Why do car shops turn off the automatic setting of my lights?

[vito]

I would just ask the dealership service department then you will know from the source.

What I picked up on was the one year oil change. I know you said it only had 10K miles but the max service schedule I know of for oil is 5K miles and I would be concerned that at 1 year you have oil that is degrading, losing viscosity, picking up contaminant and acids that can harm your engine. Oil does not last indefinitely just sitting in the oil pan.

Mini is owned and manufactured by BMW, and the car itself says to change the oil every 10,000 miles. When I hit about 9,000 miles I started getting on-screen notifications to schedule the 10,000 mile maintenance, and the car notifies the dealer of this as well so I started getting emails/texts from the dealer that the required maintenance was only xxx miles away. Sort of nice, but annoying as well to get this on-screen reminder everytime I started the engine after about 9,000 miles. FWIW, Mini uses the free regular maintenance for the first two years as a selling point, with good reason as such maintenance is undoubtedly expensive (I assume this because of how expensive BMW maintenance is), but in truth this only likely consists of two oil changes in the first two years for me, unless I drive this car a lot more in the second year than I did in the first. I intend scheduling the second oil change prior to the end of year two whether or not I have reached 20,000 miles on the odometer.

 

[hittman]

If I were buying a used car from someone and they say they changed the oil every 10,000 miles I’d walk away.

How’d I get so old so fast? LOL.

 

[kmoore]

I am too late, post #7 beat me to give the answer. All three of my vehicles have daytime running lights and 2 have automatic lights on in dark. That come on when the ignition switch is turned on. Both shops I go to return the switches to my settings. Sometimes the seat is not returned to my position "driver #1", but they do when I start the engines.
Nothing like those who won't turn off the auto or daytime headlights, blinding all others attempting to launch a boat before daylight. Or retrieving a boat after dark.

 

[GasGuzzler]

Yeah we turn off the audio and HVAC too unless we are testing either.

 

[Uncle Howie]

I am too late, post #7 beat me to give the answer. All three of my vehicles have daytime running lights and 2 have automatic lights on in dark. That come on when the ignition switch is turned on. Both shops I go to return the switches to my settings. Sometimes the seat is not returned to my position "driver #1", but they do when I start the engines.
Nothing like those who won't turn off the auto or daytime headlights, blinding all others attempting to launch a boat before daylight. Or retrieving a boat after dark.

THE ONLY “AUTOMATIC“ FEATURE I WANT ON MY 4-WHEELED VEHICLE, IS THE TRANSMISSION!!!

I seem to be the odd man out, along with kmoore and one or two others.

I HATE all of the automatic crap. I’m old enough to know when to turn on the headlights. I also see folks driving at night with their DRLs, constantly.

My wife leaves her headlights on all the time. “They’ll shut themselves off.” Except when they don’t… for whatever reason. It might be because you sat in the car after turning the engine off, and not getting out. I’ve seen her get a dead battery from automatic crap three times… and those are just the times that I know about! 😆

FWIW, my ‘02 Toyota Tundra has DRLs, and there’s no switch to shut them off. I can start it with the parking brake on, and not have the DRLs come on. As soon as the parking brake comes off, the DRLs come on. I CAN’T backdown the access ramp under power, w/o my lights on! 🤬

GREAT truck for trying to slip into a hunting of fishing spot, in the dark… 🙄

I have a 2021 Ford F-150 for work beautiful truck- smooth, quiet, plenty of power. It also has automatic everything- drives me nuts! The dash, for practical purpose, does not dim. The door armrests could be best described as “Tokyo by Night.” I’ve managed to get most of the crap turned off, by playing with the radio. That’s right… THERES NO OWNER’S MANUAL! You have to try to read it on the car radio.

If there’s a button or indicator on the dash you want to know the function of, good luck. If you don’t know what it’s called, you have to play a guessing game, in the “Index” on the car radio. Good luck! At least with a manual, you can turn to the relevant section, find a diagram, and figure out what it’s called…

I finally got the stupid “automatic“ high beam setting shut off. It would turn the high beams down when it would catch the reflection of a road sign, as well as turning them on when I could see a car coming around the bend. Depending on the scenario, my lights would be flicking high/low, blinding people. Made me look like a jackass.

I DREAD the thought of buying a replacement vehicle. I’ll almost certainly be buying a used one, as I don’t want any of this crap on my vehicles.

The more I think, the more this crap gets me wound up. This thread will be bound for the “Politics” section, if my rants keep going!

 

[Johnnu2]

Being a very OLD guy, I NEVER use the 'auto' setting on my lights. I'm fortunate that my 2016 Toyota has a switch that functions like the old days (as well as an auto feature which I'll never use). My old brain has no problem remembering to turn on my lights when I need them, and turn them off when I don't. Because of all the new wiz-bang features, I may never buy a new car again.
Service ? I've never used the Toyota "two years of free service".... I can change my oil myself and not worry about somebody over tightening my plastic oil filter canister or oil drain plug, I've always told the dealer's sales guy that 'you won't ever see me, or this car, again in the dealership'. When I buy my Toyotas, they always try to pressure/scare me in to buying an extended warranty. My answer is always.... "I don't need the warranty, this is a TOYOTA, they don't break for the first 100,000 miles."....
Oh yeah, had a hard time waiting for the 10,000 mile intervals, needed therapy to let go of the 3,000 mile/ one year beliefs

IMHO of course.
J.

 

[Cholo]

The more I think, the more this crap gets me wound up.

But you liked those amazing automatic seat belts when they first came out, right?

LOL

 

[harley08]

All three cars that I own have an "Auto" setting for the lights. Daytime running lights stay on in the daytime, and when it darkens the low beam headlights go on, and off automatically as needed. On one of my cars the headlights go on automatically if I activate the windshield wipers. For the most part I set these car's light swith on "Auto" when I take them home brand new and never feel the need to touch that switch again. Except.......when the car has been at the dealer or a repair shop. Invariably the mechanics turn the light switch to "off", but for what reason I have no idea. Since the car's engine is not running while it is being worked on, or having the oil changed, etc. except for brief periods, it cannot be because the lights coming on are too much to deal with in the shop. So I try to remember that as soon as I pick up the car I check the light switch.

Several days ago my wife brought our one year old Mini in for its first oil change at 10,000 miles, which is free for us as the owner (free routine maintenance for the first two years is included in the car's cost). Because she took care of the car I didn't remember to check the light switch. Yesterday I used that car to visit my daughter, leaving for the one hour ride home after it had gotten dark. Riding the interstate with a fair amount of other cars on the road I had only a slight sense that things were darker than normal. It wasn't until I left the Interstate that the road ahead of me was really dark! I pulled over thinking that one of my headlights had burned out, but the reality was the lights were in the off position so there I had been driving at 80 mph with just daytime running lights in the dark of night. I know its my own fault but it more than annoys me that all of these mechanics routinely do this on any and all of my cars.

Always check to make sure your lights are on!

 

[RC44Mag]

One reason they turn of auto lights is because often times they need the power on without engine running to do what they need to do. Drawing power with the lights on can quickly drain the battery reserve.

 

[xtratoy]

We have a lot of fog in the Pacific Northwest and the number of people who drive with no lights on is suicidal. Probably close to 40% just don't have a clue that they are rendered invisible on foggy days.