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.

Bpmull

My current car (mk5 vw golf) is the first I've had that has auto lights and wipers. Before it got it I always thought they would be features that had little benefit. But now having them they are both really good. Particularly the auto lights. Unlock the car in dark conditions lights come on stop it at night there is a delay for them going off so you can see.

They are really very handy and when set up right you never need to touch the light switch unless there is fog or the odd case. Both features suprisede and Id be hard out to go with out them I've had no reliability issues with either.

KNS

Have them both on current car (Audi TTS). First time having them and they're great, although not essential. Could survive without them.

The auto lights and DRLs have made me lazy. Couple of times I've borrowed the car from herself only to realise I'm driving around with no lights on.

Out of all the gadgets I find the electic folding mirrors the best for making life easier. Purely because I've to park on a narrow road so mirrors need to folded.

Wonder if some of the extras break how will the cost vs use work out.

Oafley Jones

Cork selfbuild wrote: »

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.

Find this really irritating on the Superb, have it on the is250 and both mirrors drop down a fair distance for great visibility, on the Superb the passenger just drops a tiny useless amount. Also, find the auto wipers aren't as good. Slow enough to come on and then I find that the speed is often poor for the conditions and end up changing it manually. I've never had to touch the Lexus's wiper controls.

Oddly, there's one point on bend on the road, that the Lexus wipers nearly always seem to come for. I don't know is it moisture falling off a tree, but they'll nearly always come on for literally a second in the same place. Another corner (fairly dense tree coverge in fairness) on the same road has the dips kicking in a fraction of a second in the Superb, I'm beginning to think other drivers think I'm warning/saluting them.

Falcon L

Oafley Jones wrote: »

Find this really irritating on the Superb, have it on the is250 and both mirrors drop down a fair distance for great visibility, on the Superb the passenger just drops a tiny useless amount. Also, find the auto wipers aren't as good. Slow enough to come on and then I find that the speed is often poor for the conditions and end up changing it manually. I've never had to touch the Lexus's wiper controls.

Oddly, there's one point on bend on the road, that the Lexus wipers nearly always seem to come for. I don't know is it moisture falling off a tree, but they'll nearly always come on for literally a second in the same place. Another corner (fairly dense tree coverge in fairness) on the same road has the dips kicking in a fraction of a second in the Superb, I'm beginning to think other drivers think I'm warning/saluting them.

I suppose different cars handle things in different ways. My auto lights will stay on for a few minutes once they activate. I've seen a lot of cars with lights that come on for a second under bridges and the like.

Oafley Jones

KNS wrote: »

.

Out of all the gadgets I find the electic folding mirrors the best for making life easier. Purely because I've to park on a narrow road so mirrors need to folded.

Wonder if some of the extras break how will the cost vs use work out.

The Superb is a better car than the Megane Estate it replaced, but the auto folding mirrors are on thing I miss one the older car.

Actually, the whole keyless entry business was easily the best we've had. The Superb seems to be playing mind games with me. I genuinely hate it's keyless entry and it's the one thing I loathe about the car. It's seems completely random.

It'll happily allow the tail gate to open, but then won't open the doors, other times it's the opposite. Some times it'll open the passenger door and not the drivers, next time it'll change this up - this with my keys in my pocket. It's just erratic and with baby in tow it's a ****ing pain in the arse.

The Megane was great. All doors and tailgate would open when approached. Walk ten feet from it and it'd beep, lock and fold in the mirrors.

dastardly00

I like technology and gadgets, but I prefer to have a proper car key, and manual lights and wipers

_Kaiser_

My A6 has auto lights, DRLs and auto wipers and I think they're fantastic. The wipers are a bit more sensitive than I'd like sometimes but this can be adjusted (though not disabled completely AFAIK).

Auto lights should be standard and mandatory IMO. I'm sick to death of seeing cars at night/in bad weather with no or minimal lights.. or the eejits who use fogs instead of dips.

Works in my brothers A4 brilliantly, the auto dipping is really handy and works surprisingly well.

Auto wipers don't work so good in my Ma's 03 micra.

Unfortunately, I don't have such luxuries.

kirving

I don't really get the "just another thing to go wrong" argument against technology such as this. The reality is that an external light sensor is extremely unlikely to go wrong since there are no moving parts, and it's basically the same as any other electronic component.

Not the biggest fan of the hybrid keyless entry system in my mothers focus though, it's factory fitted of course, but it's clearly just an upgrade from a standard model since there's no stop-start button, and you still have to turn a false key in the ignition once you're in the car. Still, its incredibly handy to have on the few occasions that I've used it. I don't think I could ever justify spending money on a car without cruise control, auto-lights/wipers, auto-dimming rear view mirror or air-con. They should be standard across the board if they're available on an eight year old Focus.

Tea 1000

Kevin Irving wrote: »

I don't really get the "just another thing to go wrong" argument against technology such as this. The reality is that an external light sensor is extremely unlikely to go wrong since there are no moving parts, and it's basically the same as any other electronic component.

Not the biggest fan of the hybrid keyless entry system in my mothers focus though, it's factory fitted of course, but it's clearly just an upgrade from a standard model since there's no stop-start button, and you still have to turn a false key in the ignition once you're in the car. Still, its incredibly handy to have on the few occasions that I've used it. I don't think I could ever justify spending money on a car without cruise control, auto-lights/wipers, auto-dimming rear view mirror or air-con. They should be standard across the board if they're available on an eight year old Focus.

