parking lights won't turn off my brand new car

I just got an 05 legacy and it now has about 1400 miles on it. I noticed today that my parking lights do not turn off when the car is off. Any ideas on what is going on?? I have unhooked the + terminal on the battery so it does not die on me for a temp. fix.

Um, check the parking light switch on the top of the steering column. Gets switched easy when cleaning.

Ahh another person who didn't RTFM.

Um, check the parking light switch on the top of the steering column. Gets switched easy when cleaning.

 

+1

Ahh another person who didn't RTFM.

 

+1:D

The switch is easy to overlook and at the same time very easy to turn on. It's a Subaru quirk--should be in a different place.

Gee friggin' wiz. Wow.

Parking lights are useless for the most part. Most people never use them and when they do, they use parking lights instead of headlights.

 

-S

 

The switch is easy to overlook and at the same time very easy to turn on. It's a Subaru quirk--should be in a different place.

 

+1

 

I too hit mine on my WRX, thought I did something wrong while doing a mod. Why does Subaru have a switch just for parking lights when everyone else has theirs with the headlights?

Any reason why they have a separate switch for them anyway? I know subaru how's done that forever my 87' winter beater has one as well.

Maybe to conserve energy when you don't need your head lights on. Only time I ever use parking light is when I drive thru the NY tunnels.

but we have DRL's. And if you've done the mod to remove those the parking lights are one click short of the headlights on the indicator stick.

With that switch, the parking lights will stay on without the keys in the ignition. The headlight parking lights turn off when you turn off the car.

 

I assume this is so if you have to abandon your car on the side of the road at night, you can leave the parking lighs on so no one smashes into your car.

i guess that makes sense.

With that switch, the parking lights will stay on without the keys in the ignition. The headlight parking lights turn off when you turn off the car.

 

Ding Ding!! We have a winner!!

 

It's so you can turn the parking lights on when the ignition is off. Most other manufacturers don't require the ignition to be on for the headlights/parking lights to operate, so the extra switch isn't needed.

 

Turning the headlights off with the ignition is a nice feature, IMO. I do, however, agree that the placement of the parking light switch is awkward...

Wish I had a dollar for every one of these posts....

Wow... we went to the car wash today and immediately afterwards had what my Dad thought was an "electrical problem." This evening, we had neighbors coming by and ringing our doorbell telling us about our lights. So, I searched this forum and found this thread... We probably avoided the ridicule of our dealership THANK YOU!

when i saw the switch after a day or two driving the car i thought it was back up parking sensors or something. after inspecting whether i hear a beep when comming close to an object or just looking at the rear bumper and not seeing the sensors i searched through the owners manual for an answer.

In Europe it is common and it may even be a law, I can't remember, when parking your car on the side of the road to leave your parking lights on at night or during low visibilty. In fact you could just turn on the left side lights on most cars over there instead of both sides.

^--- Wouldn't that lead to a lot of dead batteries? I've left my LGT's trunk unknowingly popped for a day and a half and the battery was somewhat drained from the light in the trunk.

^--- Wouldn't that lead to a lot of dead batteries? I've left my LGT's trunk unknowingly popped for a day and a half and the battery was somewhat drained from the light in the trunk.

 

It never became an issue, though I'm sure if your battery was marginal or low on charge it could. Maybe there's a lower voltage setting like our DRLs? It seemed as if the maintenance was stressed more over there, and with all the harsh conditions in winter and the possiblity of high speed driving likely making maintenance a serious issue. I know for a fact that when i brought my American car over to drive in Germany, it failed inspection for three items, one of the failures being that I had mismatched pattern headlight bulbs. So that gives you an idea how anal they were. I know too that if your car has a certain percentage of rust on the frame/subframe it will not be cleared to drive. A few of my coworkers ran into that.

moved to exterior

IBevictedtologansrun

I assume this is so if you have to abandon your car on the side of the road at night, you can leave the parking lighs on so no one smashes into your car.

 

But wait, couldn't you just turn on the flashers?

 

G