Turning headlights all the way off

[avotius]

My 2015 SEL Hybrid has the headlights on all the time no matter what position the light switch is in, and this is a problem for my hobby where I drive out to dark sites to do astrophotography. In the winter is when the best conditions are and with my old Honda Accord I could leave it running, have heat and all the lights could be off which is very important. With my C-Max the lights are always on. I looked at the Ford website and they had a video that showed using the left control on the steering wheel and going into the settings and switching it off there but no such option in the menu on my car. Any other ideas besides pulling the fuse?

[obob]

I have a 2013 SE and the headlights are not on if the light switch is in the most counter-clockwise position which agrees with the description in the manual.

 

Maybe it has something to do with having daytime running lights which I thought were only on Canadian cars and some fleet cars but maybe the 2015s are different, or maybe something is not right.

Edited October 11, 2017 by obob

[cr08]

Given his location, very likely could be a Canadian built C-Max if used. So yeah, DRL's are the likely culprit. Could either a) work with your Ford dealer to disable them or b) (if inclined) use a tool such as ForScan to do the job yourself. Simple software toggle in the BCM.

[jestevens]

Some cars (such as mine) were also fleet vehicles that were programmed to have the lights on all the time whenever the "engine" is on, like a motorcycle.  The headlight control on the dash has literally no effect.  It's very annoying since the houses where I live are close together and my headlights used to shine directly into neighbor's house late at night.

 

As cr08 suggests a competent dealer can reprogram the BCM to disable this and enable control of the lights via the switch on the dash.  You may have to reset your driver personalization settings when that's done.  The best time to do it is after you just bought the car and the dealer is still in a good mood, I think they charged me $30 but it was worth it.

 

My former fleet vehicle also has no tinting on any windows other than the panoramic glass in the roof.

Edited October 11, 2017 by jestevens

[ptjones]

a work around would be to connect a switch to the Lights Fuse. :)

 

Paul

[avotius]

Thanks for the thoughts, I will call the dealer I get my oil changes at and see if they would be able to take care of it. My light switch on the left where it should be off the headlights are on but the tail lights are not, then the next position turns the tail lights on, then the next position makes the head lights slightly brighter, and the last is auto. My vehicle was a fleet vehicle before I got it, and I got a good deal on it so I am ok with the little niggles for a car with so much space and that isn't a Prius.

[jestevens]

Hmm, mine had absolutely no response at the switch on dash until after the BCM was reprogrammed; when engine was in "run" the lights were on.  The operation you describe sounds like DRL as cr08 suggests. 

 

My chevy used to switch off the DRLs if you put the car in park and set the parking brake, does the CMAX do anything like that?  I can't test because when the dealer reprogrammed the BCM the DRLs are also now off on my car.

 

I actually loved my 07 Prius sedan, The seats fold down, plenty of room, 49MPG, it was no mustang but it goes faster than a lot of people think.  However the battery pack was getting old and I was getting tired of having more than one car so I traded the Prius and the HHR in together to get $10K off the CMAX.  I'm still happy. 

 

I tried the Prius V of course but it's an absolute dog compared to the C-MAX - it had this cute button next to the shifter that said "POWER/ECO" - but as far as I could tell they must've left it unwired at the factory.  They basically took the original prius drivetrain and added another 2,000lbs.  Lucky we had C-MAX at work so I knew there was an alternative - Ford really doesn't market the C-MAX well.

Edited October 12, 2017 by jestevens

[avotius]

Yes I was surprised to see how poorly the C-Max did in America, and the reviews I see about it are dismal, saying it only gets like 38 mpg combined, I cant get my C-Max to do anything that bad on a trip longer than a few miles so I can't imagine how they were driving it. I am around 47-52 average and fine with that. I even put the back seats down and camped in it no problem. Great car design, iffy build quality.

[jestevens]

There were a few problems - they really wanted to compete with the Prius V so they overstated the MPG, originally telling people the car would do 60MPG city/highway/combined.  So people would buy them, be disappointed and trade them back in.  Lucky for me we had some C-MAX at work so I already knew how it would drive and 40MPG is still twice as good as the typical American car. 

 

I actually hated the car the very first time I drove it, the battery was almost depleted so then engine was really whining when it first started up but after driving it in traffic a few times I really started to like it.  Compared to Ford's first generation hybrids which we also had it was amazing.

 

Some folks here have proven that you CAN do 60MPG but you have to drive very judiciously in just the right type of environment. 

 

They also initially had voltage drain problems with the 12V battery on the SEs. 

 

I suspect they also wanted to sell more F-150s, Escapes and Focus.

Edited October 13, 2017 by jestevens

[SnowStorm]

Ford was claiming 47/47/47 MPG when we bought our 2013 - I never heard of a 60 MPG claim.  Of course 47 is quite doable if you don't drive fast and work at it a bit.  My lifetime is now at 49.0 MPG and I just completed a 2000+ mile trip to Maine with a trip average of 53.1 MPG (car's number) and 51.5 MPG (gas pump with odometer correction).  The trip included both Interstate and a fair amount of "back roads".  You have to stay under 45 mph if you want to get 60 MPG - I've done it on several 500+ mile trips but its a real pain.

[jestevens]

When the car was first introduced I think they originally advertised it as 60MPG and then had to revise it down.  I'm mostly happy with the mileage I get since it's still twice as high as the average US gasoline car.  For short trips when everything is just right I can get in the 50's, on a day when the weather is 0F (thankfully we don't have TOO many of those but there are some).  I can get 30MPG - still better than most domestic gas cars.  I've seen evidence of people getting 60MPG scores so they weren't really wrong, but it takes planning and extra effort.

 

On the other hand in 2010 some other domestic manufacturer's local dealership seemed to be outright lying about the possible MPGs on their gas cars and they didn't even advertise the electric one.  They treated it like a publicity stunt, and still kept it way in the back lot.

Edited October 16, 2017 by jestevens

[vonsche]

Brought mine to dealer to get this fixed.  After some resistance about it being from aftermarket lights, I explained to them this has been an issue since I bought it even with regular headlights and that there is a way to flash it in to the BCM and showed them forum post from here of others that did so.  A day later they emailed me saying they figured it out and reprogrammed it.  Works great.  They did not charge for this.  Car was not from Canada, but was previously a rental.