Does the new Prius have Auto lights on the IV? I have left my lights on a couple times by mistake and I have come out and the lights were off or at least they looked off. I used to have Lexus GS350 and it had auto lights so I am still getting used to turning off my lights again. But does anyone know if they have auto lights? Normally on the lever where you turn on your headlights it would say auto but it doesn't in the Prius. Any comments?
No, it does not have an auto setting in the US. No model Prius in the US has an auto setting for the headlights. Now by auto setting I mean where the car will turn the lights on when it gets dark out. What it does have, all models, is if if you leave your lights on and turn the car off, after about 30 seconds the lights will turn off.
It has auto off, but not auto on, so if you left your lights on by mistake they'll turn off after 30 seconds by default (assuming you turn them on after you start the car, but not before or after you power down, in which case auto off won't work).
UK Model T-Spirit has a dusk sensor only on the LED Headlights...Comes also with chromatic rear view mirror and rain repellant glass...
Which is useful, but not quite the same as intelligently controlled by a dusk sensor, not to mention the waste of energy for when it is not required...
Just be warned, if you don't open the drivers door they probably won't turn off. Unless they changed that.
Anyone tried adding the light sensor to retrofit auto headlights? i also really miss this from my old car!
According to my dealer they cannot order the parts separately. They really tried as it meant the difference between getting an order or not (in combination with the LED pack that is not available at the moment). It is a factory only option. There might be after market options available. Having looked at a non LED headlight version, I can't see where the sensor would be inserted in the dashboard either, so possibly they use a different mould for the upper dashboard as well...
So how do they repair the sensor if it gets damaged on an existing car? just give the customer a whole new car? don't think so. i hate this attitude from dealers. I see Valeo do an aftermarket kit, but looks like it's designed to just sit between the battery and your headlights, and completely ignore the cars normal controls, not sure how the prius would react to that (it's electronics seem fairly dumb to me, last car EVERYTHING was done through canbus) and can't find proper install instructions. it's only £30, i might give it a punt.
Repairing is not the same as installing it when it is not there. I am not defending a dealer nor manufacturer but having it nicely integrated is a bit different to a halfords job. And i am glad they don't do those blanking plates anymore like the seventies in cars. Perhaps economally viable is term that comes into the equation as well. Swapping out your dashboard etc, components that have only been tested in combination with led lights and the different electronics that come with those etc. The problem i would have with an after Market version is that you can no longer have you lights in on position with an override.
The sensor is at the inside base of the windshield. It would be expensive to install after the car was built. You'd have to take the whole dash apart. Plus there is electronics, not just the sensor, and a different switch. Then there is adding the sockets to the fuse box, the wires etc. Not very practical to add. Aftermarket would be a better alternative.
There are threads on doing both here. I predict it would be about a 4-5 hour job if you are good with tools to modify the existing system. I took the easier route. I used an aftermarket device that took me about an hour to install. It works great.
We have the UK T-Spirit and there is a sensor that auto dims the dashboard in the dark / when going through tunnels, but we don't have the option to have the lights turn on / off automatically (which does seem rather odd). The sensor is as David Beale said - passenger side close to the windscreen (I would say same rough location as the HUD would be on the drivers side).
It is doable, both with an aftermarket kit, as well as using the existing sensor - but you have to add a wire from one of the sensor's connector pins to the headlight ECU, and another to the "auto" input of the main body ecu. And if you really want a factory look, you can replace the headlight/turn signal stalk switch with one from Canada, which has the "auto" position. This was the approach I took, including the factory fog light switch on the stalk. Several methods are detailed in this thread (warning - it's LONG.): http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...ns/64812-automatic-headlights.html#post895740
Not true - I believe all Canadian models have true auto headlights, both halogen and LED. And my "wire adding" mod worked just fine on my US IV with halogen headlights.
