My wife and I are having a hard time getting used to the lack of an Auto position for the headlights on our Mk2 Focus Estate we bought a couple months ago

We have 2 cars, one has auto lighting, the other does not.

Does the lack of auto lighting bother me, not at all since we don't use it. I simply look out of the car and decide for myself when I need to turn the lights on.

I would suggest that if you are incapable of deciding when to turn the lights on yourself you should not be driving.

If that sound harsh so be it, it was intended too.

Wow, I actually thought I might get some courteous responses on this forum. I guess I was wrong.

Our previous car for 15 years had automatic headlights. So yes, we forget since having this car for a few weeks. So sorry.

And the auto dipping lights are only meant for load balancing. Haven't had that need yet. I didn't mean going from high beam to low beam.

Thanks for the (yes) obnoxious response. I'll keep my mouth shut from now on. Sheesh indeed.

In answer to the question : no, the switch on it's own is useless. There are sensors built into the back of the mirror housing for cars equipped with auto lights, and that sensor will not be present on your car.

However, I'd also have to agree with other posts. If you aren't capable of deciding for yourself whether or not your lights should be on, or if it is so stressful and difficult to switch them on/off when entering or exiting a tunnel, then I'd seriously doubt that you are competent behind the wheel.

And yet I (for example) manage to drive my wife's car (a Shogun) or my BMW with no difficulties.

In spite of the fact that the indicator/lights/wipers are on the oposite stalks on the Shogun than they are on my car.

It isn't at all difficult.

And you HAVE had accurate and hlpful replies. While some of those questioned your driving competence, none of them dropped so far as peurile insults. Which you have seen fit to do.

Which just makes me feel that the description of your driving capabilities is probably painfully close to the mark, if you take it so harshly, and lash out like that.

Hello,

I only just got chance to return to the forum since making my obnoxious post yesterday.

If you still happen to be visiting the site, Tailrob, then I do apologise to a fair extent: Due to a certain amount of misinterpretation, I just couldn't believe what I was reading.

I now understand that you meant Auto-Levelling rather than Auto-Dipping, which are rather different things.

And as someone else has suggested, if you really desire to have lights on on the car all the time, the simplest way is just to switch onto dipped headlights when you start the engine: Hopefully, after a liitle time, it would become routine habit for you and your wife; similar to plugging-in the seatbelt.

My consternation probably arose because of my hatred of the ever more automaticarisation of things and my worry that people become too (or completely) reliant on them. My wife's car has auto lights, but for HER safety I've set the function to disabled because one cannot trust it: Not infrequently, it will not turn on, or not turn off, the headlights when the driver commands it. Same goes for switching between dipped and high beam: I once had to pull-over and switch off the engine and restart, in order to get the lights back onto dip from main! Something is probably a bit faulty, but strangely the car is always behaving perfectly when the MOT test takes place.

Anyway, in summary, my revised response is: You could save money and hassle (and avoid the potential for the gizmo going wrong in future) just by switching dipped headlights on after starting the engine, and at night, if necessary, spending a few seconds twiddling the load-adjustment wheel until you can see that the beams are aimed correctly.

Cheers.

Well said, TC.

Perhaps it's best not to speculate on the motives or the mind-set of some who post here, but if we were to transpose some of the conversations into a face-to-face situation - at the bar in a pub, for example, I would imagine there would have been many fist-fights.

The anonymity of the internet allows or perhaps even encourages some people to say things they wouldn't dare to otherwise - more's the pity.