futurefordfusion Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 I discovered the exterior lights on my 2012 Fusion SEL do not turn off automatically if one leaves them on accidentally, the car will just allow the battery to run down. Is there a way to enable automatic headlight / parking light shut off? My 1999 Dodge shut off all exterior lights after 8 minutes when the engine was off, so I'm surprised a more modern car doesn't do this by default. Thanks for any assistance! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefoeyouknow Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 They should. They draw after the battery saver relay which kills after 10 minutes. If it doesn't, you have a problem and probably need it addressed. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futurefordfusion Posted January 11, 2014 Author Share Posted January 11, 2014 Does the battery saver relay include parking lights too? Our military base requires parking lights, which are easy to leave on. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefoeyouknow Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 From the Workshop manual: Battery Saver NOTE: Time-out is 1 minute if the vehicle has less than 80 km (50 miles). The battery saver is internal to the SJB and provides automatic shut-off of the headlamps and parking lamps after 10 minutes in order to save battery voltage. A timer is started when the ignition switch is turned to the OFF position with the headlamp switch in the HEADLAMPS ON position, or the headlamp switch is placed in the HEADLAMPS ON position with the ignition switch off. When the time-out period has elapsed, the voltage is automatically shut off to the lamps by the battery saver. The battery saver does not control the parking lamps if the headlamp switch is in the PARKING LAMPS ON position. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futurefordfusion Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 From the Workshop manual: Battery Saver NOTE: Time-out is 1 minute if the vehicle has less than 80 km (50 miles). The battery saver is internal to the SJB and provides automatic shut-off of the headlamps and parking lamps after 10 minutes in order to save battery voltage. A timer is started when the ignition switch is turned to the OFF position with the headlamp switch in the HEADLAMPS ON position, or the headlamp switch is placed in the HEADLAMPS ON position with the ignition switch off. When the time-out period has elapsed, the voltage is automatically shut off to the lamps by the battery saver. The battery saver does not control the parking lamps if the headlamp switch is in the PARKING LAMPS ON position. Thank you for posting this information! Wow, what a crazy engineering decision. If you leave the headlights on (most easily seen), the car protects itself from battery exhaustion. If you have the parking lights on (much harder to see during the day, and easily confused wtih the automatic parking lights going on everytime you open/close a door day and night), then the car will just let the battery run down to zero so you are stranded. By contrast, Chrysler protects the battery in *both* conditions. Dodge 1 , Ford 0. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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