The electronic components are a problem though because they're manufactured to the cheapest standard these days, so a few years time cold weather etc causes premature corrosion, and hence unpredictability in operation. Then you get wipers going erratic and other such nucances that cost lots to fix.
Depends on the manufacturer though. I'd rather have these things on a 10 year old Lexus than a 10 year old BMW or VW.

In terms of your list, the only essential that will dictate the purchase of a car or not for me is air-con. I can live without the rest. Like it if I have it, but don't care enough to rule out a car based on it!

Special Circumstances

Saw an awesome feature on an A4 this morning, reverse lights on when going forward. Certainly helped me pick him out in the traffic.

Cork selfbuild

Oafley Jones wrote: »

Find this really irritating on the Superb, have it on the is250 and both mirrors drop down a fair distance for great visibility, on the Superb the passenger just drops a tiny useless amount. Also, find the auto wipers aren't as good. Slow enough to come on and then I find that the speed is often poor for the conditions and end up changing it manually. I've never had to touch the Lexus's wiper controls.

I found with the mirror, there is a sweet spot, it might be in relation to your seat height / position, but I find it gives a good kerb view from its starting position...

Sometimes i do flick the adjuster but not that often tbh, I'm trying to remember it versus the Volvo, and I remember thinking it was better in the Superb after changing cars.

Oafley Jones wrote: »

The Superb is a better car than the Megane Estate it replaced, but the auto folding mirrors are on thing I miss one the older car.

Actually, the whole keyless entry business was easily the best we've had. The Superb seems to be playing mind games with me. I genuinely hate it's keyless entry and it's the one thing I loathe about the car. It's seems completely random.

It'll happily allow the tail gate to open, but then won't open the doors, other times it's the opposite. Some times it'll open the passenger door and not the drivers, next time it'll change this up - this with my keys in my pocket. It's just erratic and with baby in tow it's a ****ing pain in the arse.

The Megane was great. All doors and tailgate would open when approached. Walk ten feet from it and it'd beep, lock and fold in the mirrors.

Thankfully mu Superb doesn't have the keyless entry - which I wouldn't like at all! The mirrors do fold in mine when locking with the key, but needs button held for locking 2 seconds rather than a click...

Falcon L

Special Circumstances wrote: »

Saw an awesome feature on an A4 this morning, reverse lights on when going forward. Certainly helped me pick him out in the traffic.

Bloody French cars are all the same... Oh, Wait...

Special Circumstances

Kevin Irving wrote: »

I don't really get the "just another thing to go wrong" argument against technology such as this. The reality is that an external light sensor is extremely unlikely to go wrong since there are no moving parts, and it's basically the same as any other electronic component.

Automotive is a pretty tough environment on electronics. I agree the actual light sensor itself is unlikely to go wrong but if something was to go wrong back at the control unit and the feature couldn't be over-ridden and started causing weird knock on effects... $$$

Tea1000 - Developing/Manufacturing/Testing components for automotive use is actually very very strict in terms of quality. "Zero defects" or "<1 ppm failures" is what the module manufactures would aim for from component suppliers (within warranty period haha). They will make your life hell if failure rates start creeping up.

Special Circumstances

Falcon L wrote: »

Bloody French cars are all the same... Oh, Wait...

Haha my thoughts exactly. I did also see a peugeot with the third brake light strobing in time to the indicators though, just to confirm everything hadn't gone completely topsy turvy in automotive electrics...

creedp

Falcon L wrote: »

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.

Quick question about auto wipers ... I always turn mine off during the winter as I'd be worried that the motors could be damaged if I switched on the ignition and the windscreen was frozen.

Other than that I leave them on all the time and find them very useful. As others have said they don't deal very well with fine mist/road spray so have to manually intervene. Its a bit of a pain as this requires regular pushing down of the wiper stalk as no manual intermittent option.

As for auto lights .. I have them but never used them. I prefer to turn on/off my own lights.

Bigcheeze

creedp wrote: »

Quick question about auto wipers ... I always turn mine off during the winter as I'd be worried that the motors could be damaged if I switched on the ignition and the windscreen was frozen.
.

Mine have to switched on every time the car is started for this reason and also to prevent them coming on in a car wash.

mickdw

I've auto lights and wipers. I find them both fantastic. I never have to turn on or off my headlights and they behave very well in terms of how they operate.
The wipers never really have to be touched. They really are a godsend. The only issue with the wipers is that they don't begin until the car starts moving when beginning a journey so very occasionally, I would have to manual wipe. Having said that once barely rolling they kick into action.
I'm also half looking at fitting an upgrade that gives auto dipping function on my car. I just need to change the rear view mirror and a control module then some basic coding. By all accounts it works quite well.

Falcon L

Auto dipping for oncoming cars is grand, but wouldn't you still have to dip the lights approaching the rear of a car in front?

franer1970

Falcon L wrote: »

Auto dipping for oncoming cars is grand, but wouldn't you still have to dip the lights approaching the rear of a car in front?

So that's why those Audi/BMW/Merc driving pr!cks are always blasting me from behind with high beams :pac: