jmcraney

Are you telling us that your headlights will not go off automatically after you turn the ignition off, exit the car and close all doors and the trunk?

Or, are you telling us that your headlights will not go off automatically after they come on automatically when you transition from light to dark and then back to light?

Or, are you talking about something else?

Mikey100

Jeff: As we end 2011, I for one (and I feel I speak for many) wanted to send a BIG Thank You your way for all of the very helpful, well-written, and extremely educational posts you make here.
I have learned a lot of extremely useful information and help from all of your posts - Which adds up to a lot more enjoyment for Miss Barbie and me with our LS460.

Wishing you the VERY BEST for 2012 Jeff ! You are deeply appreciated here ! -

Mikey Lulejian - Lake Oconee, GA (now back to 'full pool' ! - Yea !)

CJITTY

I only use the fold in mirrors when out in a tight parking lot or if I ever happen to park on street,..I try to minimize the power fold mirror usage..I also drive with my navigation screen off unless I need it for xm traffic..little things here and there help

LXurious

I agree with you on the power fold mirror I need to cut down on the usage. But the Nav screen i think you should be fine I mean thats what you own the car for you to use all the features. Ive seen navs from 03 still work fine

Nvbanker

[Yes, the service record on my car was not the issue...once it cannot be sold as "certified", there is no interest from the Lexus dealer.

When I traded in my 2005 on my 2009, I had only 70,000 miles on it, and the Lexus dealer wholesaled it as well, yet, he has plenty of 07 LS460s on his used lot. None however, with over 50,000 miles on it. What happened with your LS400 is not indicative of what may happen today, the cars are different, and so are the times. I'm quite sure the 460 is not a dirty bomb on the used car market.

johnredd

the headlights will not go off automatically after you turn the ignition off, exit the car an close all doors and trunk! We went into walmart, came out an hour later and the lights were still on. This has happened several times also while in my garage. I verified that it is in the AUTO position.

jmcraney

Sounds like you may have a problem but I will review the operation just in case it may be helpful.

First, the "Auto position" that you are referring to has nothing to do with the headlights Auto Off feature. It, the Auto position on the stalk on the left side of the steering wheel, enables the autonomous control of the headlights on/off in response to ambient light conditions and is only active when the ignition is on. It is that feature, when enabled, that turns on your headlights when you start your car in a dark garage and then turns the off when get into the day light. And it turns your lights on automatically in the day time when you drive into tunnels. And it automatically turns your headlights on when you are driving during the transition from day to night. It is that sort of feature. It pretty well takes over operation of the headlights so that you don't have to worry about ever driving in low light conditions without your headlights on. It is a great safety feature.

The headlights Auto Off feature is an autonomous feature that can not be disabled - it is always enable. It automatically turns the headlights off any time the headlights are on when the ignition is turned off, after some conditions are met. The conditions that must be met are: at least one door opens after the ignition is turned off, followed by all doors and trunk closed, followed by a delay (the default delay is 30 seconds and can be customized by the dealer to 0 seconds or 60 seconds or 90 seconds). You can test this feature by turning the headlights on manually, or by setting the selector to Auto (testing in the Auto position has to be done in low light conditions) and then starting your car. Then turn the ignition off, open the drivers door (you can remain in the driver's seat if that suits you), close the drivers door and wait for the delay to expire (0-30-60-90 seconds depending on how it is set) - the headlights should go off automatically.

The headlight Auto Off feature can be defeated by turning the headlights off manually and back on manually after the ignition is turned off. Or, if the headlights are off when you turn the ignition off and you turn them on manually the Auto Off will not turn them off. If you have some reason to do this, the headlights Auto Off feature is reenabled as soon as you start the car.

I recently experienced a dead battery event that was caused by the headlights not turning off automatically. The root cause was a rear door that was not closed. I have the power door closers and by observation the door seemed to be closed. However, the power-close feature did not complete properly and the door was slightly ajar and prevented the headlights Auto Off from completing. When I got the car going I could see this open door status on my dash.

There are a couple of ways to guard against the open door gotcha. One is to always lock your car when you exit by depressing the lock button on the outside door handle or by pressing the lock symbol on your wireless remote key. If you get a long beep when you do that then a door is open. Of course if you are out of hearing range that may not work for you. The other way is to turn the headlights off with the wireless remote key. To do that you press the lock symbol on the wireless remote key twice and the headlight will be extinguished, even at a considerable distance.

edarte

So clear and precise it is a joy to read your posts jmcraney.

I sometimes wait in the car while my wife goes shopping. I have been annoyed by what I thought was the need to manually turn off the lights and then back to auto (so that function continues to work). This is a habit I picked up from my LS 430 when the battery went dead while my wife was on particularly long shopping expedition - in her defense the battery was due for replacement). However, from your post, perhaps I see the solution.

