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Daytime running lights (DRL)

99K views 188 replies 69 participants last post by  ALJ1993 
#1 ·
I would like to purchase a 2012 Focus with DRL. The dealer says this option is not available. How can this be when Fleet vehicles and Canadian Cars have this feature? There must be some way to activate this feature!!! Anyone
know how?
 
#5 ·
x2. IMHO, I think they can become dangerous in some situations. Example would be. Driver with DRL heads out just after dark, forgets to turn on the ACTUAL headlights due to there DRL's and is going down the freeway. Trucks and cars have a harder time seeing them from a distance with no tail lights.
 
#10 ·
The "people will forget to turn their full headlights on" argument is lame--especially since more and more cars (including the Focus) have automatic headlights. In the city with lots of street lights, the people that forget to turn their lights on are going to forget to turn their lights on whether or not they have DRL's. If anything, DRL's are better than nothing in situations like that.

Canada and Scandinavian countries didn't make them mandatory for no good reason.

We have tons and tons of big trees, big hills, and curvy roads where I live, and that means big shadows on the road and lots of spots for cars to disappear--even during the daytime. I don't want to be one of those cars that disappears and have someone pull out in front of me because they don't see me coming.

I agree the LED euro DRL's would look tight, but I'd settle for low-power incandescent ones if that were available to non-fleet buyers.
 
#14 ·
I wonder why my local dealer says "Ford does not offer them as an option".
Because dealers for the most part don't know s[:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)] about their own cars and they'll just tell you whatever pops into their head that they think sounds good under the assumption that customers don't know crap. Ironically, customers often know more about the car than the salesman does. I've actually heard of a salesman on a Jeep lot who was looking under the dash of a Jeep Wrangler for the hood release.

In the Focus the lights are activated by a rotating knob that has three positions. Position 1 is amber running lights (parking lights). Postion 2 turns on the head lamps and position 3 is daytime running lamps. If you have fog lights they are activated by small button next to the headlamp knob.



You can see the headlamp knob in the lower left of the dash. It has four lighted positions. Off, parking lights, headlamps and finally daytime running lamps. It's factory.
 
#13 ·
I tried to order them when I placed my order with the commercial/fleet salesperson (credit union car buying service contact at dealer), and he said it had to be ordered under a fleet contract and have a fleet ID no. entered with the order. I wonder if Sayer's car was ordered as a fleet vehicle and then sold as normal inventory when a fleet buyer changed its mind. Who knows? Just kooky that they obviously can add it to any car but don't. Also wonder why they didn't offer the HID's and LED DRL's as an option. I would happily have paid $500...maybe $1,000 for those if they had been offered. Oh well.

Again, if anyone gets a wiring diagram and can determine if it's just a matter of popping in a relay somewhere, please let us know.
 
#17 ·
I concur. There are 3 positions: Parking lamps, headlights on, and auto headlights.

Can't help with a factory solution, but here's what I did:



Philips LED DRLs. They automatically come on when you start the car, and you can wire them to stay on or shut off when you turn the headlights on. They look much more impressive in person...very bright, white, crisp light. Looks identical to Audi, Mercedes, etc.

Tony
 
#22 ·
Great! Where do you get them? How hard are they to install?
carbulbsdirect.com They're in Europe, but the shipping was surprisingly fast - and free I might add.

Install wasn't too bad, but I wouldn't call it easy. Time consuming is more like it. But only because I had to keep trimming the plastic in the grill until they fit "just right". And the bracket they are supposed to be mounted in wouldn't fit so I used 3M double sided tape on both the top and bottom of the housing so they wouldn't go anywhere. Wiring was easy, although I haven't hooked up the wire to switch them off when the lights come on yet, but I can't imagine it will be that hard.

The easiest place to have installed them would have been right below the blue Ford oval, spaced as far apart as possible. But I didn't like the way they looked there. But the install would have been about a quarter of the time.

Tony
 
#41 ·
Same here. I have an SE hatch, and had mine turned on when I took delivery. They are not full power...I checked in my garage. When you turn the headlights on, they become brighter. I had a Fiesta, and the dealer turned them on for me on it, too. If the relay is present, they 'put it on the computer and just tell the car to activate them.' Here in NY, it can cut your insurance by as much as 15%.
 
#24 ·
What do you mean "turn them on"? What did they do to activate them? Did your car have them listed as an option on the window sticker? They are listed as an option on the full options list, so I tried to order them, but I was told they were only available for fleet orders.
 
#25 ·
I'm not sure why the dealer said they weren't avail. I had the dealer activate mine tho i'm not sure they did it correctly... The h'lights do go on but so do all the other lights, side marker, licence plate, tail lights, etc.
Is this normal??!! It doesn't seem right to me.
I live very close to canada and the canadian fords (all of them) have DRLs by law and ONLY the h'lights are on... no other lights.
Any opinions? thnx
 
#26 ·
I asked for my dealer to "activate" them, and this was exactly the result. I later learned that all of the interior lights (switch backlights, essentially) are always lit, but my when my dealer supposedly turned on the DRL's, I had all exterior lights on at all times--and I couldn't turn the fog lights on or the headlights off (as long as the engine was running). NOT DRL's.

I later installed the Philips DRL's and have been very happy with them.
 
#27 ·
the owner's manual (and other sources )say that the DRLs can be activated
which i had done but nowhere does it say all my lights are on all the time..which doesn't seem correct.
All my exterior lights are on , including the license plate light, when the car is running.
Whats really odd is that fords in canada where DRLs are mandatory and standard have ONLY the headlights on... no other lights.
As well, the manual says the lights are on at reduced power however when, in the dark, i switch from DRLs to reg. headlights i see no difference so i say the DRL headlights are on full power all the time.

To my thinking DRLs should be headlights only not the other lights...What's ur opinion or experience?
 
#28 ·
I just purchased a US 2012 Focus and imported it to Canada. Federal law up here requires daytime running lights or you cannot register/insure the car.

I knew this beforehand, so I asked the dealer to look at the car and see if they could activate the DRL - they were unable to do so. No exact reason was given except that they contacted Ford and were told it was not possible.

I imported the car and took it to my dealer for the same reason - activate the DRLs: they initially claimed it was a setting in the car's computer and it would be no problem.

They tried for about an hour to figure it out - called Ford - and were told the software set-up was different on US cars and DRLs could not be activated.

Now, I am forced to go with an aftermarket option.

None too happy about this. Anyone out there have a similar experience. I am not convinced that they cannot be activated. This is primarily because I don't feel I've been given a reasonable explanation as to why they cannot turn them on.
 
#29 ·
What dealer are you going to. It has been done by other forum members in the US. I would try a different dealer such as WhiteRock Ford.

If you got to the "DRL site" even they state the 2012 DRL is computer programable for on or off

http://www.lightsout.org/disable.html#Ford


Ford

2012+ models. It appears that DRLs are a configurable option on the vehicle's computer. A Ford dealer should be able to connect to the OBD port on the vehicle and disable the DRLs. The aftermarket may also have tuners that can connect to the computer with the ability to disable DRLs.
 
#31 ·
Different module



Somethings not adding up here: two Ford dealers have been unable to activate the DRLs. They claim the US made 2012 Focus has a different module that cannot be programmed for DRL.

It's all become very confusing. I find it hard to believe Ford could be bothered to put different modules in Canadian cars than for the rest of the world. Especially on this car which they are trying to bill as an international platform.

I wonder if anyone has a 2012 Focus and taken to have the DRLs turned on - perhaps there is someone who knows how they did it.
 
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