DRL Disable, in 10 minutes

[TLS]

Just curious, why does a car NEED auto-on headlights? That seems like a low value "feature" to me.

 

The Legacy NEEDS auto-on headlights simply because the DRL's provide ample forward lighting at night. So much light, that one "thinks" the lights are ON, when your virtually invisible from the side and behind.

 

It really shouldn't cost anything, and it should be a standard feature on ANY vehicle with fullsize DRL's.

 

Auto headlights have been around for well over 10 years in the majority of vehicles.....not just luxury vehicles, but everyday cars as well. The Legacy IS a sport-luxury car, and with it's $30K price should include this feature.

[BadAndy]

Auto headlights have been around for well over 10 years in the majority of vehicles.....not just luxury vehicles, but everyday cars as well.

 

Well over 10 years is right...My old 1988 and 1986 TurboCoupe Tbirds even had automatic headlights.

[Unilat]

I've never owned a car with the feature - maybe this is why it makes little sense to me. I disabled the DRL for the reason mentioned above - I drove off in the dark without turning the headlights on a couple times. Of course, I've never owned a car with DRL's before either.

 

I must have been cheap all these years!

[TRS]

Being used to the auto headlights of my previous car, and the combination of the electro-luminescent gauges and ample light output of the DRLs on the Legacy, I did the easy DRL disable after driving off more than once at night without turning on the lights. I also did the fog light only mod, so now can use my fogs as DRLs.

 

I'd like to reconnect the DRL module but be able to manually switch them off when desired. A couple of others have mentioned exploring this but I couldn't find any posts about how to accomplish this.

 

I think it would be easy to do as the parking brake switch cuts the DRLs, so putting another switch between that parking brake switch and the DRL module would allow me to use it to turn the DRLs off and on manually.

 

Can somebody more adept at deciphering automotive wiring diagrams figure out exactly which wire I would put a small rocker switch on to give me this control?

[TLS]

Doesn't anyone else just leave the headlight switch ON all the time? All this work about wiring and disabling just so you don't drive in the dark with just your DRL's on.

 

Turn em on and leave em on!

[TC100]

Most "driver" oriented people don't want there car controling aspects like lighting, electronic traction control (trac control is fine, just give me a switch to turn it off when I want to), gear shifting, etc. It's more fun and enjoyable. It may be foolish, but the goverment gets carried away with so many mandated safety requirements. Leave my head lights alone. And when you on the road (TLS), stay alert, stay alive.

[sduford]

Doesn't anyone else just leave the headlight switch ON all the time? All this work about wiring and disabling just so you don't drive in the dark with just your DRL's on.

 

Turn em on and leave em on!

 

I can't believe you guys drive around at night on DRLs and don't notice the interior lights blazing at full strength.

[gt_ltd]

Doesn't anyone else just leave the headlight switch ON all the time? All this work about wiring and disabling just so you don't drive in the dark with just your DRL's on.

 

Turn em on and leave em on!

 

I have read on newspaper that one of the reasons American cars have so many problems is because people leave everything (AC, Audio, Lights, etc) on all the time, and when the car is turned on all those things draw tons of electricity all at once but the cheap components used by those car makers are not good enough to handle such a situation.

[TRS]

Doesn't anyone else just leave the headlight switch ON all the time? All this work about wiring and disabling just so you don't drive in the dark with just your DRL's on.

 

Turn em on and leave em on!

 

OK, we are all well aware of your position on this, but I don't think repeating it ad nauseam is really going to help your crusade.

 

My previous vehicle had DRLs and automatic lights and they worked fine for me 99% of the time so I left them alone. But Subaru's design is not satisfactory to me so I want to increase control over my vehicle's lighting.

 

I believe lights do enhance safety during daylight by making your vehicle more visible to me, and mine to you, especially around dawn, dusk, during the day when there's an overcast, etc. Many people don't even think about turning on their headlights until they actually need them to see. Since a large percentage of drivers cannot be trusted to use good judgement in turning on their lights, we get DRLs.

 

We license so many people to do something that they really aren't qualified to do because there is this widely held belief that everybody has a right to drive, as opposed to everybody having a right to prove that they can safely operate a motor vehicle. The acceptable standards for obtaining and keeping a driver's license are frighteningly low.

