How to disable day-time running lights?

"Patrick F. Clarin" wrote in news:cd9c2b$1kr4$1 @msunews.cl.msu.edu:

Ball peen hammer!

But seriously this is a safety feature. Why not disable the seatbelts,airbags and ABS while you are at it?

If you really must:

I do disable my seatbelts and would get rid of the airbags if that was practical from a resale standpoint. Not sure about the ABS. TG

Pu-leez!

On the '02, you need to unplug the connector going to the SILVER METAL resistor which is mounted on the passsenger side strut tower. The resistor is WHITE CERAMIC in color with a SILVER bathtub-shaped housing bolted onto a green metal holder. The connector has TWO (2) pins and is oval shaped. The resistor wires are black, varnished shiny and rigid. Unplug this and put a bag over the connector as it is 12V live when the motor is running. Unplug it and your headlights will behave like a normal car.

Note: DO NOT unplug the 4-pin/wire conector next to the DRL resistor, which is in a green housing!

More info is here:

Absolutely foolish and stupid as a "safety feature". All it does is cause more wear and tear on your charging system and let people know you are so much less than bright that you must have your lights on in the daytime so perhaps someone else will look out for you. It is almost as bad an idea as that third stoplight which came into being in 1986. As soon as people were used to seeing it the accident rate went right back to where it was. Headlights are the same way. It only works a little bit when it is odd. When people are used to seeing them there is not one bit of difference. We as public are too easily sold on these hair-brained engineering ideas. And we get to pay for them in the skyrocketing cost of a new automobile. A $2000 dollar car now sells for over $27,000.00 and all you got for your money was a catalytic converter which makes no difference, airbags which cause more injuries than they prevent, and bumper parts made from plastic and styrofoam rather than steel!

Seat belts and ABS remain but airbags were disabled before the car had two miles on it.

Some people have to disable them to comply with local regulations. I had to disable mine in Iceland on my '03 US-Spec Baja to pass the safety inspection. If you have DRL here in Iceland, the lights have to stay on all the time at full intensity. On the Baja, even though the engine is running, if you pull the e-brake, the lights will extinguish. These don't qualify as DRL here and must be disabled.

-Alex

I have heard these DRLs run anywhere from 40% to 80% of full low beams. Does anyone know which it is for my '03 Baja? To me, whatever they are, they are too bright. It's a minor complaint and probably not bothersome enough to try to disable them but for the safety of just being noticed they seem overkill to me.

So "nothing" is better than "pretty good most of the time"???

What's the difference between full strength DRLs that are always on and simply turning he headlights on all the time?

alex3324 wrote:

What's the difference between full strength DRLs that are always on and simply turning he headlights on all the time?

------------------ DRL on my new Forrester aren't nearly as bright as turning on the headlights, i.e. don't use DRL at night.

Agree. That wasn't my point. I was writing in response to a previous post from a person who told us that the law in Iceland required that DRLs be full brilliance and on all the time, and DRLs that didn't meet this requirement had to be disabled.

Bill Sharpe wrote:

I have a '96 Impreza and since my headlights run off the ignition I just leave them on all the time day or night.

I have noticed this is a help to me especially when I encounter vehicles that appear to be painted the same color as the pavement. If I am glancing quickly to make a turn and I don't see the "camo" paint job, I can still see the DRLs. Since it is so much brighter during the daytime, why not leave the lowbeam at full power?

In news:cd9c2b$1kr4$ snipped-for-privacy@msunews.cl.msu.edu, Patrick F. Clarin spewed:

The surest way is to drop the glovebox (all screws are easily visible). Behind the glove box is the main DRL relay, which even has a sticker on it loudly proclaiming itself to be the DRL relay/controller. Unplug it, put the glove box back in and go on your way without wasting watts.

Yes, disconnecting the dropping resistor in the engine bay will do the same thing, but will leave live 12V flopping around. Killing it at the source stops stray voltage.

Why don't you do us all a big favor jolson, make a big difference and gohighspeed off a cliff to your theorys about safety. I really would like to know.

I hope you are never in an accident...I can only imagine what your insurance company would do with that info.

-KarenM-

What is it about the human animal that compels us to tell everybody else how to live their lives? This man disapproves of his air bags and so disables them. That's his business and his business alone. Unless and until you're invited to ride in his car, why does it concern you at all? I really would like to know.

- Greg Reed

I also hope that the OP is never in an accident, but not because I worry about his getting in trouble over disabling the still-optional and questionably effective DRL's on his car.

- Greg Reed

When the parking brake is on, the light are out. But they come on if you use the light switch. So, there must be a sensor on the parking brake that tells the computer to turn off the lights. It might even be a reed switch. If so, place a magnet next to it. It will make the computer think the parking brake is on. Don't know what the computer will make of that when the car moves.

If its not a reed switch, there must be some other circuit there you either open or close.

Al

A little clarification:

Full-intensisy lights must be on at all times, day or night in Iceland (even in the middle of June when the sun never goes down).

On my Baja, the DRLs come on at an intensity less than full (half?). In order for the lights to be on at all times at full intensity, cars that have less-than-full intensity DRLs must have the DRLs disabled. The rationalization is that a driver may begin to drive at night, seeing the always-on DRLs, but think they're the full-intensity headlamps, and thus breaking the law that full-intensity headlamps must be on at all times.

No, if you have day running lights here in Iceland that stay on all the time then you do not have to use the full-intensity headlights. Most cars have, however, the full-intensity lights on when you turn on the ignition.