don't have their lights on! I don't want their lights on to protect them, but to protect me. I see no reason for lights not to be on.

 

Regarding everyone's reaction to your question, you should consider the average subaru driver and why they bought their car, safety.

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On I-90 in NY going to Buffalo, there are signs saying 'if your windshield wipers are on, your headlights must be on.'

 

That is awesome. It will be raining so hard here some afternoons...can't see a thing...and people dont have headlights on. Makes me mad as hell. I love how when my cars go off, the headlights go off.

 

At work I drive a Ford E-450, and learned to turn the lights on and off...its not hard to do...and it makes you su much more visible.

 

Headlights should be manditory. You can't set times...because it can be pitch black outside when it rains at 1pm. Just do it...its safe.

 

Another thing that upsets me...if peole who DRIVE with their PARKING lights on. :-\

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well all but my 76 has their headlight switches switched to on all the time no matter what cause of they turn off with the ignition (that's why the parking light switch sios cause of some places in the world that is required if you have the ignition off and are parked in some situations)

 

 

and I agree what is up with these guys that run only their parking lights on that is plain dumb

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I too am an advocate of headlights on at all times,

to the point I have wired my non Subaru cars to operate this way.

But I also agree, even m_ r_ns (add 'o's if appropriate) have the right to choose for themselves.

 

Parking lights instead of "using your head" lights - no brainer

 

Geeks - running fog lights all the time??

 

Ultra Geeks - self installed way out of adjustment fog/driving lamps

running all the time??

 

I was told the E-brake canceling the DRL was instituted

for use in Drive-In theaters (anybody remember those??)

so you could cruise to your spot without blinding the other "parkers"

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I have to agree with steve on this one.He does have a right to choose,and this is (supposedly) a free country.I have an 89 gl wagon,and just leave the lights on all the time,but for me its more of a matter of convenience.

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Oh-oh. This has turned into another debate about lights on or off! ;)

 

The 'lights on when raining' thing, yeah. Good law, really. If there's ever a variable it's the clarity of peoples glass, and rain changes that extremely.

 

Icey cold weather should be mandatory for using lights, too. I was hit by a teenager while driving home from a nighttime job, one frozen morning, as he pulled out from a sidestreet right into my front driverside fender, apparently frosted windshield and windows. Even though I had my lights on his weren't so I didn't notice him.

 

I think the idea of parking lights while driving might be from lack of having DRL... maybe.

 

Fog lights always on? That I don't get, unless the idea is added visibility. Can see a car with those on anytime of day or night from many miles farther than usual. Not that I'd need to. Heh-heh.

Hey mattocs, you need to get that fixed! You'd want those working in fog-- like they are meant to be. :D

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look in the mirror. who asked anyone of you your opinion on whether i should turn them off or not. mind your own business. so they can't be turned off. fine. leave it at that but stop with the bull **** lectures on why i shouldn't turn them off. i never asked and i don't care about your opinion.

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I TOO, living in NJ, am an Advocate for DRL. Added them to cars before they were deemed manditory. But they are not. (wish they were).

 

BUT.....NJKAYAKER has a point, there are many things I disagree with but we do live in a free country and the Impreza/Forester has to be the easiest DRL to disable.

 

USE THE FOLLOWING INFO AT YOUR OWN RISK....as the lightsout site states !!

 

On the passenger front strut is mounted the dropping resistor with a tag on it about Caution High temp or something like that, simply unplug it.

 

If you do NOT like DRL, then visit a site http://www.lightsout.org/

 

I don't agree with them, but as I stated, I WILL Agree to disagree......Been married a long time.....Don't always agree with things at home either, but there we seem to comprimise.

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As far as it being a free country, I feel I should be free to see other drivers at all times. I should be free to drive to work in the fog without having to share the road with people too dumb to turn their lights on. Letting people chose to endanger my safety by leaving their lights off doesn't speak to my ideal of freedom.

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I leave my lights on in my '94 Leg wag, they automatically turn off with the ignition so it's just convenient to leave them on...and they are great DRLs.

 

Consider this: you are less likely to be found at fault in an accident if you have your lights on.And I think you are less likely to get in one too.

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As far as it being a free country, I feel I should be free to see other drivers at all times. I should be free to drive to work in the fog without having to share the road with people too dumb to turn their lights on. Letting people chose to endanger my safety by leaving their lights off doesn't speak to my ideal of freedom.

I'll second that. I could'nt say it better.

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