"Neo" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com... | Dave wrote in message news:... | | > I have friends who are just like you. Have never touched the light | > switch. This is dangerous. Many times in rain, fog, snow the light | > sensor doesn't turn the lights on when they really should be on so that | > others can see you FROM ALL SIDES, not just the front. | | That's because his GP, if it's like my Bonneville, turns on the low | beams when the wipers are turned on.
The GP _may_ not do what your Bonneville does...dunno. The "auto" lighting system on some GM vehicles are not set up to activate with the wipers....although that would be better if they all were. However, do you turn your wipers on when it's just foggy? Maybe sometimes. But often wipers aren't needed for pure daytime fog situations...especially once the windshield is warm and the tiny droplets no longer condense on the surface of the windshield. So, therefore, full lights are still NOT necessarily activated by the auto system and they still need to be turned on manually (by the switch...if many GM owners even know where their light switch is since most of them never use it). The switch was put there for a reason. And that reason is that even GM knows that the much touted "auto light control" system really doesn't work correctly all of the time (or they would have eliminated the switch altogether). So, if you aren't using the switch when you need to then you're probably driving illegally in some situations (like daytime foggy conditions). Yes, GM has made lighting control more, shall we say, interesting for the vehicle operator. Just what we need, _more_ confused drivers out there!
The other reason the lights need to be turned on manually is because the full lights may/can cycle on and off several times during a foggy daytime trip to your destination. There isn't a good indication/feedback from the car that this is happening (when it happens), except you _may_ notice the odo/radio/trip computer display go bright and dim and bright and dim a few times during your trip (or you may not notice). The visual queue from the DRL's reflecting back in the fog can give the impression that the headlights are still on when they are not...so that may not help the driver get a clue either. There isn't a "chime" or any other "lighting mode" indicator one could check. SO, the only way you can be assured 100% that the lights will be on and stay on when it's foggy is to turn them on manually.
Auto light control when coupled with DRLs really create confusion for many drivers in these situations in my opinion. I know what is happening (obviously, since I've explained it from personal observation and experience), but observation also tells me that that isn't typically the case out on the roads. Lots more of GM brands compared with other brands on the roads without tail/marker lights on in daytime fog...because GM owners _truly believe_ that they "never have to touch the light switch"! And, my friends, that is patently false.