Silly thing i just noticed about my car (could be the silly thing i noticed thread)

[bmorrisj]

Oh yea, and remember when you turn the car on, and the outer dials glow red and the gauges reset? Well you can turn that off by putting the car in the "ACC" mode (the click before ignition) and then hitting the trip odometer a few times to bring up the 1/5 settings. Hold the trip stick to toggle 1 and/or 5 off/on.

 

 

i= illumination

 

s=sweep

 

why turn it off..... when ppl sit in my car it makes them go

[Vimy101]

And, how would they know that DRL's reduce accidents by 30%. Is there some hotline I don't know about that everyone else does that you call into and tell them "Wow, if it wasn't for that guys DRL's I would have hit him!"

 

You better believe that the insurance industry have massive teams of actuaries who are all over accident statistics.

[Vimy101]

Yeah, but who calls their insurance company when there isn't an accident.

 

A decrease in reports would indicate a trend.

[gfxdave99]

If your mat hook breaks for the drivers side, when they replace it, the replacement part has a base thats double the size to help prevent it from getting yanked out / broke again.

[djmonkey841]

If your mat hook breaks for the drivers side, when they replace it, the replacement part has a base thats double the size to help prevent it from getting yanked out / broke again.

 

Mine hasn't broke, but this is good to know in case it ever does

[AWD_Rules3830]

lift up the spare over thing in the boot and there is a handle place to store things.

[CMull123]

Yeah, but who calls their insurance company when there isn't an accident.

 

Say DRL's became standard equipment in, I dunno, 1995. If all of a sudden claims went down by 30% then it's gotta be because of sumthin. If DRL's were the only change that year, then that would be the variable that caused the change. So then they could say that DRL's played a large role in 30% less accidents from 1995 on. (I'm just using 1995 as an example, I dunno when they were mandated or if they ever were.)

[SLegacy99]

 

There's no way I wouldn't have gotten rear ended a couple weekends ago if I had my DRL's or the other car had DRL's.

 

 

The point of DRLs isnt to illuminate anything its to make sure that you are seen.

 

Example: I take shady back roads to work. Its dark. Alot of people drive down the middle of the road, because theyre assholes and dont care that other people are on this earth too. So if a dark colored car is coming at me I have a hard time seeing it. If it had DRLs its very easy to see. And I dont have to be driving either. Lots of people bike and run down this particular road. Just makes life easier.

 

DRLs are also good for the morons who drive around in the rain without their lights on. Once again, the point is not neccessarily to illuminate the road in front of you, but to make sure that other people can see you. I cant stress that enough. Swerving and changing lanes, easier to see.

 

 

You cite running a red light as a frequent cause of accident. DRLs would make the car violating the law easier to see, and easier to avoid.

[Hanger]

The point of DRLs isnt to illuminate anything its to make sure that you are seen.

 

+1

 

i hate the morons that doesn't turn on their lights at dawn, or raining and cloudy day, the point is not only to illuminate the road infront of you, but so others can see you...

[laz]

I say that if you have a car equipped with DRL's, then it should also have auto on/off headlights.

 

I lost track of how many people (including subaru owners) i have seen with no tailights on, only to discover that they are driving around only with their DRL's on in the middle of the night.

 

The legacy makes it even easier since they have the electroluminescent (SP?) dashboard that makes you feel like your lights are on.

 

X

[Vimy101]

I don't believe DRLs are standard equipment, I rarely see a car with their lights on during the day other than Subaru's. Because of that, you can't say that the reason claims are down is because of DRL's. How about the decline in claims being a result of cars being equipped with better braking systems, cars coming from the factory with higher quality tires, or people just driving more carefully. I doubt DRL's could prevent the majority of accidents that occur, ie. running a red light, rear ending someone, someone swerving to avoid traffic, and even changing lanes (if someone hits someone changing lanes they obviously didn't see the other car, and having DRL's wouldn't have made a difference since you can't see the beam during the day anyway). Because of this I don't see how disabling your DRL's can be dangerous when most cars do not come with them anyway and the majority of accidents couldn't have been prevented with them.

 

There's no way I wouldn't have gotten rear ended a couple weekends ago if I had my DRL's or the other car had DRL's.

 

To my knowledge, DRLs have been are standard equipment on most new cars for a few years now. Some use yellow lights, others powered down high beams or low beams. DRL's make cars more visible and forewarned is forearmed.

[laz]

To my knowledge, DRLs have been are standard equipment on most new cars for a few years now. Some use yellow lights, others powered down high beams or low beams. DRL's make cars more visible and forewarned is forearmed.

 

They may be standard on some makes of cars, but not all makes of cars have DRL's as standard equipment in the USA, and I don't even think we are at the 30% mark on makes with standard DRL's in the states.

 

I believe there was a study that said if all cars had DRL's on then you loose the advantage of DRL's. One thing that I hate about them is that you have no control of them, but I see the logic behind it.

 

With that said, all Subaru's have DRL's, but not all cars are Subaru's.

 

X

[Vimy101]

They may be standard on some makes of cars, but not all makes of cars have DRL's as standard equipment in the USA, and I don't even think we are at the 30% mark on makes with standard DRL's in the states.

 

I believe there was a study that said if all cars had DRL's on then you loose the advantage of DRL's. One thing that I hate about them is that you have no control of them, but I see the logic behind it.

 

With that said, all Subaru's have DRL's, but not all cars are Subaru's.

 

X

 

When I'm driving the busy expressways and tollways (Chicagolanders differentiate between them and almost never use the term "freeway":icon_conf ) most of the cars I see are running DLRs. Aircraft use landing lights in the day. The whole point is to make yourself more visible to others and others more visible to you.

