Are modern DRL's becoming an issue?

IMHO; that's not the issue. That's an operator issue!!
There's a little green light bulb icon in your cluster, that lights up when your headlamps are on. Some people needs to look at the OM.

Newer cars has back-lit instrument clusters; the old analog cluster weren't lit up so people knew that their headlamps were off, if they couldn't see their cluster. A lot easier for impaired drivers to recognize that.

I had my high-beams on one guy for two solid miles before he figured it out. He was speeding and weaving though early morning traffic. Tried flashing him multiple times to no avail - So I lit him up.

 

There's also auto headlamp cars and non-auto headlamp cars to contend with. Bottom-line; It's ultimately the operators responsibility to know what he/she is dealing with. I don't think, sorry I rear-ended you because this car doesn't have adaptive cruise control - so it must be the car's fault is going to fly in court.

Just my 2-cents...

 

I usually see at least one driver a night driving with only DRLs with absolutely no lights on in the rear end of the car.

The drivers are also some of the most oblivious ones too, flash them multiple times, flash them with highbeams, nothing seems to get them to correct the problem.

The other thing I often encounter is cars being driven with their highbeams on. Sometimes, I can tell that they are doing so intentionally due to one of the lowbeam bulbs being out. So, instead of driving around with one lowbeam only, they light everyone up with their highbeams.

SM-S936U ?

 

DRLs mistaken for headlights has been a problem since DRL requirements began thirty-ish years ago. I have no stats either way, but it doesn't feel like modern headlights have changed things much.

Something that is changing is the availability of fully automatic headlights. They're much more popular now.

 

I have a similar beef: front turn signals tightly integrated with headlights, to where it takes concerted/protracted scrutiny, to determine if that guy on the opposite side of intersection is going through, turning right, or turning left. Well, at least claiming to do one of those…

 

Seen people forget to turn on headlights because they had enough ambient light from street lamps and businesses to see. That was before DRLs.

I believe Canada now requires tail lights to come on with DRLs on new cars.

 

Some states has passed a law that requires headlamps ON when wiper are activated (raining). I believe that was enacted in and around COVID, in my state. It doesn't seem be known or enforced by the majority of the driving public here.

California Headlight Law: Everything You Need To Know | Best Online Traffic School

 

Subaru Outbacks from the last couple of model years now turn on the headlights as soon as they sense it is dark enough for headlights. Surprised me all to heck the first time -- thought there was something wrong when the lights snapped on but I had the switch set to off.

So, even if I have the headlights switched off, if the light level is low enough -- like dark -- the Outback headlights will go on full force.

Of course the Outback also has daytime running lights, which are on in the "daylight hours."

To confuse matters more, you can turn the Outback lights to "auto."

In prior years, setting the lights to auto meant you had the normal daytime running lights, but they switched automatically to night headlights when it got dark enough.

But, now, off or auto, doesn't matter. They both do the same switch on when it gets dark.

BUT, if you want high beams you need to either turn on the headlights to full night level and then pull the stalk back to engage the high beams.

Or, you can set lights on auto and then engage the high beams. In auto mode, the high beams will work on dark roads and will automatically switch to "normal headlights" when you drive into a better lighted area. High beams will turn back on automatically if you plunge back into darkness.

And, I have not checked, but I assume when the actual DRL are on, the rear lights are on also, but don't hold me to that. I will check sometime, but honestly, nowadays at my age, when it's dark, I am usually inside and going nowhere.

Finally, if you have high beams on and you are in auto mode, they will also switch off when they "see" an oncoming car and then switch back on when the car passes.

EEK -- forgot -- the headlights go to full when it is raining, also.

In other words, the Outback is a total NANNY MOBILE.

But, that's O.K.

OH -- maybe a Mendel or Tideland question???

Did not Canada have better headlights before the states and the feds banned sale of them? Canada allowed the use of e-Code lighting and non-sealed beam lighting.

 

... pain in the you-know-what, engineering a DRL override. Most every on-line forum in car culture, has an override thread:

DRL OVERRIDE SWITCH, to make them stay OFF daytime | Chevy SS Forum

A nuisance, I inherited a DRL on my winter weather car. Can't be defeated, without screwing up the high beams:

What bulb are the daytime running lamps? | Subaru Outback Forums

Makes me never want to buy a new car:

Daytime running lights override | Ram Promaster Forum


Samuel, '04 Ruthiemobile


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Depending on several factors, including make and/or type of vehicle, driving conditions, pedestrians, bicycles and critters from Mars...the studies seem to say that accidents are cut anywhere from about 5 percent to 23 percent.

Good enough for me. But, then, I survived a major accident that should have killed me in a car without running lights....what do I know...

BTW, I drive an Outback, but a 2019 model. Has the auto lights, but if you have the switch set to off, the DRLs are on, but the "normal headlamps" will not come on by themselves.
kris

 

I treat my DRLs like chopsticks.
Yeah, they're there but I can pretty much ignore them.
Back when my company car was a G3 Prius, I left the headlamps on all the time - counting on the battery management system to switch them off for me.
All four of my personal cars are GMCs and they have the photo sensors but you have to have the switch in auto.
Off is.....off, except for the DRLs.

The high beams are dealer's choice.
You can use auto or you can hand fly them - which I prefer....mostly.
I must admit that sometimes I just stick them in Auto and let Robbie switch them for me.

 

we see a ton of cars in orlando every year with only drl's at night. i blame it on driver ignorance of the rental car model headlight switch operation

 

Now I will have to experiment with the head light switch, or just check out the manual later. I do know you can change the high beams to work like non-auto ones in the settings menu. Subaru's auto lights seem to work much better than other brands.

In NJ, head lights on with wipers has been a law for a decade or so, and other states have such laws. Since I have the DRLs on, I never gave it much thought. If mist, fog, dimness, etc. was enough to reduce visibility, I'd turn to the head lights. Rain at night is the only time I use the driving lights.

The US doesn't require tail lights on with DRLs. It is a somewhat new rule in Canada. It is possible for some companies to turn the tail lights on for US models, but I haven't noticed any on the road.

NHTSA's stance is that the data on DRLs helping is inconclusive for the purpose of mandating always on DRLs.GM pushes for always on every once and awhile so they can save costs on a single switch for the US and Canadian markets.

Among those several factors is latitude. being further north Canada will see longer periods of dusk conditions than the US south of them. This means conditions were DRLs help will be more likely there.

Could also be a driver generational thing. The US doesn't mandate that DRLs have to be on. Older drivers aren't as familiar to cars that have the DRLs on by default, and think the rental just has auto head lights. Then the sun the sets later down there.

 

Does your switch actually say "off" for off, or is it an o symbol?
An "off" switch is the Canadian compliant one, and the off position is just for turning off the headlights and DRLs while the car is parked. I have the o switch on my 2022.

 

My car has the zero symbol