 

Thus, the responsibility for taking care of ourselves gets shifted from the individual to the "state". In addition, there is the ever increasing notion that whenever something goes wrong it had to be anybody else's fault except your own.

 

This got driven home to me today when I bought a bag of peanuts. The package said in large print across the front DRY ROASTED PEANUTS, the first item listed under ingredients was PEANUTS, but it still had to have in bold type CONTAINS PEANUT PRODUCTS on the package for those that can't figure out that a bag of peanuts is likely to contain peanuts.

[Unilat]

I can't believe you guys drive around at night on DRLs and don't notice the interior lights blazing at full strength.

 

Well, I typically closed the door before I drove off....

[TC100]

TLS, you may have a problem. I guess safety is your buzz. Lets all push for mandated yearly drivers lic testing for those over 65 or 70. Now that is a real safety issue.

[TLS]

TLS, you may have a problem.

 

Did you mean I may have a point?

 

I really don't have a problem. I have a great solution (simply leaving the headlight switch ON) that allows "lights on for safety", and prevents driving with just the DRL's on at night. Set it and forget it.

 

Don't like my preaching...don't read it. I'm not preaching a practice that will harm you or others....It's something that will save lives, and correct SOA's screw up.

[TC100]

No, not a point, a problem.

 

You should start legislation that all pedestrians will now be required to wear a orange safety vest at all times. Why you may ask, because somewhere, somebody conducted a study that shows it will save lives. Oh ya, and blink lights on the vests at night.

 

How bout a requirement to wear a mouth piece when riding a bike. Bet there is a study somewhere that shows it will save on dental related injury's during bike accidents. You see it never ends.

 

Eye protection while skate boarding so you don't get a bug in your eye and run into someone or there property (parked car).

 

A law that kids age 17 and younger must wear hearing protection while traveling in a convertible top down at highway speed due to noise levels being to high. The parent can drive the car and do as the please, but we better make a law for the kids.

 

 

And if "Don't like my preaching...don't read it." LOL lighten up man.

[TLS]

I'm telling YOU to LIGHTen up!

 

Look....

 

Subaru designed the car to have DRL's. They want you to be in a safe automobile.

 

However, Subaru failed to offer automatic headlights for when it gets dark.

 

If you forget (LOTS of other cars have this now, so if you used to your other vehicles WITH auto headlights, this is VERY easy to do) to turn your headlights ON at night, you are invisible from the sides and rear.......NOT SAFE......NOT DEBATABLE.

 

 

By adhearing to my suggestion of simply LEAVING THE HEADLIGHT SWITCH ON at all times....you alleviate any possibility of forgeting to turn them on. You get DRL's during the day, and when it gets dark.....hey,....your lights are already on!

 

Simple.

 

Safe.

 

No drawbacks whatsoever.

[TC100]

You are a lot of fun to send notes to, but I must stop now. LOL

[TRS]

No drawbacks whatsoever.

 

Others disagree...

 

A

 

B

[TLS]

Example A has a few issues with its math. They do not calculate in the reserve capacity of the vehicles battery. They are also figuring on 2,560,000,000,000 miles per year! One press of the cigarette lighter and you blow those figures through the roof. If you are a person concerned with the amount of gas required to illuminate your headlights, you'd likely NOT be driving a Legacy GT. You'd likely be the type that rides their bike to work everyday.

 

Example B .....Well talk about ME preaching.... That site has an agenda. What it is I don't quite understand. But whatever their overall reason, it IS shared by a few people on here. That sites process of thought reminds me of the group of people that say they're safer WITHOUT their seatbelt on.

 

 

I'm sorry if I offend anyone on here. That is far from what I intended to do. I'm simply giving another view of things with safety in mind. All too often people get geared up in the vanity of their car. They think headlights on give them a bad "look" or something. All I'm saying is, it absolutely improves your visibility to others. Why would you compromise your own, or others peoples safety by disabling them?

[BadAndy]

DRLs do not compromise other peoples safety. If the person driving the car is irresponsible and imcompetent, DRLs won't make a difference, at all, none. If you can't see a car coming down the road during daylight hours because it doesn't have DRLs, then maybe you should get your vision corrected and stay away from roadways. It's all about common sense, some have it and some don't...thankfully Darwin will take care of some of those that don't. Your safety is not my concern, your safety is YOUR concern.

