Automatic lights, automatic wipers - more trouble than they are worth??

CarPark2

My instinct with cars is that a lot of the fancier (gimmicky) electrical stuff is likely to stop working and require expensive repairs.

I notice now that a lot of the higher end models have automatic wipers and automatic lights. I was wondering if anybody had experience with these?

In particular:
- Is it possible to override the automatic and to either turn on the wipers before the car deems it necessary, or to turn off the wipers when you decide that they are not needed, even though the car thinks they are?
- Do they tend to cause a lot of trouble (i.e., stop working and require expensive repairs)?

Overall, are they useful or more trouble than they are worth?

Atlantic Dawn

Both can be overwritten, I find them useful for normal conditions but sometimes the lights on a winters evening or dull rainy day don't come on and you need to manually turn them on. Very light or occassional rain might have you needing to manually turn the wipers on sometimes.

The worst problem is if you need a replacement windscreen fitted and the fitters don't correctly refit the wiper sensor the auto wipers may not work again.

Voodoomelon

No problems with either really.
Only issue I spotted recently was that really fine, mist-like rain had the wipers going all the time, when 8-10 second intermittent wipes would have done the job. So you just turn off the auto and use the manual mode.

But 99% of the time, the intensity is bang on, pretty impressive really.

Car is nearly 9 years old and both wipers and lights work perfectly.

Hachiko

they are fine, you can adjust the sensitivity of them too, if you so desire. Not much to be worrying about tbh. I would rather have them than not, once you have a car with all these things you wont look back. The lexus is good in that the wipers give an extra sweep to knock off any remaining rain soon after they stopped initially. I am sure most modern cars are like this but as I said its better to have the features than not to have them.

Mycroft H

I used to drive with the dips on all the time during the day with the C5, however, during the night the Auto-Lights were really useful. So much so that I've driven a few times out of a petrol station etc without lights on in the Jimny, you just get used to them. Handy for a pudding head like me.

The only thing that the auto wipers couldn't deal with was mist. And sometimes in heavy rain they were a bit aggressive when I'd prefer a slower sweep.

The pair are good features.

darragh o meara

Had them in a Pug 206 Gti and the wipers used to go mental at the first drop of rain, so I stopped using them. However they are in my current car E46 BMW and both work perfectly, if one thing I'd pick out though is the lights, I always drive with my dims or parking lights on and unless it's getting dark the auto lights won't select either, maybe there's a way to programme the parking lights to be DRLs, I'm not sure, but I do find myself overriding the autollights a lot.

Del2005

CarPark2 wrote: »

My instinct with cars is that a lot of the fancier (gimmicky) electrical stuff is likely to stop working and require expensive repairs.

I notice now that a lot of the higher end models have automatic wipers and automatic lights. I was wondering if anybody had experience with these?

In particular:
- Is it possible to override the automatic and to either turn on the wipers before the car deems it necessary, or to turn off the wipers when you decide that they are not needed, even though the car thinks they are?
- Do they tend to cause a lot of trouble (i.e., stop working and require expensive repairs)?

Overall, are they useful or more trouble than they are worth?

Auto lights and wipers are the least of the fancy gimmicks in modern cars to be worried about. The multiple ECUs, canbus and any other multitude of components can fail and cause catastrophic failures.

They are worth it BTW

Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime

Ten year old focus with both of then and they are quite handy indeed.

Never a problem with them and can use manual modes too which i never do as they seem to be bang on 90% off the time.

Sometimes id be driving thinking both headlight bulbs are blowing but then realize the car can set them to sides only for not fully bright but not dark enough either.

ironclaw

Drive a car with auto light, auto wipers and that incredibly handy 'three click' indicator stalk for a while, and then move back to something standard, and you'll know all about it

cml387

The problem with auto lights that I've seen is that they'll switch on first before you start the engine. Terrible drain on a battery on a cold morning. Interestingly I notice that the auto lights are off by default on my Octavia, and my wife's Modus used to have them but then was disabled on a software upgrade.

MuppetCheck

If they're on my default on an Octy they're set as day time running lights if the light switch is in the off position.

The MFD should have an option to disable it if you have a full one.

coolisin

Auto wipers can sometimes not activate as said with light rain or start activating with all the shi1t that is getting thrown up off the road at the moment.

As for auto lights best feature ever on a car! That an an auto dimming rear view mirror two features every car should have.

b318isp

I agree, we have auto lights on the Ford at home, which we never use. They come on before the engine is started, which is another load on a hard working battery (car is a diesel) and we usually have dipped lights on during the day, which the auto lights don't do.

It also has auto wipers, which are just rubbish. They never seem to run right, either going too fast or not fast enough. There is an adjustment for sensitivity, but it must not be connected, as it certainly doesn't seem to do much. That said, I had a Lexus for a while which was a lot better.

I do think that these items are technology for technology's sake. I've never really had a problem with turning on my own lights, and (manual) variable intermittent wiper control seemed a simpler solution.

tossy

My 11 year old Bora had auto wipers, pain in the stones to be honest, could and have lived happily ever since without them.

Special Circumstances

I prefer it when electronics stick to the stuff they can do better than a reasonably competent driver. ABS ESP EBD. Obviously I'd expect serious toys if I was getting a brand new premium model. Third or fourth owner of a modest car on a modest budget? No thanks.

