Prius headlights -- suck

Hard to tell about the one-eyed Prius I. I've had to change a lamp in my Gen 2 Prius when I first bought it and it was easy to do.

 

I see it on auto forums all the time: "I can't believe it, both headlights burned out last night! So dangerous! Recall! Trade rage!"

Mmm... nope. One burned out in August and you never noticed.

 

I've noticed that this winter, there have been more drivers who either forget or don't know how to switch on their headlamps. I'll be driving along well after dark, and come up behind someone, no lights, not even DRLs, or occasionally a car coming towards me, totally blacked-out! Anyone else notice this? (…just curious )

 

Happens several times a day to me when I drive near or after dark. And, then this morning, there was the crowd honking at the one driver who stopped for the school bus with the red flashing lights as they roared around him in the left turn lane.

 

My Honda Fit has an automatic headlight setting.
Maybe it's kind of dangerous just because you learn to rely on it so much. Set it and forget it.

Somehow when cleaning my interior I accidentally must of bumped the stalk. So once I went to get out of the car I kept hearing this alarm sound that kind of freaked me out. Just this weird beeping I had never heard before. Took me a beat or two, to track down that it was the "Your Leaving Your Lights On" warning. Glad to know it will warn me if I leave my lights on. But unnerving to know it won't warn me, if the lights are in the totally off position.

I wonder sometimes with older vehicles, how many drivers are use to "automatic" lights and have just forgot about the fundamentals of turning their lights On and Off.
The "smarter" our vehicles get, the dumber we become.

 

Didn't have my gen 2 long enough to learn how long the HIDs would last, nor how much they would cost to replace. The HHR was the worse for changing headlights, as the wheel well shroud needed to be removed to reach it. Which is all a tangent from the fact that the one eyed cars I cross are a mix of models.

Crossing a highway from a diner to the movies, the driver didn't realize the lights were off until the short trip was done. No one else in the car noticed, so I can see how people can forget when there is plenty of street lights and light pollution around. I see a car every once in awhile without the lights on.

I have the DRLs turned in settings, with the lights set to auto. Since the Camry is silver, I like to have the lights, front and rear, on in inclement weather. Always forget to turn them off, and there is no warning, just the auto off taking over.

 

I noticed early on that my company Prius' lights do not come on after dark despite the fact that they have the same photo-sensor on the dash that my personal rigs do.

My solution is to just leave the headlights on all the time, which is more or less company policy anyway.
Whenever I walk around my car (also policy) I look at the lights.
Of course....I more or less drive for a living now so It's a very non-trivial part of my job.

THE HARD PART is being forced to drive within company norms for acceleration, braking and speed, while not attracting the ire of my fellow drivers AND not going too far "out of route."
My solution for the last year has been to drive a supervisor vehicle (sans tracker) and pray that my beloved company remains ignorant.

Concur....but some of the newer alphabet soup of safety features are pretty handy at keeping sketch drivers in the saddle longer and the disabled more independent.

This will have HUGE benefits for the ADA crowd, geriatrics, drunks, and cell phone junkies......and lawyers.
States are already passing laws for cell phone addicts - and LEOs are already asking for cell phones at accident scenes.

Technology is an equal opportunity enabler.

 

How did I miss out on that as a username??

 

It’s still available......

 

The mods, ar at least Danny, can switch the name for you.

 

Yeah, but "Leadfoot J. McCoalroller" is a pretty awesome handle.

 

Right you've convinced me, I'll stick with it.

But if you see "Stumbling Neighbor" on some other forum...

 

Danny, Danny who???

 

I never asked about the "J".....

 

I keep hearing about him but I figured this worked like wizard of oz, if you actually discover the guy behind the curtain the movie ends.

Justfloorit.

 

Thanks.
I'll add that to my list of useful knowledge.

 

Best way to check your headlights when driving at night is when you pull up behind a suitable vehicle in congested traffic.

Otherwise, take time out regularly to do a walk around of your vehicle with the engine on and visually check the lights in all mode settings.

I do this quite regularly.


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