[laz]

It must be a regional thing. Here in NYC you see more cars without them than with them. It could make for a good study.

 

And for the guy that got rear ended, that is why they made the third brake light standard around 1986? Now that is a good standard and it is non intrusive.

 

There are been many times when I have stopped harder just because of that third brake light shinning on the other car.

 

X

[Vimy101]

They're only more visible to people going the opposite way, who should be on the other side of the road anyway out of any trouble.

 

I could see this if all roads were only wide enough to fit one vehicle and people had to pull over to get by.

 

Actually, if you're doing a quick shoulder check when merging on to freeway or even changing lanes, the DRLs make an overtaking car more visible. There was even an collision described by one of our members where a car pulled out in front of him on a shady side street. The member had disabled his DRLs (if memory serves) but might have been more noticable to the other driver who pulled out in front of him after apparently not noticing him.

 

So there you go. From the side, rear or front, DRLs are a great tool in the defensive driver's arsenal.

[Adamaxus]

I say that if you have a car equipped with DRL's, then it should also have auto on/off headlights.

 

I lost track of how many people (including subaru owners) i have seen with no tailights on, only to discover that they are driving around only with their DRL's on in the middle of the night.

 

The legacy makes it even easier since they have the electroluminescent (SP?) dashboard that makes you feel like your lights are on.

 

X

 

DRLs are standard/required safety equipment in Canada since 1990 some. I agree with the statement subaru's make it easy to forget you only have your DRLs on, as they are (i think) 80-85% as bright as the 'on' lights, which is pretty bright. The only reason i notice is when i go to change radio stations and i can't see the buttons.

[BIGJon]

The point of DRLs isnt to illuminate anything its to make sure that you are seen.

 

Example: I take shady back roads to work. Its dark.

 

You cite running a red light as a frequent cause of accident. DRLs would make the car violating the law easier to see, and easier to avoid.

 

If it's dark, wouldn't you turn the headlights on anyway?

 

If I'm approaching an intersection where a car is running a red light and I'm in danger of hitting it. I'm certainly close enough to that car to see it without it having DRL's.

[Guest]

Bit off-topic -- I can't over how stupid people in New Jersey are (don't want to generalize for entire U.S. but I don't expect it to much different as far this issue is concerened):

 

Tons of morons are driving at dusk or when it rains without headlights. I let them know about it by turning off and on my headlights few times. On a good day it's like ONE out of TEN who gets the message! I can't get over it, because while back in Europe (where people forget to turn lights, too) it was like NINE out of TEN who were getting the message!!

 

I don't know, perhaps it's a cultural thing, as there is not much (postive ;-) communication between drivers here, but still I am amazed why these people don't get it...

[Vimy101]

when merging, someone isn't going to notice the DRL's if they don't even see the car (it's probably in his/her blind spot) or they just didn't look in general. Also, depending on the positioning of the two cars, even if the DRL's are on, you still might not be able to see them when looking to change lanes. Hell, I've had people cut me off/swerve in front of me at night and I have HIDs.

 

And remind me again how DRL's are a great tool if someone is behind you during the day!!!

 

And they're only beneficial from the front if some schmuck is driving on the wrong side of the road. Which if that's happening I'm sure he won't notice the DRL's anyway.

 

 

 

 

A great point. The third brake light (which I have a fourth due to the wing) has been argued by some to help prevent accidents just as the DRL's are supposed to. Yet, I was rear ended while stopped at a stop light, that was still red.

 

The statistics don't bear you out. DRLs make cars more visible. Period. That some numbnuts rear ended you has nothing to do with DRLs unless maybe you saw his DLRs coming a little sooner and had been able to execute some kind of avoidance action.

[SLegacy99]

A great point. The third brake light (which I have a fourth due to the wing) has been argued by some to help prevent accidents just as the DRL's are supposed to. Yet, I was rear ended while stopped at a stop light, that was still red.

 

And was the person paying attention when they rear ended you? No one said that a third brake light would prevent an accident from happening. Just reduce the chances. The way you present it, you make it sound like the extra brake light should be abolished. Accidents happen. Accidents will happen DRLs or not. But like Vinny said, they will help reduce it. These things called brakes also help reduce accidents, but they may still occur.

[Vimy101]

http://www.iihs.org/research/qanda/drl.html

 

Some accident reduction stats. DRLs do seem to reduce multiple vehicle accidents.

[Vimy101]

So, pretty much they help reduce head on collisions, which I have already said is pretty much the only thing they reduce. And the reduction in multiple vehicle accidents is because there is a reduction of head on collisions (2 cars equals multiple cars)

 

That's not what I gathered from the reports. However, even if restricted to that one category, DRLs do reduce collisions.

 

Moving to DLRs reminds me of the attempt to get the US to go metric. It's a much better system but to many Americans it was new and foreign and probably some kind of socialist plot to take over the US by doing away with rods, chains and drams.

[Metal2You]

There are some plastic flaps in front of the rear tires, and I'm not talking about the small mud flaps. These are mounted underneath the body, just inside of the tires. They can be folded up and out of sight or folded down. When they are down I notice they cause a lot more turbulance. WTF are these thigns for?

[ex-ma hole]

I disabled my DRLs for one reason-

 

I live in NH. There are a lot of motorcycles. I want them to stand out as much as possible. If everyone has lights on, then they do not stand out much. I put my lights on when necessary. As a rule, though, I keep them off during the day. Why? New Hampshire has this thing called the sun, and it allows me to see the other idiots around me.

 

Is that piss poor logic? Probably, but it works for me.

[SLegacy99]

Well if DRLs were indeed worthless then Subaru wouldnt equip its vehicles with them.