running lights

WHY???????

Turn on the parking lights.

Then remember to turn them off. They don't turn off automatically like the running lights. Volvo has the running lights because they were found to prevent accidents. In case you haven't heard, that is what Volvo is all about, job one, better idea, etc.

You ask a simple question, and get loads of replies along the lines of "What do you want to THAT for?"

There have been lots of similar threads - and it is a very contentious subject.

The method of disabling them seems to vary from model to model. I don't know about the V40, but on my 1999 V70, there is a little screw in the corner of the light switch - which can be turned to 3 different positions to control the way in which the lights work. This is described in the Owner Handbook. The V40 may have something similar - I don't know.

In my opinion, daylight running lights serve NO useful purpose in good daylight - apart from that of boosting the coffers of those who have shares in light-bulb manufacture. The ridiculous idea stems from Scandinavia - where it hardly gets light in the winter and where the locals are apparently incapable of deciding for themselves that they need to turn their lights on. Those of us in the rest of the world have to suffer daylight running lights in consequence.

As you will have guessed, I have disabled mine!

Roger

I am/was Canada Safety Council Defensive Driving Instructor. Daylight running lights save lives. Volvo did it right by just running low beams instead of the stupid plan in the past to use less light in an alternate plan as was the systems engineered in the past.

I guess you don't use your seat belt either.

Tell your insurance company that you plan to disable a safety feature built into your vehicle. I guess your prefer to pay higher insurances rates and think that a head on crash in which each vehicle is travelling in excess of

50 MPH if not 80 MPH worth the risk. Just an opinion but a head-on crash at a combined speed of 100 to 160 MPH is likely not in the "probably survivable" category especially if you are not wearing your seat belts

I suggest you ought to make sure your life insurance is paid up.

BTW motorcyclist decided long ago to use their headlights at all times to avert accidents the majority of which are caused by the driver of an automobile.

Just so I can stay out of your way. Where are you planning to drive?

G

From a point at sea, to the circles of your mind, this is Roger Mills:

Some website that I visited recently put ther blame on the Greyhound Bus Co who made some issue about the safety of their buses, linking it to headlight use.

It's a beguiling and apparently sensible idea that people presume to be true, but the news here in the UK a few months ago was that a major study by the EU was unable to validate the daytime use of headlights as a safety enhancement.

I think it's now an issue largely driven by car maker's marketing departments.

It also seems to motivate the righteous into bizarre axe-grinding contests.

Hmm here in sweden we often get the sun in our eyes due to that where i live we ar on the same latitude as ancorage.( steeper angle to sun) so with the headlights on in dayligt its easier to spot a meeting car.

yanks are more pro own choice than safetly for all....

"Roger Mills" skrev i meddelandet news:be9h8e$ae0$ snipped-for-privacy@news7.svr.pol.co.uk...

I couldn't possibly comment about Yanks - I'm British!

I am very safety conscious - always wearing my seatbelt (contrary to the suggestion made by another poster) - and I believe in seeing and being seen. To this end, I have disabled another of Volvo's wonderful *safety* features whereby only one high intensity rear fog lamp was enabled at the manufacturing stage. I now have TWO - which is far safer and far more likely to avoid being rear-ended in fog.

BUT, I prefer to choose when I use my headlights rather than having them come on automatically with the ignition. If daylight running lights are an indisputable safety feature, why aren't they mandatory in all countries?

[There was a very funny sketch by a British comedian called Jasper Carrott a few years ago, in which he was ridiculing Volvo's running lights. When Volvos reach the end of their life and go to a scrap yard and are turned into a bale of steel, they STILL have their lights on!!]

Roger

Good point!

Say, are Airbags "mandatory in all countries"? What about ABS?

a

From a point at sea, to the circles of your mind, this is Roger Mills:

Stop it! You actually *want* to stir up the hornet's nest, don't you?

From a point at sea, to the circles of your mind, this is Stuart Gray:

This seems to disprove their effectiveness.

I ridden my bike with both light on and light off, and I can't say I've seen much difference in the behaviour of other road users. I certainly haven't seemed to be courting more danger with the light off than on.

bikes/Volvos

You have been one of the lucky ones then. I wish I could tell that to the five friends of mine that are no longer, to see if it made a difference. They drove with lights off, but sometimes lights on, depending on conditions. The Procurator Fiscal always reported they had their lights off, or the car that hit them didn't know if they were on or off. I'll keep mine on. I'm still here.

what is it about only ONE tail light? my old volvos had both lit, didn't they?

Scandinavia -

That is the problem. People don't realize that what appears to be good daylight frequently isn't:

1) when the sun is to their back cars are difficult to see unless they have their driving lights on. 2) when approaching oncoming traffic, you can spot passing cars much sooner if they have the driving lights on. 3) when passing, you can see oncoming cars much sooner if they have driving lights on. 4) when your car is in the shade on an otherwise sunny day, your car is invisible to cars in the sun unless you have your driving lights on. 5) insurance companies give discounts to fleet vehicles that always run with their running lights on because this reduces losses. 6) running lights are usefull in determining if a car is infact approaching as opposed to being parked or going the same direction. 7) running lights tend to freeze wild animals that otherwise wander across the road. 8) in the great plains at high noon when no other cars are present and no wild animals are present it is even more important since the occasional car may blend in if it doesn't have its running lights on. 9) if you get your insurance from the same insurance company I use, I hope you take every safety precaution possible so that our rates don't skyrocket.

I was talking about rear fog lamps - not tail lights per se. I don't know whether Volvo have always had this policy, but on my 1999 V70, there were two fully wired rear fog lamps - complete with bulbs - *except* for an intentional break in the conductor on one lamp to stop it working! In previous discussions, people have sought to justify this by quoting some nonsense about the danger of confusing fog lamps with brake lights. I'm far more concerned about someone coming up fast behind and confusing my car with a motor-bike!

[In the UK, it is mandatory to have at least one rear fog, and perfectly permissible to have two. Many new cars - including those made by Ford, who now own Volvo - have two as standard].

Roger

Wow! You *have* been brainwashed, haven't you!

I doubt that I use the same insurance company - I'm in the UK!

Roger

Have you managed to figure out how to do it yet, amidst all the crap about why you shouldn't even be trying?

Roger

ive not roger lol ive looked at the switch and cannot see anything. as there is nothing in the handbook i'll ask the main dealer on thursday when i go moan about a job they didnt do properly.