Forgot to turn on headlights

There's a headlight indicator on the instrument panel display...

Add check for headlight indicator to your checklist.

 

It's not easy to spot a small green light. It is an easy mistake to make in a well lit street at night.

Any car with an LED dash light the Prius should have auto lights as a matter of course. Never happened with the old fashioned analogue dash as you couldn't see the display at night without the lights on.

 

just leave you lights on.. they have auto off after 30 seconds of the car being turned off.

 

If you have your lights on DRL, after dark it should automatically turns on the head lights.
What you describe does not make sense.

 

Headlights consume a lot of energy and the bulbs can die prematurely from heavy use. I think the headlight icon should be bigger and it should be a different color, like purple.

 

Unfortunately not in all markets

 

My personal vehicles all have automatic headlamps, which have me kind of spoiled. When I started driving Goofy almost three years ago, I learned to just leave the headlight switch on all the time so that I'm not one of 'those' Prius drivers that I'm always seeing with their lights off after sunset.
I don't think that I've physically turned my headlights on or off in the last six months. IIRC, when you lock the car the lamps go out or as the previous poster already said...they'll go off after 30 seconds all on their own.

Interesting enough...the ferign "international" G3's all have auto headlamps which makes me wonder why they don't enable this feature in the US, especially when you consider America's well deserved reputation as intelligent drivers....

 

Yours aren't automatic?

 

Normal DRLs do not automatically turn on the headlights after dark. The driver must turn the switch. I see plenty of old non-hybrids with DRLs driving around at night without true headlights or any taillights.

DRLs are not the same as automatic headlights.

 

Some people forget the D in DRL (which stands for Day if you didn't know). DRL's are actually not even supposed to be used in lieu of parking lights because they do not illuminate the tail lights and plate light. Automatic headlights are a much more superior safety innovation.

 

Trade the Two in for the Five- it's got those excellent automatic LED lowbeams (along with some other nice upgrades).

 

You turn them on, they stay on. You turn them off, they go off. Leave them on when you turn the car off and they revert to the side lights but don't turn off completely.

I believe the Euro cars have to have the option of leaving the side marker lights on as in some Countries you have to leave them on when parked on the road that doesn't have street lights. I think that's why many VW's side lights stay on the side you left your indicator/turn signal on before you stop.

Can't see many Prii lasting for long with the tiny 12v we get. At least in our Country we work on the assumption that the car driver at night should keep a look out for parked cars whether lit or not.

 

^ Well.
You learn something new every day. I was thinking that the reason that the US spec Priuses have the photo sensor aperture in the dash was inertia from the fact that the international Priuses are equipped with auto headlamps.
In this country (and yours as well if memory serves) we have regulations that mandate reflectors on our cars. Some of our dimmer kids (pun almost unintended) run afoul of these regulations when they apply tint to the rear lamp assemblies.
We have MUCH wider and straighter roads, but we are populated with the least educated drivers.....so it's a wash as far as traffic flow goes.

Judging from the number of folks that I see driving after sunset sans headlights, and our governments love for regulation, I suspect that non-defeatable automatic headlamps will be mandated soon.
My personal favorite is people who drive after sunset with just their marker lights on.
Says: "I'm a moron. I'm juuuuuust smart enough to know that the lights SHOULD be on."

 

Did the dash light up? Our wouldn't. That's the usual tip off: if you can't see the dash gauges, something's wrong.

Well unless at least the parking lights are on. And that's the Achilles heel for me: I'll park somewhere, switch from headlight to parking light, and get going, forgetting I've got no headlights. Dash is nicely aglow still, so no warning...

 

Sounds like something I would do...

 

If you has fixed DRL, it will turn on the headlight automatically after dark.
If you has switchable DRL, it will turn on headlight after dark if set to ON.

 

My 2012 Prius Liftback has some form of DRL, but does not behave according to either of your 'If' statements.

If I set it to 'DRL', the DRLs turn on, regardless of day or night. If I set it to headlight position, the headlights come on, regardless of day or night, though the dashboard illumination level does change according to outside light level.

So what kind of DRL do I have?

 

I don't know what kind of DRL you have.
It is not legal to have DRL on during night time, that is why it will turn on headlight automatically.

 

Nope. Only on Prius Four and Five they automatically turn on after dusk. Lower trims do not do that. True story.