Auto Headlights on When Wipers On setting

Thanks a lot for that! Where is that from? If it's in the manual, I don't understand why I couldn't find it. I've been searching for a few things. I think that is the opposite of what I thought it would be, so that is very helpful.

 

I wondered about that. The headlights on my Prius Prime Advanced have a heavy draw, but they are much brighter. There was a criminal case involving some illegal street racers. Someone was killed as a result of their racing, and part of the prosecution's theory of the case was that one or both drivers had turned their headlights off because they thought getting rid of that tiny bit of extra load on the alternator might free up power that would let them go faster. I believe they were convicted. I always thought that could not make much difference in an ICE-powered car.

 

Speak to any number of attorneys and judges, and they will tell you that laws are constantly interpreted, even when they might seem clear. I'm not denying the apparent logic of your argument. I'm just telling you that that you do not understand how things work in the courts.

What constitutes what is "reasonable" in any situation is a matter for the trier of fact. Both sides make their arguments, and then the trier decides. It's not what any one person thinks is reasonable.

I have seen many auto accident cases in which the proper use of an automobile's equipment was a key factor. The more money involved, or, in the criminal arena, the worse the injuries, and the more things will be accident. Anything from whether someone was using their wipers, whether they had their headlights on, whether their lights functioned properly, and even the presence of and darkness of window tint or having things dangling from a rear-view mirror can be very important in determining fault.

I had a client who killed two little girls who ran out in front of his car. He never saw them coming. It was a weekend morning and he was driving his son and his son's friend to a cub scout meeting. He was not speeding, and he was not in any way impaired. It was quite obviously the girls' fault. Their mother was not supervising them. Nevertheless, they fully considered prosecuting him. If he had had so much as a graduation tassel hanging from his rear-view mirror, that would have been heavily scrutinized. The mother sued, of course. Over his objections, my client's insurance company settled the lawsuit to his policy limits, which really affected him psychologically (he saw it as assigning fault to him, but really it was just the company not wanting to pay to defend a claim they knew they'd lose).

In actuality, logic demanded that my client should have sued the girls' mother for the damage to his car. He did nothing wrong, while the mother had failed to keep her children out of the street. That would have been logical, but logic doesn't always matter.

 

It's not completely irrelevant because you had stated your belief that if you were involved in an accident and found to be at fault, whether your wipers or headlights were on would be "insignificant." The point I was making was that that would not necessarily be so. In a simple accident involving only limited property damage, there would not be much of investigation (if any). However, the more serious an accident, the more everything is looked into and the more things that might seem small end up mattering. My client's situation is particularly illustrative because it was a situation in which my client did nothing wrong, but still might have found himself in dire criminal trouble if he had done the slightest thing wrong. There are situations in which prosecutors want to prosecute (the death of children), and attorneys want to sue.

No, the girls did not commit suicide. Suicide is the intentional taking of one's own life. The girls were trying to cross the street. There was absolutely nothing to suggest they purposefully ran in front of his car (they were running to join some friends across the street). "Killing" is to deprive of life in any manner or cause the death of. It does not need to be an intentional act. My client most assuredly killed those girls, though it was certainly not intentional or even negligent.

You are right that the legal system can defy logic. In a situation like this if/then headlights scenario, it is wise to consider the intent of the law. Were it an unsettled matter of tax law, it might be advisable to use the logical interpretation that suits you best and see what happens.

You asked earlier what cars I have that will turn headlights off when I turn them off manually. My Toyota Prius Prime does that, and I've owned other cars that do. When you turn the headlights on manually, they are on. However, when you park your car, if you don't turn them off, they automatically turn off when you open your door.

 

1) That was a typo which I'll correct. If you turn the headlights in my Prius Prime on manually, they will still go off automatically when you park and get out of the car.

2) You asked a very specific question. You asked, and I quote, "What cars do you own that will turn the headlights off when you turn them on manually?" That is the question I answered. If you want to define them as still somehow automated, that is a different matter. They do automatically turn off. That does not change the answer to your question, does it?

3) Yes, you have made it clear you will rely on your own opinion. I will rely on my legal education and years of practicing law. I'm sure you, like most people, have areas of knowledge in which you are very advanced or even expert. Some of those areas are likely things I know little about. I would defer to your knowledge in those areas, which would be logical.

 

There is no "should" as to how manually-activated lights turn off. What would such a "should" be based on?

I'm not sure what you're talking about in the last three sentences in your post. You say it is unlikely that anyone will be harmed by headlights that turn off automatically when a door is opened. I didn't say that would harm anyone. As far as expectations as to how headlights on a modern, advanced car should operate, the operation of headlights is changing all the time with new innovations. I think consumers can only expect change.

 

I park in my garage, and my driveway is lit. I don't find myself parking many places that are dark. In any event, we are talking about the manual setting. If you walk away from your car with the headlights set to manual, and you're gone for any amount of time, you're going to come back to a drained (or partially drained) battery. That is when the automatic headlights are good. When you leave your car, they remain on for a set period of time in my Prius Prime, and in the Clarity, and in most cars.