[TC100]

What a great example of why DRL's are wrong. Hey, it looks like a study. People who love to quote studies should love this one.

 

http://www.lightsout.org/story.html#ourcase

[TRS]

TLS, I'm more on your side that you probably know.

 

I just wanted to point out that the "no drawbacks whatsoever" statement wasn't completely true. Illuminating all the lights all the time, which you advocate, does comsume more energy than not having all the lights on, which is indeed a drawback. The cost/benefit ratio may be high enough to mitigate the extra energy usage.

 

I agree that the ADADRL folks certainly have an agenda and will selectvely present infromation to bolster their point of view. Just as some here have cited successful military experiments with high powered lighting arrays to confuse the enemy (I would think this consisted of something a little more sophisticated than just turning on headlights on military vehicles), how DRLs on other vehicles compromise the safety of a motorcyclist (so all others on the road should have to give up some measure of safety to preserve his) and the relativey rare situatuation of a vehicle being invisible because they were framed by the rising/setting sun so there should be no DRLs becuase of these infrequent situations (I guess motorcycles shoud not have lights on during the day either as the same effect would apply to them).

 

You are free to repeatedly restate your position to the same people, but at least in my experience, that practice can actually have negative effects on accomplishing your goals, irreguardless of their merits, as your audience starts to turn a deaf ear, disreguarding any further input no matter how valid, because they have decided that the individual presenting the information is no longer worthy of consideration.

 

As I stated earlier, since a significant percentage of drivers cannot be trusted to opperate their vehicle in a relatively safe manner some of the tasks involved in that process are taken away from us.

 

I amazes me the number of people that will not turn on their lights until it is absolutely necessary for them to see the road. Haven't they every encountered situations during daylight but with diminished visibility or contrast due to clouds, shadows or precipitation, where they said to themselves "gee, it really would have been easier to see that car earler if they had their lights on" and have it dawn on them that the exact same thing would apply to for others to see their car?

 

The worst is when I encounter vehicles that I know have DRLs but they are disabled (I supposed there is the outside chance that they "malfunctioned") yet it was defininitely during conditions where the headlights should have been on.

[TRS]

Your safety is not my concern, your safety is YOUR concern.

 

I hope this is not how you really feel. If you do then it's an awfully selfish attitude. We share the road with others, we don't own it.

 

It's all about common sense, some have it and some don't...thankfully Darwin will take care of some of those that don't.

 

And also some that do because unfortunately, sometimes the less fit take out the "fittest" with them.

[TLS]

TRS....I agree with your last two posts almost 100%.

 

I'd be hard pressed to believe the alternator would have a measureable effect to fuel economy. It's so miniscule, even mentioning it wastes more energy. It would NEVER outweigh the safety benefits as you stated.

 

Those people you speak of.....driving at dusk, when its raining, etc, are the people I encounter the most. Makes you wonder what they were doing during drivers-ed. Their parents are probably the same way. Book smart...street dumb.

[BadAndy]

I hope this is not how you really feel. If you do then it's an awfully selfish attitude. We share the road with others, we don't own it.

It is a selfish attitude because my safety (and my passengers safety) is my number 1 concern when I'm on the road. Why shouldn't I be selfish about my safety?

 

Putting other peoples safety at risk because you're an idiot and would rather blab on the cell phone, put on makeup, spank your kids etc...rather than drive with caution is the worst form of selfish ever.

[Legasee]

Do you guys get a LOUD "click" when you turn on the lights AFTER removing the DRL's? I did when I disconnect the DRL on my 04 WRX when I got HIDs installed. Kinda annoying and at times u feel like something is going to happen.

[TRS]

It is a selfish attitude because my safety (and my passengers safety) is my number 1 concern when I'm on the road. Why shouldn't I be selfish about my safety?

 

Not at all. But it would be selfish if your truly believed that "Your safety is not my concern", which is why I asked if you meant that since other's safety can be compromised by your actions, even without compromising you own.

 

Putting other peoples safety at risk because you're an idiot and would rather blab on the cell phone, put on makeup, spank your kids etc...rather than drive with caution is the worst form of selfish ever.

 

Again, completely agree. But maybe they feel that they are being safe enough for themselves and it's up to you to be concerned about your safety, not them.