2013 Corolla instrument cluster

Sounds like normal function in a car of that age. They should also come on with the parking lights.

That age? Older cars (92 Acura, for instance) have instrument lights that are on whenever the key is in an ON position!

Sorry, you're right and I apologize. I don't know what I was thinking when I posted!

I call those brain farts. Sometimes I have to actually leave the house for a while...

Not the same problem but similar effect. My 2005 Toyota Solara clock cluster lights, for the clock and 2 or 3 other things, only go on at night, even though I can't see what they say during the day time unless I'm driving away from the sun. Even with the headlights on. Even worse when the top is down. I think it's a mistake in design by Toyota.

Even if I block the light sensor on the dash so that the car thinks it's night time, the headlights go on but not these lights.

I've tried rewiring the dash, but ended up with a little flashlight in the console to shine on the LCDs.

emailed also because it's an old thread.

They clearly put all their expertise into reliability, etc. And it never occurred to them to make the driver's seat raise up a few more inches for us NORMAL people? I'm not even that short, I just want to be higher, especially with the reduced window area so prevalent in cars now!

Not necessary, usenet is sufficiently immortal!

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They make other mistakes too. In the 2005 Solara, the fob opens the trunk but not if the engine is running. There's a lever on the floor to open it, like in 2000, but in 2000, if you were parked with the top down, or even the window open, anyone could climb over the trunk or lean in the window and open the trunk. So in 2005, they let you lock that, but then the only way to open it was to turn off the engine and use the fob. (I installed a button on the dash, but I had to root through the wires at the bottom of the left kick panel to find the one to the trunk lock.)

2 of my 3 Lebarons had only mechanical trunk releases, which could be disabled in the trunk lid, but then I had to get out and use the key. Electric trunk releases can be set to only work when the ignition is on.

The Solara is set so you can't raise or lower the top if you're going more than iirc 3 mph, so I had to find and cut that wire. OTOH, the recent Buick convertible is set so you can't go more than 30 mph. Yikes. Even I would never go over 15 or 20, or I'd sail away like a kite!

I knew you'd have the thread in your computer, but I thought it might be so far up on the page, above the top of the monitor, you wouldn't see it.

I used Thunderbird 38 and have it set to show threads with new messages. That seems to work better than 'new messages'.

So a big question is, how does the clock light know it's not really dark out, when the headlights are stupid enough to be fooled when I cover the light sensor**? If covering the light sensor would work, I'd cover it all the time and that would be fine.

**A one-inch red plastic dome on the dashboard. There are actually two of them. I can't remember what the other one does and I can't find it in the wiring diagram, but I covered both of them.

The flashlight has worked well on two occasions, but I can't just glance at the instrument. It's a 5-step process.