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Big New Battery Saves Idiot - 2005 Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG Long-Term Road Test
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Big New Battery Saves Idiot - 2005 Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG Long-Term Road Test
Edmunds.com conducts a long-term test of a 2005 Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG and finds that you can leave the headlights on for a long time if the battery is fresh.
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All of my much lesser Acuras sound a chime and after about 1 minute, will shut off the headlights if the engine is off.
A pretty big oversight to not include auto-off headlights in this car. This is from 2005, not 1985.
People always act surprised, but no German cars have auto-off headlights unless you leave the headlights in Auto mode (which is pretty much the default in most situations). The ON setting is there so that you can leave the headlights illuminated even if the car is not on. This is overwhelmingly how European cars are setup. In the past there were certain situations in European driving codes where a parked car needed to have its headlights on, thus creating a need for this setting. I feel like that isn't the case anymore, though, and this may simply be a legacy touch.
My Acura will turn off the lights after a set time after you close the door. If you turn off the car and don't get out it will turn them off after 10 minutes to save the battery. Even then the headlights on chime is very different from the key in ignition and gets your attention. And this may be a necessity in Europe but this is America. A simple software flash of the auto lights module could solve this.
@allthingshonda,
The headlights do turn off automatically, but only when in Auto mode. Jason turned the headlights to the ON position and there is no such off feature there. Also, the headlights-on chime is different from the regular chime. However, I can see how Jason would have tuned it out. Keyless Go cars chime every time you open a door to remind you to take your key. I can see how someone would get desensitized to any chiming noise at all.
On my dads mercedes you could override the dusk sensor in "auto" mode by turning on the fog lights, then the lights would shut off when you turn off the car like they normally do.
Wait, who are you again? When did and why are you working at Edmunds?
I thought almost all modern cars would at least go back to parking lights when the ignition is turned off with the lights left on. Thats what my E46 does, and IIRC all BMWs my family has had/currently has. Not sure about my old Jeep but I'd say parkers only without the ignition turned to on.
Must be some kind of Benz thing...