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Cold Weather Headlights On

by Larry Roll December 27, 2004



I am visiting my family in the Buffalo, NY area over the Christmas holiday. I arrived Christmas Eve, and Christmas morning my brother found that my Corolla's headlights were on. He said the dimmer/turn signal stalk was in the forward, or high beam position, and that pushing it back caused the lights to extinguish. I don't know how long the lights were on. The Corolla was not driven that day, but today (12/26) I did not have any problem starting it.

Questions:

Has any one else experienced this anomaly recently? It has been reported before on '03 Corollas -- have any '04 or '05 Corolla owners had this problem?

Does anyone know of a TSB which addresses this problem? I don't recall anyone saying one had come out, but I believe the owner who reported this issue a couple of years ago said her dealer replaced her dimmer/turn signal stalk.

Any help or further information would be appreciated.

Guest Corollasroyce

Ive never had the problem.....never heard any TSBs about it either...

Hello Larry. See corollatoys.com, and read technical service bulletin EL003-03 dated 3/13/03. It may be related to your problem. Hope this helps.

Keith:

I tried that web site, but the link to that TSB didn't seem to work.

The temperatures were in the single digits here in the Buffalo area tonight, and I noticed that the headlights were on again. I just barely moved the turn signal stalk and they extinguished. I will take that TSB number to the dealer and see if they can fix it. Thanks!

Any other comments about this would be appreciated, particularly if they are based on actual experience with this problem.

That's weird. Your first time, I'm thinking, you know . . . Santa. But then the second time, that's kind of scary if the lights run down your battery and leave you stranded.

I just went out to my 05 CE and found that without a key in the ignition, if you pull *back* on the stem, the headlights come on as long as you hold it, but a spring turns them off when you let go. Could it be that the spring is frozen/worn/combo of the two and the handle somehow settles into the on position?

On my '86 Camry I loved the feature that you could leave on your headlights and they would automatically turn OFF. That's when I really got into the habit of turning my lights on during the day for safety. With daytime running lights on the Corolla it's no longer a conscious issue.

Does anyone know if Corolla headlights are eventually supposed to extinguish themselves when the engine is off for awhile? It's hard to believe that designers would back off from such a great innovation. No idea how the mechanism worked. It sounds you have it in reverse.

Guest Corollasroyce

No i don't think the corollas are setup to turn the lights off, my ex g/f has a 03 and she left the lights on one day after leaving the underground parking and going to the mall, the battery was dead and i had to go jump start it, so unless they changed it sence 03....my mothers subaru impreza has the same thing your camry did, you never had to turn the lights off, when the car shut off and keys came out , lights went off, foglamps included.

  • 1,424 posts

The DRL have an auto on/off feature. When you start the car, release the parking brake and drive off, the DRL's come on. However, if the light level outside falls below a certain level, the full lights come on as well as the tail lights. This is fully automatic, and if you let the lights turn themselves on automatically, then they turn themselves off automatically as well. If you happen to turn the lights on with the switch, then they won't go off automatically, and you must turn them off with the switch.

Guest Corollasroyce

not on all of them....we discussed this in another thread , but mine and a few others here lights do NOT come on unless turned on, same goes for tail lights, and yes if park brake is set DRL;s will not come on untill its released...

  • 1,424 posts

I think that what we decided was that the American bound Corollas had auto on/off lights, and the Corollas going to Canada didn't. All four of the cars on my local dealers lot have the auto on/off. The two '05 CEs were built in Canada, and the '05 XRS and LE that I test drove were made in Cali. However, all of these cars were delivered to Ohio.

If you look under safety features in the brochure and on the American Toyota website, it clealy states DRL with auto on/off feature.

I don't know why Toyota would put auto on/off lights on the American Corolla and not on the Canada model.

On a side note, the Focus I had for a loaner for my Contour had auto off lights. It cut the low beams when you turned the car off, but not the parking lights, so you could still kill the battery if you forgot to turn the car off.

Ti-Jean

The headlights ON warning chime should warn a "negligent" driver when the key is removed from the ignition switch that the lights were inadvertantly left ON.

For one, I don't miss the auto on/off lights. I prefer to decide myself when to turn them on or off. Just looking at the unlit instruments and I know that it's dark enough, or not. If not, the DRL will be on the remainder of the time. To me, it's more of a gadget than anything else.

I would much prefer variable intmt wipers on the CE instead. Or the 195 tires, the tweeters in the front doors...

The headlights ON warning chime should warn a "negligent" driver when the key is removed from the ignition switch that the lights were inadvertantly left ON.

For one, I don't miss the auto on/off lights. I prefer to decide myself when to turn them on or off. Just looking at the unlit instruments and I know that it's dark enough, or not. If not, the DRL will be on the remainder of the time. To me, it's more of a gadget than anything else.

I would much prefer variable intmt wipers on the CE instead. Or the 195 tires, the tweeters in the front doors...

I agree, Ti-Jean: for me, the instrument lights and chime are enough of a reminder to turn lights off.

 

Wow, I can't believe there are recent cars (any cars, let alone the sophisticated 05 Corollas) that are without intermittent wipers. My 97 SD doesn't, but then it doesn't have anything...

Ti-Jean

They are intmt, but not variable intmt wipers.

Just the usuful feature that you appreciate often and that doesn't cost much more.

Ti-Jean, what's the difference?

For instance my 97 has 3 settings for wipers, I think (which is annoying).

I always thought intermittent wipers were those that, in addition to fixed settings (like mine), it also has a thing that turns, offering infinite setting, theoretically. Is variable intermittent something extra to this?

Ti-Jean

Ti-Jean, what's the difference?

For instance my 97 has 3 settings for wipers, I think (which is annoying).

I always thought intermittent wipers were those that, in addition to fixed settings (like mine), it also has a thing that turns, offering infinite setting, theoretically. Is variable intermittent something extra to this?

No, that's it. Variable intmt. Just as you mention.

 

Whereas ordinary intmt wipers, like those on my CE, only have a fixed setting at the intmt position. No adjustability.

Whatever happened to auto-killing the headlights after turning off the engine and then opening the door? I've always been happy to have this feature because it means I never walk away and leave the headlights on. Don't see why modern Corollas wouldn't have that feature.



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