[Stoopy]

Saw something that really made me wonder last night.....

Was coming home, near my neighborhood at a busy intersection at about 8:00 PM. Totally dark nighttime. I'm sitting in the left turn lane, hangin' out, watching all the cars go by.

I saw a dark shadow and hear a familiar sound, and lo and behold, here's a black car going by with it's lights off. If I hadn't heard it I never woulda known it was there....and I'm thinking "Whatta dumb-bass, drivin' around with his lights off at night"....and then I see the rear of the car as it drives away and the reflection comes off the taillights.....it's the familiar shape of three vertical lights on each side........and that roofline....it's a new Mustang for cripes sake!!!

This really made me wonder. Personally I find it pretty hard to ignore details when driving this car because it's new, and exciting, and just seems to bring my driving senses to life. But........if I remember, aren't the dash lights actually ON during the day, with a white color, to help see the instruments even during daylight?

And WHAT IF someone had the IUP and their MyColor setting was set to white?? Would it make it easier to THINK your lights are on, when they're not? I mean I can tell, because I don't have Green, Blue, or Red.....but white sounds like a bad idea here for this reason.

Just postulatin'. Embarassed to see a fellow 'Stang driver doing this, and thinking of something to watch for.

 

[alkaline3]

I had mine set to "white" for about 2 days... it actually ended up being something like 3-4-3 or whatever to exactly match the way it looked with the lights off. More than once I was like, are my lights on?? So I'm back to red now to match the interior. I used to have a great sky blue, but I don't remember the settings, I'm sure I'll find it again. But yeah, from experience, setting mycolour to white or white-ish is just a baaaaaad idea

 

[Stoopy]

Ah! Thought so. I don't find white all that attractive so it hasn't happened to me, but I can easily imagine.

Now the next tricky question is.......say someone does this, forgets to turn their lights on as a result, and gets in a wreck. They get an attorney and go looking to sue the manufacturer for allowing it to happen (I'm not suggesting this is the right thing to do, but stupider lawsuits happen when people don't need to be responsible for themselves anymore)....who do they sue? Ford, or the party that claims to have really invented it - and sued Ford over the "MyColor" patent right infringement??

 

[Stoenr]

Even cars without the IUP, The dash lights are always white, lights on or off. This would make alot of cars out there in that situation.

Maybe he was doing a drive by? Or ditching the cops, lol

 

[Stoopy]

Right. But....with MyColor, I could see it confoosing the issue, as it did for alkaline for a coupla seconds at least.

LOL I have a long, and very stupid story, about ditching a law enforcement officer in an old Fiat X/1-9. Too long to tell here maybe. Short version is, some poor CHP officer was driving down a long, empty stretch of highway one night and had a pair of high beams come on immediately behind his car out of nowhere, then disappear. Meanwhile, a very young, very dumb, and very panicked, Fiat driver realized that driving down the moonlit highway at night with no lights, then suddenly turning them on when he comes up on smokie's rear, then turning them off again to not be seen, was really really really stupid beyond belief...but it got him to the next exit where he beat a hasty retreat!

 

[ixtlan]

C-Mon now.
Whith the exception of highly lit areas.
If someone is so freaking stupid that they cant tell thier lights are off.
And continue driving that way, perhaps they shouldnt be driving at all.
This is a no brainer Duuuhhh moment!!!!
:sterb:

 

[Stoopy]

Absolutely Agree!!!! Believe me, I'm not making excuses for that person! D'OH!!!

But the world is full of those types....and anyone can buy even a Mustang and drive off the lot without taking an IQ test.....maybe just asking the question here will help one of them think more about it.

But, that's assuming cell-phone-yakking distracted drivers take time to read forum posts. Or that any of the fine inteligent members here would even be susceptible to such a brain-fade moment. Maybe a long shot eh?

 

[66stang351]

Even cars without the IUP, The dash lights are always white, lights on or off. This would make alot of cars out there in that situation.

Maybe he was doing a drive by? Or ditching the cops, lol

Non IUP cars are white with the lights off and green with them on.

 

[alkaline3]

I agree you should be able to tell... but a lot of people drive in the city or on busy highways that are lit for them already. I usually pass at least one every 10 minutes or so when out at night... esp early night where it's quite clearly after dusk, some of them even have their ambers on suggesting that they just haven't cranked it over far enough. That and a lot of people are still used to the "man, these headlights SUCK!" common to just about every car in the 90's

So without the IUP the guages stay white? Interesting... I just assumed they'd be green to match the rest of the dash.

 

[Stoenr]

Non IUP cars are white with the lights off and green with them on.

Ohh yeah, you're right. Was a few months ago, and only had the rental a week.

 

[Kanno]

If aperson does have white and white couldn't they just look (or feel) at the headlight switch to see if the lights are on or not?

 

[Stoopy]

Sure, a person could do a lot of things along that line, if they thought of it, I imagine. This person didn't. Who knows why.

Was just curious if anyone agreed with my stoplight postulatin'. Had to do something to while away the time it took for the light to change.

 

[alkaline3]

If aperson does have white and white couldn't they just look (or feel) at the headlight switch to see if the lights are on or not?

Of course you could! I think the original question is pretty much in line with my thoughts on the subject... there are lots of ways to tell, but if you set it to white there's always the chance of a bit of a fake-out. Granted I put effort into making mine the EXACT same as with it off... but just sayin'. The couple times it happened to me, I was just pulling out of a parking lot or something so no big deal. Ways to tell:

1) That handy little green daytime running lights icon
2) The switch
3) The brightness of the radio etc
4) How bright the lights are

Point is... with it set to be identical, there's nothing obviously staring you in the face telling you the lights are on... for the record, every time it happened to me they were on. I just decided to change it since it's just one less thing to worry about. If you have the IUP, set it to (I think 3-4-3) match the same as "off" it'll catch you at least once in the first week

 

[Stoopy]

Ha! Knew there was somthin' to it!

High Five, alkaline3.......!:thumbsup

 

[Marcus GT]

This is a good reason for Daytime Running Lights. Fog lights on while the car is on for the GTs and regular lights for the 6ers. You would always be illuminated. I can see Ford getting sued for causing an accident for not having a safety feature like DRL because of some forgetful person.

 

[tbird]

Screw daytime running lamps, my lights will be on when I want them to be on. More big brother stuff. In relation to the first post did you ever notice when the dash color is set on blue how hard it is to see the high beam indicator?

 

[alkaline3]

Man...maybe it's because I'm 25 and Canadian and we got mandatory DRLs here about 15 years ago, but I still just don't get the rististance. I've heard some like, insane rants (elsewhere) that basically equate to "you'll have to kill be before I accept having any wee little lights on a 2pm!". I've also heard that they're a safety issue 'cause they're "blinding!"... never noticed that myself, maybe these people should take a swing by the optomotrist's place?

I like 'em. You can seriously see somebody comin' for a full minute or more before you'd pick up the outline of their neutral-coloured boringmobile (this would be out in the relative boonies of course). They're also kind of handy in the city for people who don't seem to realize that turning their lights on at dusk might be a half decent idea. DRLs aren't bright enough to be a substitute for headlights for the driver, so it's not like somebody's doing to be driving around at midnight thinking they've got their highbeams on or anything.

Just one of those things I've never really understood I guess