Headlight anomalies

[MartinSEsr]

Some things are just programmed so badly.

As in other threads, the headlights come on even when sunny when a bird flies overhead, when you go near a tree, etc. There are 3D printed light sensor housings that let more light in and reduce the unnecessary "headlights on for 5 seconds" syndrome.

Today I had the opposite, fairly sunny, but torrential rain on the motorway. I wanted the rear lights and headlights on. My golf would put the headlights on, even if sunny, if the wipers were on in rain. The MG4 didn't, I waited to see, so I manually turned the headlights on. Safe driver or what...

Got to work, parked, and someone later said I'd left my lights on... Unlike every other car I've had in the last 20 years, if you switch your headlights on manually eg for mist or rain, the headlights do not go off when you turn the car off and lock it! So they would have been on all day had it not been mentioned.

Something to add to the long list of things that should be programmed differently.

 

[Martinonline]

Did you trigger the 'Follow me home' option?

 

[MartinSEsr]

Did you trigger the 'Follow me home' option?

No, that's separate and always available when in auto lights mode.

it is basically that if you swith the headlights on manually (eg in bright mist, or rain on a bright day when they don't come on automatically) they don't turn off when the car is locked, and there was no warning 'ding' or anything either.

Every other car in decades has turn the headlights off when turned on manually, I've had a range of hire cars of all makes where the headlights were always manually switched on (local regs) but always turned off when the car was turned off and locked.

 

[Martinonline]

I assumed when you mentioned 'when you turn the car off' you had powered it down using the infotainment screen. Because then you should have received a warning when you opened the door. I assume that is what the programmers expected drivers to do. However, I agree a simple bong at any time when the lights are on and the driver's door is opened seems so obvious.

 

[Kithmo]

The headlights do go off, it's the parking lights that stay on if the switch is in the "ON" position.
It doesn't need reprogramming it's to facilitate parking lights.

 

[Rolfe]

I had the same thing a couple of weeks ago, but with a slightly different cause. I went into a multi-storey car park where there was such a low light level that the lights came on despite the sensor cover being removed, and I switched them off. I thought I had switched the lights back to auto before I left the car. Thought.

Something made me look back at the car as I walked to the exit. I think I was checking for DRLs still on, as I've had that a few times because I forgot to press the door button on leaving the car. Sure enough, lights blazing. (Maybe it was only the DRLs, but it was pretty bright.) I went back and tried to lock the car, thinking that maybe the boot wasn't properly shut and maybe that was causing it. But the boot was properly closed. I looked into the car and saw a warning about lights on the driver's screen.

Turned out that when I thought I'd switched the lights back to auto, I'd actually moved the switch to the on position. I fixed that, locked the car, and all was well.

This is actually the same glitch as flattened my battery a few times with the Golf. I always kept the lights on auto, but if it was in the garage for any reason they usually gave it back to me with the lights on manual, and sometimes I didn't notice. I parked up in Edinburgh once, and when I came back to the car it was dead. I had to get the RAC out. All because the light switch was on manual. I didn't get any warning of that either.

So there is a warning, but it's just visual on the screen, and it's easy to miss. I'm getting into the habit of looking back at the lights if I leave the car, mainly because of my habit of walking off without pressing the door button. Eventually I'll get the routine into automatic and it won't happen.

 

[MartinSEsr]

The headlights do go off, it's the parking lights that stay on if the switch is in the "ON" position.
It doesn't need reprogramming it's to facilitate parking lights.

Ah ok, that makes sense in that the parking lights do need to be able to be left on when needed. However I had turned the headlights on rather than the parking lights while driving. I will play with it when I have time and see how it works.

to answer the other question, I shut the car down by using the key after exiting, not via several presses on the entertainment screen. There might have been a light on bong that I didn't notice too of course.

Thanks all.

 

[Rolfe]

Just getting out and pressing the door button works. My problem is that if I've turned to do something else after getting out of the car, like getting a handbag off the rear seat or helping a passenger out, I forget to press a door button. I did it again on Sunday after helping an elderly neighbour out of the passenger seat, and one of the elders called me over just before the church service and said "if that's your MG, you've left your lights on".

My dealer told me to shut the car down from the infotainment screen but that never seems to do anything. Get out, press door button before leaving car. One of these days it will become automatic.

 

[Ian Key]

I tend to use the key fob to lock the car so I can see the indicators flash and the mirrors fold in (sorry Rolfe) It's what I've always done with my previous cars so it's an automatic action.

 

[Rolfe]

I have adopted a policy of never taking my key out from where it is concealed about my person. That way I don't lose it.

I always used the key fob to lock my last car. Its indicators didn't flash and its mirrors didn't fold, but it did make clicking noises. But then what I did with the key after that was anyone's guess. Sometimes it didn't work out so well. Now, I can't lose it.

 

[MartinSEsr]

I've tested the light switch and locking the car.

LIGHT SWITCH

RH position - auto lights, come on when shadows or darkness is sensed, but do not come on when it just rains.

Mid position - turns the sidelights on, DRL at the front, plus tail lights. Stay on when car is locked and shut down.

Left position - manual headlights on override, headlights and taillights go on. BUT when you turn the car off with the key / door button / console , the lights switch to sidelights and stay on! This is not how other cars work, if set to 'headlights on' then all the lights go off when the car is turned off and locked, but not on the MG4.

 

[Rolfe]

Hmm. In my Golf the lights stayed on if I locked the car with the switch set to headlights. Caught me out twice - once I was able to jump-start the car but the second time I had to get the RAC out.

 

[Kithmo]

I find the fob batteries last longer if you don't use the fob buttons to unlock and lock the car.

 

[Martinonline]

With my Fiesta I could leave all the lights on if I ignored the warning when I opened the car door. What cars are you referring to with auto switchoff of lights when locked?

 

[Kithmo]

All the cars I've had for at least the last 25 years, the headlights have gone off when the ign was turned off, I think a mk4 Mondeo I had was on a 30 second delay, follow you home lights, the rest went of as soon as you turned the car off. If you left the light switch on, the parking lights stayed on.
None of them switched all the lights off if you left the light switch on, just the headlights.

 

[Rolfe]

I think that's the point. Sometimes people will want to leave the DRLs on as "parking lights". However, if you do that, are you draining the 12v battery? You are if you do it with an ICE car, and even though these bright LEDs don't draw so much power as older types of light, I wonder if with the MG4 you're again risking a flat 12v battery if you do it.

 

[Ian Key]

I find the fob batteries last longer if you don't use the fob buttons to unlock and lock the car.

At a few pence each I'm not going to worry about it, but using the button on the car handle could wear that out and that's more inconvenient to get replaced.

 

[Kithmo]

At a few pence each I'm not going to worry about it, but using the button on the car handle could wear that out and that's more inconvenient to get replaced.

Good point, I'll revise my strategy.

 

[Rolfe]

Still not taking my key out of its hiding place to lock the car.

It was one thing when I needed to put the key in the ignition to start the car, and remove it to power down. Obviously it was in my hand and I used it to lock the car as I walked away. But the key of my MG4 is squirrelled away on my person such that it can't be dropped, mislaid or lost, and it's not coming out.