Automatic lights off

I just sent my sales guy a text. I've been wondering about this question for some time now.

I forget about turning the lights off all the time, but when I return to my car I don't see the tail lights on. I figured getting out of the car and shutting the door and locking would shut it down, but it doesn't work like that either.

So it's got to be the 30 second delay thing. I have a 2011 as well.

Alright, I'll get off my lazy butt and get the manual out.

 

I just had a nice dealership experience. I took mine in for regular maintenance and the tech changed the default setting to "instant headlights off when door opened" at no charge. That way, I can leave the headlights on all the time, and during the day, they act as DRLs.

 

Does anyone know if there's a way for the Prius to emit an audible sound (much like the back up beeping sound) when the headlights are left on after powering off the car?

 

Nice! I'll definitely get this one going on mine the next time I visit my dealer. Thanks for the tip!

 

You're welcome . To clarify my original note, it should be "headlights instantly turn off when driver's door is opened AND power button is off".

Your tech should understand what you want from that.

 

I actually have an appointment with the dealer tomorrow to "fix" my headlights, and after reading your post I went outside and tried it and BINGO it works. lol Welp, I had no clue and when I drove it in yesterday they didn't even know the lights were supposed to shut off automatically (including one of the service men). It took testing the lights on one of the cars in the lot and a couple of the managers that found it in the manual for them to realize that they were supposed to. I guess, when they tested my lights he turned off the ignition before turning the headlights on by mistake. And I guess that's what I did when they "stopped working". Now that I know the trick, I also tested it without fully starting the car, and they do shut off automatically if just the dash/electricity is powered up, too.

Grateful to have a forum like this. I didn't remember reading anything about this in the manual, guess I should read again!

 

My dealer said that the lights will go out 30 seconds after the last door is closed. My experiments show this to be true on my car. If I get out of the car with the lights on and open another door, such as the hatch back, the lights will stay on until 30 seconds after I close the last door.

Dave