Headlights Won't Go Off on 2005 Audi A8

Maintenance/Repairs
1

For three years, the headlights on my wife’s 2005 Audi A8 sporadically stay on once the car is turned off. The car only has 27,000 miles on it and has been regularly maintained. My wife keeps the light switch in the “auto” position. Once in a while when she turns the car off the lights stay on and remain on no matter what she does – turning the light switch to “off” or in other positions, turning the car on and off again, etc…
Eventually the lights will go off if she fools around with them enough but sometimes she doesn’t notice they have remained on and the battery has gone dead.
We have had the car in to the dealer many times for this problem and for a while they told us they could not re-create the problem and didn’t know what to do. Then they told us they ran a computer printout and found there was a bad signal being sent to the ignition. Replacing the ignition did not fix the problem. Now they are telling us they can not re-create the problem again and have no idea what to do.
They say they have never seen this problem but these are the same people that told us there was no problem with the motor which opens the trunk – until Audi came out with a totally re-designed trunk motor.
Any ideas?

2

Try going to an audi forum and seeing what transpires. Many times folks are out there who experienced the same thing and will post back with the resolve.(if you find out post your results to help others.)

3

http://forums.audiworld.com/

4

I’ll guess you have a compound problem of the system that leaves the headlights on for a short time after the ignition is turned off and the daylight sensing system that should turn the headlights off during the day.
Regardless you will need a Dealer to find it and fix it. If you have lost confidence in your local dealer, and there isn’t another close by, try calling other Dealers to see if they have an answer. Also contact Audi and complain. The Audi website has a “Ask an Expert” page you might try that.

In the meantime you could encourage your wife to stop using the “auto” position and see what happens.

5

thanks. Wife says, at our age, she can’t remember if the lights are on or not and needs the “auto” feature.
They don’t stay on for a short time after the ignition goes off though, it can be hours.