Parking Lights - why don’t they stay on when parked (off/away) as their purpose is?

[BassWinger]

Pardon my ignorance but I’ve only been driving for 35 years or so, mostly European cars. But all of my cars in my “fleet”, and ones which have come and gone, all have had parking lights you would use for parking in dimly lit areas so the car is seen. Parking lights are designed for this purpose, they use minimal power, and with the Mercedes-Benz models (anything German, really) even selectable between drivers side, or passenger side, so the car isn’t accidentally sideswiped and uses even less power.

But my Air, while it has a parking lights setting, just turns off once the car locks up. That’s against the functions need, yeah? Am I doing something wrong.

 

[segbrk]

You're not missing anything, there is no option to leave them on with the car locked. I've never seen anyone actually use parking lights that way (in the US or Europe). We just call them side lights here and most have no idea what they're for. Don't get me wrong, I do see the reason for using them while parked, but I suspect it has been overlooked because hardly anyone at Lucid or in the initial customer base actually uses them that way. Maybe we'll see that option added as Lucid increases its European presence.

 

[BassWinger]

You're not missing anything, there is no option to leave them on with the car locked. I've never seen anyone actually use parking lights that way (in the US or Europe). We just call them side lights here and most have no idea what they're for. Don't get me wrong, I do see the reason for using them while parked, but I suspect it has been overlooked because hardly anyone at Lucid or in the initial customer base actually uses them that way. Maybe we'll see that option added as Lucid increases its European presence.

Thanks for the reply, that’s what I was thinking was the case, sadly. Could have used them last night. Mildly annoying. But I use mine so I’m the oddball out! I paid for that feature and I like the safety benefits of using them too.
There’s a lot of acceptance of being an early adopter so I’m not too concerned with it - there are plenty of other “ideals” to be addressed, software wise, still. All in good time.

 

[doubletwist]

Been driving for 35 years and I've never even heard of anyone intentionally leaving any kind of car light on 24/7 while not in the vehicle regardless of how dark an area it was parked in. Hell, prior to the move to LED bulbs in cars, that would have guaranteed a dead battery by morning so nobody in their right mind would have done it on purpose.

 

[Pragmatic]

Required when parking in England.

Parking lights - what are they and should I use them? | RAC Drive

The law says parking at night without leaving on your sidelights is illegal in some circumstances. So when exactly do you need to use your parking lights?

www.rac.co.uk

 

[BassWinger]

Required when parking in England.

Parking lights - what are they and should I use them? | RAC Drive

The law says parking at night without leaving on your sidelights is illegal in some circumstances. So when exactly do you need to use your parking lights?

www.rac.co.uk

Indeed it’s law in some places. And practical, convenient, and safe in others. (And no, flashing hazard lights aren’t an ideal substitute. Very inelegant!)

 

[kort6776]

a parking light like this is not usually on cars made for the US market. some european cars that make it to the US have them but they are rare. A US car like the lucid will not have them and I don't know if the few cars exported have them

 

[BassWinger]

a parking light like this is not usually on cars made for the US market. some european cars that make it to the US have them but they are rare.

All American made cars and Japanese cars, I’ve owned have them too. Granted, it’s been a while.

 

[kort6776]

All American made cars and Japanese cars, I’ve owned have them too. Granted, it’s been a while.

really? I have never seen an american car with the euro style parking light that is illuminated on one side. could you tell me which US made car or japanese car sold in the US has those parking lights?

 

[BassWinger]

really? I have never seen an american car with the euro style parking light that is illuminated on one side. could you tell me which US made car or japanese car sold in the US has those parking lights?

No, not one side. This post is talking bare minimum of the four corners being used. I wasn’t sure what “this” was when you said that and topic of this post. The left - right, functionally is pretty German specific.

 

[RoninHard]

Was totally lost concerning parking lights. Had to look it up. All cars that I have owned have had them. I just called them running lights (not to be confused with daytime running lights). I've never known what they were used for as I don't think I've ever known anyone to use them for visibility while parked. And for anyone whom is still confused as to how to turn them on, just find your headlight control and it is usually the first click after "off". I feel real stupid now that I know what parking lights are and how they are used.

 

[fadooly]

Pardon my ignorance but I’ve only been driving for 35 years or so, mostly European cars. But all of my cars in my “fleet”, and ones which have come and gone, all have had parking lights you would use for parking in dimly lit areas so the car is seen. Parking lights are designed for this purpose, they use minimal power, and with the Mercedes-Benz models (anything German, really) even selectable between drivers side, or passenger side, so the car isn’t accidentally sideswiped and uses even less power.

But my Air, while it has a parking lights setting, just turns off once the car locks up. That’s against the functions need, yeah? Am I doing something wrong.