You state "at least one door opens after the ignition is turned off". Is it the case that if my wife gets out of the car before I switch off the ignition that the lights will not auto shut-off? All I have to do is make sure that my wife not exist until the car is off?

After my wife exists, am I right that pressing the start button again to turn on the radio will not interfere with the lights off function?

beun

Sorry for the late reply, I have 50k miles on the car now and I have always used the autofolding option. I haven't gotten around having it fixed yet.

jmcraney

Edarte,

Thank you for your kind words. Participating in these discussions has been fun and I often pick up tips that are useful in operating my car and dealing with its idiosyncrasies. Your tip for quenching the headlights by turning the selector off and then back to Auto after turning off the ignition seems to work well with the LS460s too. I use the method of opening and closing the door while staying in the drivers seat after I turn the ignition off if I am going to be a “standby chauffeur “ and want to listen to the radio – it seems to work okay even if I have gone to ACC power On before I do it.

There is a gotcha for both of our methods in that the pushbutton ignition sort of behaves different than the old key type operation. In the key operation it was sort of like a “bidirectional linear switch”, for want of a better description, which meant that you could go from OFF to ACC power on, so that the radio would work, and back to OFF without passing through IGN power on – one step clockwise and one step counterclockwise. The pushbutton system that many newer cars have is sort of like a “unidirectional circular switch” – every time you press it you go one step in a circular selection. That means that every time you press the button it takes you one step through a pattern of OFF-ACC-IGN-OFF-ACC-IGN etc. So, what I am trying to tell you is that you can’t get to OFF from ACC without passing through IGN and when you pass through IGN the headlights will be turned on if the headlight selector is not in the Off position or if it is Auto and the light conditions are low. This is a lot of double talk but the bottom line is: if you want to listen to the radio and you have successfully managed getting the headlights off and then you decide to take a nap and turn the ACC power off, the headlights will be turned back on and your nap will seem like a bad dream (dead battery). There is a sort of safeguard for this in that the ACC power has an automatic 30 minute timeout.

There is a Headlight Status indicator, above the tachometer, in the dash that is useful for monitoring the state of the headlights. When the indicator is illuminated (it’s a green headlight symbol), the headlights are on.

As for asking your wife to wait until the ignition is off to exit the car, if she is like most wives, a different headlight management method might be easier and more reliable. My wife takes commands about as well as my Lexus so I don’t involve her with getting the headlights off.

johnredd

I also want to express my thanks for the info on the headlights. I was not aware of the distinction between the auto off function and the auto function on the headlight switch.
lately, the lights have been working correctly, so I guess it was operator error. next time it happens, i will know what to look for to see if i really have a problem, or i just did not do the required steps for it to work.

Mikey100

Where's my Owner's Manual agin' ???

Has anyone seen it lately ???

LOL - Mikey Lulejian - Lake Oconee, GA -

dadopee

My original post some months back has taken a life of its own. However, the responses I received really never dealt with my particular issue which is: the headlight can be set to go off automatically when the ignition is turned off and I exit the car. The headlight now has to be turned off manually. Therein lies my problem. Any answers are appreciated

jmcraney

dadopee,

You wrote “Any answers are appreciated” so I hope you will not regard my response as argumentative or disrespectful. I have said some of this before but I will try to tailor this to your specific post.

The technology that automatically turns the headlights off, after you turn the ignition off and exit the car, can not be “set” or disabled. It is not controlled by a light sensor or switch. It always turns the headlights off when the necessary conditions are met, regardless of why the headlights are on.

Most cars that have been sold in the US for the past 30 or 40 years have been equipped with this technology, even those that don’t have the Auto On feature that controls the headlights in response to ambient light conditions. It is mature, reliable technology. A good way to understand that this stuff works is to scan a parking lot at a large sporting event to see how many people forgot to turn off their headlights – not many. Before the advent of this circuitry a parking lot scan would show many cars with their headlights on and by halftime most were just about dimmed out. Sears capitalized on this weakness and sold lots of Diehard batteries – remember those commercials. I realize that some of the participants in this discussion don’t have any idea what I am talking about.

I think what we need to do is devise a procedure that will allow you to test your Auto Off feature and then if it doesn’t work we will better know that there is a problem and perhaps what sort of problem.

Try this and let us know what happens:

1. Get into your car and close all the doors and trunk.

2. Set the headlight mode selector on the stalk on the left side to the steering wheel to ON (that is the position that has the headlight symbol).

3. Start the engine for a few seconds and then turn it off.

4. Exit the car and close and lock the doors using the button on the door handle (when you press that button the doors will lock and you will hear a short beep – if the beep is long then there is a problem).

5. Walk around to the front of the car and observe the headlights – they will extinguish after 30 seconds (30 seconds by default and up to 90 seconds by customization).

Mikey100

Jeff: You're showing your age ........LOL !

Great reply other than that (hope you're smiling on this).

Mikey Lulejian - Lake Oconee, GA