@DangerousDYI, Not sure when you worked in the Guide plant but in May 1999, GM dumped Guide into the Delphi Automotive spinoff. That wonderful business launch ran aground in Oct 2005 when Delphi filed for bankruptcy. During the bankruptcy, they closed most of their US plants, shifting manufacturing overseas and closed or sold the unprofitable segments off. Right before Delphi emerged from bankruptcy 4 years later, white collar pensions were dumped and the business was now incorporated in Great Britain even though the headquarters was still in Troy Michigan. Not only did Monroe LA get the shaft, so did a whole lot of other folks.
Those DRLs did burn out quickly on those pickups. I see them out all the time. Bad drls. Too bright and too hot for glorified parking lights. GM used to be too proud of their parts. They became famous for their negligence and it may take a long time to get a good reputation.
It seems that they are the same company that wouldn’t give you the one engine mount that had to NOT fail. They just tied a cable around the exhaust manifold and expected that to save your life forever. Your government should have stepped in and forced Chevrolet to use the Pontiac style engine mount which was a permanent fix. Chevrolet must follow bad examples and ignore good ones. Change please.
Well, they didn’t follow the Ford LTD sagging rear end in 76. Forty pounds in the trunk and the rear end was way low.
I own 2 GM cars with DRL’s, I pulled the fuse on both so that they do not operate. I ride a motorcycle. All motorcycles have had DRL’s since about 1980. I want motorcycles to stand out and DRL’s on cars are light pollution IMHO and detract from my motorcycle safety. Just one man’s opinion.
I Want Other Drivers To Notice My Vehicle And Also, I Want To Notice All Other Cars, Motorcycles, And Any Vehicles For That Matter. I Am In Favor Of DRLs.
CSA
@Mustangman, I was only a temporary employee there working weekends during the spring and summer of 2005. In the late summer, I took a “full time temp” position on the 3rd shift. I was building the headlights for the full sized trucks. I think we averaged about 1500 lights per night on 8 hr shifts.
According to locals, it was THE place to work. Everybody wanted a job there. When I only worked Saturday & Sunday as a temp, I made over $500 most of the time… It was a good deal.
When I started working full time, I hated it. I only did it for about 6 or 8 weeks before I wasn’t needed any more. Either way, I couldn’t have done it much longer anyway. It became very monotonous. I figured out very quickly that I am not made for a factory job.
My Father-in-law was the head of HR there, which got me my temp gig. Knock that “who-you-know” advantage if you like, but most of the other temps and fulltime people I knew acquired their positions the same way, only through Union people. I also joined the UAW, even though it benefitted me in no way. I was young and dumb, and I thought they’d help me get on actual full time payroll. Yeah… that ain’t how that worked.
One white collar guy I knew actually moved to Anderson, Indiana to work there for about 1.5 years more so that he could round off his career and get his retirement. Even though he was white collar, he had to work on the line for that year & a half. He was lucky IMO.
My father-in-law had to actually lay himself off sometime in early 2006. I thought that HR people would be the last to go, but apparently not. He was ready to leave anyway. It probably was depressing. He got lucky and found a job where he used to vacation. He worked about 3 more years until that factory closed down and shipped it’s machinery overseas.
The sad saga of the American assembly line workers… screwed by the companies and the unions in the end.
CSA, I wholeheartedly agree with your reasoning, however rather than DRLs I would like to see a mandate that the headlights and all running lights (tail & sidelights) be illuminated whenever the engine is running. It might prevent some rearenders at dusk and dawn… and in bad weather.
I’d REALLY like to see headlights come on automatically when the wipers are turned on.
people who drive in heavy rain with lights are really putting Darwin’s theories to the test.
@the same mountainbike
@DangerousDIY
I Always Have My Bonneville DLRs On And When It Gets Quite Overcast, As It Does In Heavy Rain, And Also During Dim Light At Dusk And Dawn, My DLR/Automatic Lights Turn From Just DLRs To Full-Blown Headlights/Taillights. Our Impalas Operate The Same Way.
The only way I can tell from inside the car, when the car switches from DRLs to all lights, is when I notice dash/radio lights changing to a dimmer illumination. Then all the lights are on.