Alun

On my Qashqai the auto lights never seemed to come on early enough for my liking, but I now have them on all the time anyway so not a problem. The auto wipers have a mind of their own. I have them set to their most sensitive setting, and even then when it first starts drizzling I have to override them. They're great when you have 'proper' rain and adjust very quickly if, say, overtaking a truck on the motorway, but are positively awful in borderline situations. I can't even imagine what kind of rain the other sensitivity settings would be of any use for.

Yakuza

I've had them now on three cars for nearly the last 5 years (2 QQ+2's and the current X-Trail). I think they're great, but when I swap to another car that doesn't have them, I'm, like, "What??? I have to use those stalkey things? Pfft".

Falcon L

Once you get used to automatic stuff, it can de hard to get usd to not having them. Agreed on the replacement windscreen stuff. You need to make sure the fitters use the proper stuff when refitting, otherwise the auto wipers can act up.

zizou_

I have auto wipers on my honda and while they work as designed to they can be a bit of a pain. On my car there is no manual intermittent setting so you either leave them in auto or off/fully on. I find they really struggle with misty spray on the motorway and the lack of manual intermittent is annoying.

Re. Auto lights - i like to drive with my dipped lights on so only rate this feature when combined with DRL.

MuppetCheck

Auto lights - I've never touched the switch since I got the car. Have turned them onto the most sensitive setting and never had an issue.

Wipers the same but the odd time I do adjust the sensitivity. 95% of the time they work flawlessly. Car has decent DRL's around the entire headlight so easily seen during the day.

I wouldn't buy a daily car without either again.

bazz26

Had them on multiple cars and never had an issue with them. Should be mandatory imo given that switching on lights is beyond some drivers.

Special Circumstances

bazz26 wrote: »

Should be mandatory imo given that switching on lights is beyond some drivers.

Poor driving competency should be rectified rather than facilitated IMHO!

bazz26

Special Circumstances wrote: »

Poor driving competency should be rectified rather than facilitated IMHO!

In an ideal world, yes.

Bigcheeze

Have them on BMW F10.

I hate the auto wipers, they don't seem to activate quickly enough or in light rain so I'm constantly tapping the stalk to clear the window. There's a switch to vary them but it doesn't seem to make much difference. Plus there's no intermittent mode in manual wiper operation.

At this time of year I have the lights set to come on every time I start the car as on cloudy or wet days the natural light is so poor. It annoys me when you go under a bridge or something and they go on and off so rarely use them. Also find the standard headlights are poor. Headlights and wipers probably two of the worst things about the car.

Toyotafanboi

The astra has auto lights and wipers and they are really very good. As another poster said, leave them on a sensitive setting and they take care of themselves.

One downside i have seen is when you have your full beams on in automatic mode, they can be a bit slow to dim when the car sees an oncoming car. Maybe a two second delay between when my instinct tells me to do it and the car actually does it which can leave other drivers a bit (understandably) cranky.

I'm curious to see how our auto/ electronic handbrake fares over the next few years however. Every time i sit back in the corolla i drive away with a bit of a jump, forgetting to do the handbrake :pac:

jimgoose

I have automatic headlights on a fifteen-year-old yoke. They work well enough, but I only use them in the fine Spring/Summer weather as they invariably get it wrong when it's murky/dull/wet. Easy to switch that off, though. I personally don't like automatic wipers.

Special Circumstances

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

One downside i have seen is when you have your full beams on in automatic mode, they can be a bit slow to dim when the car sees an oncoming car. Maybe a two second delay between when my instinct tells me to do it and the car actually does it which can leave other drivers a bit (understandably) cranky.

Do you ever find them dipping when they shouldn't - there's an amount of ignorant apes with yard lights, gate lights, etc mounted in a way that blinds people on the road. I always wondered how auto-dip would work with them.

CreepingDeath

zizou_ wrote: »

I have auto wipers on my honda and while they work as designed to they can be a bit of a pain. On my car there is no manual intermittent setting so you either leave them in auto or off/fully on. I find they really struggle with misty spray on the motorway and the lack of manual intermittent is annoying.

+1

Same with my Honda Civic.
You have to trust the automatic rain sensor or manually switch the wipers to fully on or fast.

I'd much prefer manual control of the wiper frequency in dizzle conditions.

MuppetCheck

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

One downside i have seen is when you have your full beams on in automatic mode, they can be a bit slow to dim when the car sees an oncoming car. Maybe a two second delay between when my instinct tells me to do it and the car actually does it which can leave other drivers a bit (understandably) cranky.

The high beam assist used drive me mad on the GTC, it's very annoying. Prefer not having it now tbh...the split second of an anxious wait every oncoming car...

Cork selfbuild

I'm on my second car with Auto Lights & Auto Wipers, first was a Volvo, now a Superb, find the Superb great, I use the auto wipers 95% of the time and they do the trick with the right sensitivity setting almost always, the auto lights, I use 100% of the time.

Also the auto dimming rear view and side view mirrors and other nice little bits like passenger mirror tilt down and radio mutes when I go into reverse, handy little features.

As previously mentioned, once you have them you'd not look back, in my experience, the newer the car the better they work with plenty of control over sensitivity and manual over rides.

MugMugs

CarPark2 wrote: »

I notice now that a lot of the higher end models have automatic wipers and automatic lights. I was wondering if anybody had experience with these?

First time I've had an Avensis called that.

I like you.

All can be overridden to such an extent that when I am in the work car with somebody they generally have to tell me to flick the wipers.

I've just become so used to them kicking in that I don't even realise the windscreen is water filled.

Naturally, when it becomes an issue, I do.