Auto off headlights?
 

If I leave my headlights in the on position and lock the car they don't automatically turn off. I sat there for 2 minutes after I locked the car and the lights remained on. I thought the 370 was equipped with auto off headlights?

set your headlights to the "auto" position.
they will turn on automatically in the dark and they will turn off automatically after you turn the car off. i think it takes 45 seconds or so before they shut off.

I hate the auto headlights function, they reduce the life of your bulbs for instance if you park in a garage... cause they turn on when you start the car and then turn off 10 seconds later when you're in the sunlight... ><

but on the topic yes there is a delay in the lights to turn off and if you go into the settings you'll be able to change it from a 0 second delay all the way to like 2 mins...

An extra minute won't reduce the life of the bulb my much.

Technically...your headlights are suppose to be on in a parking garage anyways :p So it's ok....and that won't kill your bulbs anyways I'm sure

I think what the OP is wondering is, if you have the headlights on in the normal on (not auto) position, will they by default, shut off? My SUV does that as a battery safe guard but to be honest, I never tried it with my 370.

From the owners manual:

The dealer can adjust the length of time the lights stay on, and how quickly they come on, if you do not have the factory Nav.

they won't shut off unless you have them in the auto selection.

That is correct

I thought i read in the manual that the vehicle will turn off the interior and exterior lights after 5 min to preserve the battery if you accidentally left them on, see page 2-31 in the owner's manual

the issue isn't with the extra mins it's on the issue is with them coming on for 10 seconds while you're in the garage and then them turning off once you're out of the garage or car park or what have you... it's the turning off and on that's the issue...

This is the very reason our Z is never on the Auto setting. Shame. :shakes head:

Can you explain why it is an issue?

It is hard the ballasts and the bulbs.

Even though it supposedly lowers the lifespan of the HIDs, I'm a little skeptical if you would really notice a major difference in the real world. I don't see bulbs failing within a year, or even within 5 years. Most estimates of the lifespan of these bulbs is like 2000-3000 hours which translate to over 100,000 miles.

So who knows, personally it would just be an excuse for me to get better bulbs lol

I agree on the average Life span. I had a Bmw with Xenons HID, and my daytime light were pretty much always on, and after 5 years of ownership, right before it got sold to buy my Z, I had no replacement bulbs to be done.

to answer the OP, they will turn off after 5 mins. i leave my parking lights on a lot like this since i have the LED's and use them as DRL's.

Then our car doesn't have daytime running lights? (Forgive me, as I've driven my Z only two or three times due to the terrible winter weather here.)

yep. was washing my car at night one time and there wasn't much light so i turned on the lights. still ended up washing in the dark...

I'm not aware of any DRL's on the Z. You either have your HID's on and/or parking lights on.

Ditto or on the Max, that constant on and off is not good for HIDS. My neighbor has had to replace both HIDS on his 07 IS350 just for that reason, leaving them in auto all of the time now he doesn't..... I also hate the way Nissan designs the the light switch with off followed by auto, I think it should be off/Parking light/On/Auto.

To stop that, I just go to auto when I need the lights on.

I completely agree with this.... there should be direct access to the lower light

Amen!

How stupid is it that going from OFF-Auto-Parking-ON gets the bulbs cycled on/off twice? So if you keep your lights off and decide to turn them on in a dark location, they get turned on twice. It's stupid they didn't put a few second delay when going from OFF or Auto to ON (or put Parking next in the sequence after OFF).

Little things like this make me remember why my old Audi was so nice.

+ Rep to the first person who figures out how to rewire the stalk harness to rearrange the lighting order.

I'm not too big a fan of the auto light feature either. It was super sensitive and would turn on while just cruising under every single overpass. I was able to adjust the sensitivity tho with the nav. You can also adjust the delay(with nav) for when you turn off your car. I have the lights set to turn off immediatly when i shut my driver side door.

Can someone please confirm this? Thanks...

As I stated earlier, read the manual, page 2-31.

The lights will definitely go off after a while.......however....you'll have to have jumper cables to start the car afterward......:-)

Sorry....first post....couldn't resist....picking up a convertible z this weekend and been lurking here for quite a while

majorbanjo, normal is right. The 370Z can be driven and turned off with the headlights in the fully on position without any ill effects (except more use of bulb hours for daytime driving and 5 min. left on after car is turned off, if 5 min. of lost battery power worries you). I tested this today, thanks normal!

If you decide to turn your lights on in a dark location, wouldn't they turn on with the "Auto" feature? So why would you need to switch them all the way to "On"?

If you want them on, and they don't come on when you switch to Auto, THEN you could switch them to On. I don't see a problem. ;)

I agree with you. However, the only problem is when you switch from the on position back down to off position the lights will go of and then on again when the switch goes passes the auto position.

I find this to be extremely annoying. WTF were they thinking? :mad:

:iagree:

If you look at all your dials, AC... Auto is always first... I do agree they should of put Auto on the light switch last...

Good point. I hadn't thought of that. In general, this would just discourage me from using the "On" position, more than anything.

I do agree that their arrangement could be better.

my other car, a subaru has it in exactly that order. off, parking, on, auto. im not sure bout other manufacturers.

Our Dodge Dakota has Auto, Off, Parking Lights, On...

I think Nissan wasn't thinking.