I wish lucid had the same

parking lights are meant when the car running or parking temporarily and they consume power

A lot of times I park I dark areas and I wish I could just keep one side on to make other oncoming drivers aware

I think most euro cars make you do that and choose which side to be on but dimmed enough for other drivers to see you

 

[borski]

Lucid calls them "position lights" in the manual, which is another common name for them. But yeah, I've never heard of anyone leaving them on overnight or while the car isn't runing.

 

[BassWinger]

Was totally lost concerning parking lights. Had to look it up. All cars that I have owned have had them. I just called them running lights (not to be confused with daytime running lights). I've never known what they were used for as I don't think I've ever known anyone to use them for visibility while parked. And for anyone whom is still confused as to how to turn them on, just find your headlight control and it is usually the first click after "off". I feel real stupid now that I know what parking lights are and how they are used.

The issue I have is that they don’t stay on with the car locked and off.

 

[BassWinger]

Lucid calls them "position lights" in the manual, which is another common name for them. But yeah, I've never heard of anyone leaving them on overnight or while the car isn't runing.

I wouldn’t leave them on overnight for sure, but to park a car in an underlit area for 5 minutes or two hours for dinner is very practical.

 

[borski]

I wouldn’t leave them on overnight for sure, but to park a car in an underlit area for 5 minutes or two hours for dinner is very practical.

Fair point!

For what it’s worth, I know I say this a lot, but… if you set up Home Assistant with the Lucid integration there’s a handy dandy Headlights option you can turn on after you’ve locked the car.

You could even set up an automation that automatically turns on the headlights every time the car is locked somewhere that isn’t home, and then turns them off automatically after 5 minutes.

People should really try setting up home assistant

I should see if there is something in the API for the position lights, but I don’t think there was.

 

[fadooly]

Lucid calls them "position lights" in the manual, which is another common name for them. But yeah, I've never heard of anyone leaving them on overnight or while the car isn't runing.

It is very common outside of USA to have the side lights on specially in Europe since they have a lot of small dark streets

but in GCC they put them on to show that they have an expensive car parked

 

[BassWinger]

Fair point!

For what it’s worth, I know I say this a lot, but… if you set up Home Assistant with the Lucid integration there’s a handy dandy Headlights option you can turn on after you’ve locked the car.

You could even set up an automation that automatically turns on the headlights every time the car is locked somewhere that isn’t home, and then turns them off automatically after 5 minutes.

People should really try setting up home assistant

I should see if there is something in the API for the position lights, but I don’t think there was.

No shit! That’s cool. I’ve been wanting to get into HA but I’ve been content with my Hubitat etc as is… that seems quite powerful. But also a bit involved for what I want to do here, which is just use parking lights (corner indicators) as I can on I’m pretty sure every single other car manufactured.

 

[borski]

No shit! That’s cool. I’ve been wanting to get into HA but I’ve been content with my Hubitat etc as is… that seems quite powerful. But also a bit involved for what I want to do here, which is just use parking lights (corner indicators) as I can on I’m pretty sure every single other car manufactured.

I hear ya. HA will always be more involved than any single use case, especially if you’re waiting on the manufacturer to do it for you. That’s totally reasonable.

The catch is that there are many such single use cases, and many that you won’t even come up with until you have the opportunity to link seemingly disparate states and actions to achieve a very specific goal for you.

So I guess my caution is: yes, it takes a bit of time, and will always take longer and be more work than doing nothing and waiting. But there are almost certainly more things you’ll find yourself wishing you could do, and once you’ve set it up, the ongoing cost of doing those things is roughly zero, both in terms of time and cash.

 

[borski]

No shit! That’s cool. I’ve been wanting to get into HA but I’ve been content with my Hubitat etc as is… that seems quite powerful. But also a bit involved for what I want to do here, which is just use parking lights (corner indicators) as I can on I’m pretty sure every single other car manufactured.

Just to provide a tiny bit of encouragement, here's the entire automation

Or, if you prefer YAML:

description: "Simulate parking lights when parking somewhere sketchy"
mode: single
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id:
      - lock.lulu_door_locks
    from: null
    to: locked
conditions:
  - condition: not
    conditions:
      - condition: zone
        entity_id: device_tracker.lulu
        zone: zone.home
  - condition: not
    conditions:
      - condition: state
        entity_id: sensor.lulu_power_state
        state: Drive
  - condition: state
    entity_id: select.lulu_alarm
    state: Armed
actions:
  - action: light.turn_on
    metadata: {}
    data: {}
    target:
      entity_id: light.lulu_headlights
  - delay:
      hours: 0
      minutes: 5
      seconds: 0
      milliseconds: 0
  - action: light.turn_off
    metadata: {}
    data: {}
    target:
      entity_id: light.lulu_headlights