W203 Lights Off in the Dark - When Programmed Constantly On??

[blassberg]

Managed to turn my lights off whilst driving in the dark - when programmed constantly on.

It's winter, I was a little surprised with auto-headlights - either on of off when I expected the other so I programmed then on all the time for the dark season.

Whilst driving in fog yesterday I had to move the (non illuminated ) light switch round to a position that allowed pulling out to put the fogs on.

I had been keeping the switch in the off position - just to remind me that the light were on permanently rather than another setting.

Out of the fog and I decided to be really radical and turn the fogs off again. And then I thought it neat and tidy to return the lightswitch to off. As the switch is not illuminated I switched one click at a time so that I could feel when the switch was in the vertical off position. At the sidelight setting the xenons went out.

Maybe this is a feature so that you can turn your headlights off when they are programmed on? But not being able to see the swith positions meant I was doing a lot of guesswork when I could have been concentrating on the road.

Anyway - off to read the f. manual.

(why do automatics have "manuals" anyway?)

 

[dchaddah]

In my W203 in order for the automatic lights to work / stay on all the time you have to leave the light switch in Auto mode.

 

[Rory]

I'm not convinced about auto lights, and I've had them on other cars too, not just Merc's. Also the Merc 'always on' setting seems pointless, except in places where it's mandatory.
I guess they're useful if you're the sort of person who drives off forgetting to turn on the lights, but I've never found that an issue. I always worry that they'll come on at an unfortunate moment and someone will pull out thinking I've flashed them.
I much prefer to know what my lights are doing by controlling them myself.

 

[fuzzer]

In my W203 in order for the automatic lights to work / stay on all the time you have to leave the light switch in Auto mode.

eh no ...

Off or auto will work . If you leave them in auto you will get the benifit of the illumination with the ignition in pos1 when you leave someone in the car.

Yes , ive done that before with the xenons going off and into sidelight. I thought that xenons wernt that good in the fog , thus this function ?

 

[dchaddah]

eh no ...

Off or auto will work . If you leave them in auto you will get the benifit of the illumination with the ignition in pos1 when you leave someone in the car.

Yes , ive done that before with the xenons going off and into sidelight. I thought that xenons wernt that good in the fog , thus this function ?

I stand corrected!
Sorry!