The only thing dangerous about this system is that when I drive a different vehicle, like a recent vacation rental, I forget to monitor the lights, thinking the car will handle it.
Those DRLs/Automatic Lights are a thing of beauty, in the category of my automatic Mr. Coffee or my Roomba!
CSA
Problem is wipers are often not used in snow, fog, dismal days, or used intermittently, at times it would really be nice to see side lights and tail lights for people that forget to turn their lights on.
@"common sense answer"
Honestly, My F150 has an auto-lights setting, and that’s where I keep it. It has daytime running lights on that setting, at least I think it does. (i’m going to investigate that.)
I have noticed that just because the headlights are on, that doesn’t mean that the dash lights are. the auto setting controls them as well.
If I turn them on manually, which I’ve been known to do when it rains or snows just incase auto isn’t doing it, it all works like the old days.
NOW, my biggest problem with automatic headlights… My wife’s Jeep does not have them, and I’ve become so accustomed to my truck’s auto lights that when I drive her jeep, I not only forget to turn them off when I stop, but I sometimes forget to turn them on in a parking lot of a lighted street.
Not to keep chiming in but some cars have a sensitivity setting for the auto ons and some just don’t come on until its almost dark out. I actually have a piece of material that I throw over the electric eye when its cloudy out to turn the lights on. Works a little better than turning the lights on because then you have to turn them off again and get the switch in the correct position which sometimes is hard to read and a hassle.
Personally, I like the approach that Subaru has used for…many years.
When you turn on your headlights/tail lights, simply turning off the ignition also turns those lights off.
So, whenever weather conditions are…less than ideal…I turn my headlights on when I start the car, and no matter now many stops and starts I might do during the day, every time that I restart my engine, my headlights and tail lights come on automatically.
Mine’s set up like that too, VDC.
My old pickup wasn’t, so I panted the light knob with bright orange paint such that when the lights were on the big orange patch would be visible as I exited the vehicle. It worked.
I'd REALLY like to see headlights come on automatically when the wipers are turned on. people who drive in heavy rain with lights are really putting Darwin's theories to the test.
That’s the law in NY. If it’s raining hard enough to have your wipers on then you headlights must be on.
It’s the law in many places now, but it really needs to be built into the car’s systems. It needs to be a D.O,T. requirement for manufacturers.
In Minnesota its not tied to the wipers but just says in periods of reduced visibility. Seems to be ignored by a lot of folks though, police included.
It seems to me that there always has to be a driver override for the headlights. Many rural 2 lane roads in MD require headlights at all times. There were too many accidents with someone passing a slower car and they couldn’t see the oncoming car in the lane they just occupied. Also, it is just plain courtesy to dim the headlights when approaching a secure entrance. The security guards don’t like being blinded.
The headlights ON in the rain is law in many states, my new one and my old state. 2 problems with that. 1) People THINK because they see the DRLs on, that their tail lights are also on - FAIL. 2) I don’t know why this is, but it seems that every car I see in the rain withOUT their lights on is a light colored gray, beige or white car, rarely black, red or bright orange. The lowest visibility cars are the ones that ignore the law.
I agree, car makers could easily tie the running and head lights to the wiper switch AND the ignition switch so you can’t run the battery down. Our old Saab does that, why not the rest?
I just don’t understand why the lights aren’t on any time the engine is running. Front and back, but not dash lights. They don’t have to be too bright (like most of us!) but they should be on. That’s been the law on motorcycles for many, many years without any problem.
@MikeinNH: This is an option on my car–you can configure “headlights on with wipers”, or not if you prefer. Since there are situations where you turn on the wipers and don’t want the lights, and I always turn my lights on if it’s raining anyway, I have the feature disabled.
I think it would be confusing for other drivers if you turn on your wipers (like if you need a couple of extra wipes after washing your windshield or if something drips on you) and the headlights flash on and off. So I have the feature off.
Personally I agree that if every car had its headlights on all the time that it would be “light pollution” like another poster mentioned. If everyone had lights on all the time, everyone would be so used to it that motorcycles, funeral processions, etc. would not stand out.