When I first got the car, I thought it was the notch for "parking lights."

It is the "Parking lights" AND drl
"Auto" take care of everything, including drl.
From your manual:

 

I am guessing you never had a car with the auto function. Its a nice feature to have though I still know people who have been driving the same car for years and still use the auto function as an ON and turn it off when they stop the engine. I see a lot of range rovers using their DRL lights at night. Just leave it on auto.

 

I am guessing you never had a car with the auto function.

I have had several vehicles with the auto headlight function. I just don't like it, as I have found that it rarely turns on the lights when I would do so, or they will seemingly randomly switch on and off (heavy shadows, underpasses, etc. My wife's Challenger once even turned the headlights completely off while on a well-lit interstate).


I guess I just never expected placing the headlight switch into the parking light spot would activate the daytime running lights and not remain on once the vehicle was turned off. The only vehicle that I have seen do this is a European spec vehicle (this was in the late 80s so not sure if they still do it), if the turn signal was left in either the left or right indicating position, the corresponding headlight would remain illuminated dimly--- providing a true "parking light".

It wasn't my intention to create a debate. It was one of those "ah ha" moments for me. It now appears it was a slightly warped sense of what was actually happening.


Exco

 

This is US spec, in Canada DRL comes on when e-brake is released. I really want to turn it off but it's illegal in most provinces. The DRL option in Canadian models are hard coded to the ECU, I can't even access it via TechStream.

Canadian stock has off/auto/parking/on

 

They are required to have them built in when the car is first sold (new or imported). However, there is no requirement in Ontario HTSA that a car on the road has to have them in working condition. Some here have pulled the DRL relay out or rewired the JB to fog lights, for example...

 

I wish we could have the parking lights without the DRL’s and just have the J led strips.
My RC I like having the headlights off during when the parking lights are on and the led “swoosh” gets brighter.

 

You can. You turn off the DRLs via the touchscreen settings and just put it in parking light position.

I have my DRLs turned off and can drive with the Js and fogs. But that's because I wired fogs into my SE.

 

I liked how there was a dedicated setting for the DRL-only on my 2015 Yaris SE hatch (no other lights on). The 2015-2017 SE trim Yaris easily had some of the best looking headlight-integrated LED DRL on the road. Cool looking, subdued 'angry face' effect without looking over-the-top obnoxious (like a lot of others) or an afterthought (like Honda, to name one). I never liked the lame, uninspired DRL in the previous gen Corolla, which was part of main LED headlight projector, just like the current gen Corolla does in the U.S. also. Plus, you have to set it to auto to even get the DRL to work, which enables car to turn on whatever other lights it wants to also, depending on what it considers the lighting conditions to be. I just leave everything off, unless it is hazy/dim enough out to manually set it to parking lights setting (for better visibility to other cars) or full headlight setting (so I can see better).

 

If there is a serious enough interest I can draw up a DRL bypass diagram so that whoever is skilled enough can build their own. It would basically make the Js the DRL unless the low beams are on. However this would require a 12V or Ign 12V connection as the low beam DRL is PWM, so the Js would become dimmer than regular parking lights.

I could go as far as fabricating plug and play modules to redirect the DRL to the Js plus ability for a SE fog upgrade, but this would be expensive and time consuming so I don't imagine dead serious interest in that.

I was going to do it for my fog installation but decided screw it, I have my DRLs turned off anyways.

 

Is there a way i could get your diagram as i tried to make a bypass or a fuse kill for the beam nothing is working for me.. canadian hatch 2021..

 

Thanks for the switch info.

I saw that vendor earlier, they were out of stock.

I found a vendor on Aliexpress that has these, and I ordered them. Hopefully they are better quality than what you got, but actually they're probably all made in the same factory.

 

I wonder how insurance companies in Canada would react if they found out after a crash that the DRLs have been bypassed? I'm guessing you could perhaps be found at least partially responsible in a t-bone type accident where someone pulled out in front of you even though you had the right-of-way. At worst, the company may even refuse to pay. Having owned both white and grey cars in the pre-DRL days, I learned quickly to always drive with my headlights on, even in daylight.

In any case DRLs like any safety feature is not something I would tamper with. Insurance companies are always looking for ways to avoid paying. I did reprogram my DRLs on a VW Passat to operate through the fog lights. You could do this with VCDS (a VW OBD II reader and configuration app). It helped solve the abysmal bulb life due to the DRLs actually being the main headlights. But I still had working, automatic DRLs. Fog light bulb life suffered, but main beams are more important than fog lights.

 

While it is a CMVSS regulation for vehicles on roads to have DRL in Canada, it is up to provincial authorities to enforce the regulation. In Ontario, OPP is not enforcing it, but I've seen reports from East Coast where they are, NB for example charges $170. And as noted previously, they are meant to improve safety on the roads not just the looks