I noticed today that my DRLs (inner lights) are not on during the day. Yes, the headlight switch is on "AUTO" and the car is moving in daylight. Go figure! No work was done on the car recently. It has been raining here in So. Cal. quite a bit though recently -- No other electrical functions are giving any problems and low/hi-beams work fine when switched to "ON".

Any ideas? What fuse should I check for DRLs only? Or, did I hit something to program "off" the DRLs? I guess dealer time....

 

I THINK the INNER beams are supposed to be on in a lower brightness for the DRLs.....

 

Yeah... sounds right -- not the projector lamps -- but now nothing turns on during the day! Did they disable themselves? What program can I use to turn them on again?

 

I would look in the manual to see if there is specific fuse first, before wasting my time with the dealer. I wonder if fuses are covered under warranty or considered wear items like oil and break pads?

 

I would start the engine, be sure to put the car in drive then have someone look at the front lamps to see if there lit. I doubt you would see any indication on the dash. Most cars have to be in drive for them to activate with the engine running.

The ECU should have a list for the toyota tech. It's something like DRL = on/off

 

Check high beams and make sure they're both operating. The DRL modulates the high beams not the low beams.

Make sure parking brake isn't engaged.

 

Thanks guys... Yeah... I checked all beams (high was off) and moved the car frontwards w/o brakes engaged; no DRLs; I checked fuse list (2) and didn't see DRLs listed for headlight circuits; It's probably part of another circuit just not listed in owner's manual... but I doubt a fuse is bad since everything else works fine; DRLs do not have a separate fused circuit. Back in September, the dealer flashed ECU's custom option list to disable auto-dim dash lights feature; maybe they screwed something else up? [The auto-dim function annoyed me to no end.] Looks like 2 hour wait at dealer again!!

Aside from this issue and some minor creaks & rattles (?!), the car is solid.

 

I don't remember seeing "disable DRL" as programing option, since it could be disabled with the light switch, so maybe DRL gizmo is broken? Look at the bright side, at least it failed in off position, so it didn't drain your battery and got you stranded in the middle of nowhere. Good luck with the dealer.

 

Are they turned on? The light control stalk on the left side of the steering wheel has four position. If you rotate it toward you (clockwise, as viewed from the left) all the way, is labeled "DRL off". In that position, the DRL lights are turned off. One notch up from there is "Auto". Turn the switch to "Auto", and it just might work a little better.

 

Could've been the dealer changing ECU settings. My factory manual shows a customizable parameter for DRL on page LI-12:

Name: DRL Function
Default: ON
Contents: ON/OFF of the DRL functions (for U.S.A. package models)
Setting: ON/OFF