Daytime Running lights?

[Former Expedition owner]

I'd be curious to know those that are getting refused and those that are getting the DRL turned, on how the car was purchased, fleet or dealer sales?

 

I got my DRL's turned on at the same dealer I bought the car from.

 

I custom ordered my HyTi from this dealer. The dates of my order and delivery are in my signature. It was not a fleet purchase.

[hybridbear]

 

 

After reading Ashley's post, I got to thinking about fleet sales. GrySql and I bought our cars through Autoland and were able to have the DRL turned on without problems. Autoland purchases autos through the fleet sales department. The people that are getting, we can't turn on the DRL, I'm wondering if they were straight dealer purchases and not through a fleet sales, Maybe this has something to do with it. I know one of my contacts at my dealer is a fleet sales manager. I'd be curious to know those that are getting refused and those that are getting the DRL turned, on how the car was purchased, fleet or dealer sales?

What is Autoland?

 

 

I got my DRL's turned on at the same dealer I bought the car from.

 

I custom ordered my HyTi from this dealer. The dates of my order and delivery are in my signature. It was not a fleet purchase.

I think gk's thought is that not all dealers are involved in fleet sales. Perhaps the FFH drivers who have gotten DRLs turned on without issue went to dealers who do fleet sales and thus know how to do it. Is that the gist of it, gk?

[gkinla]

I think gk's thought is that not all dealers are involved in fleet sales. Perhaps the FFH drivers who have gotten DRLs turned on without issue went to dealers who do fleet sales and thus know how to do it. Is that the gist of it, gk?

 

Thanks hybridbear, that is exactly my thoughts regarding the DRL being turned on.

 

What is Autoland?

 

Autoland is a premier auto buying service for any make of car, new or used. You need to be a Credit Union member. I've used Autoland for at least 4 leases and two new cars, 2010 FFH and 2013 FFH. My 2013 FFH was love at first sight. She was sitting in the dealer showroom with a bow on her windshield. This was a Monday Dec 10th, I called my person (the same sales person for 12 years) at Autoland, I sent the picture, what dealer and a picture of the window sticker to her by email. I was the proud owner, Thursday the 13th, all detailed and beautiful. No salesman, no bargaining, no grief. Autoland will get the best price for you. The other great thing about Autoland is, they will find the car you want by calling their list of dealers. Most often it will be exactly what you want, color, packages, etc.

 

[DeeCee]

Someone up the food chain who probably has someone else drive them probably made the decision. Just like congress and its rulings. The decisions do nothing about their life. GrySql has it right about dealers. I have keep my 13 hybrid due to the dealer trying to fix problems and not the quality of the car. They try to fix issues, not dodge them.

Someone up the food chain needs to be fired!!

[hybridbear]

Autoland is a premier auto buying service for any make of car, new or used. You need to be a Credit Union member. I've used Autoland for at least 4 leases and two new cars, 2010 FFH and 2013 FFH. My 2013 FFH was love at first sight. She was sitting in the dealer showroom with a bow on her windshield. This was a Monday Dec 10th, I called my person (the same sales person for 12 years) at Autoland, I sent the picture, what dealer and a picture of the window sticker to her by email. I was the proud owner, Thursday the 13th, all detailed and beautiful. No salesman, no bargaining, no grief. Autoland will get the best price for you. The other great thing about Autoland is, they will find the car you want by calling their list of dealers. Most often it will be exactly what you want, color, packages, etc.

I looked them up. They don't operate in MN... Some questions that I didn't find answers to on their website are: What kind of pricing do you get? Did you get invoice pricing? Does Autoland charge you a fee for this service? How do they make their money?

[GrySql]

I looked them up. They don't operate in MN... Some questions that I didn't find answers to on their website are: What kind of pricing do you get? Did you get invoice pricing? Does Autoland charge you a fee for this service? How do they make their money?

My Autoland Rep has had a office in my Credit Union for years, I've bought two cars from her, she sells dozens of cars every week from that location. The price for both was invoice minus any rebates that were available, no Autoland fees.

I should note that my particular CU has almost no fees for anything, low interest rates and demands that any company they deal with give the lowest possible prices/rates for their services.

Not all Autoland locations work the same as mine.

It is possible to beat their prices if you work hard and hassle with Dealers, I choose to buy from my desk chair at home without ever leaving the house.

 

The first car I bought was in 2008 for my 87 y/o mother-in-law, I told the AL Rep what I wanted and she found one. In addition, the AL Rep delivered the car and the paperwork to my MIL's house, showed her how it worked and drove around the block with her.

My FFH was ordered in October '12, everything was done by phone, email or FAX. I was kept informed by the Dealer and the AL Rep's where it was in the assembly/delivery chain. I picked it up 6 weeks later at the Credit Union, as delivered by the Dealer.

My Dealer is gkinla's Dealer, we're lucky.

[acdii]

My dealer does not do fleet sales, so that nixes that thought. It is all in what the tech is capable of figuring out. For this I doubt you can go to Ford and ask, how do I turn them on when the Ford viewpoint is you can't.

[hermans]

The DRLs on fleet orders are activated at the factory, not at the dealer before the customer takes delivery.

[hybridbear]

My Autoland Rep has had a office in my Credit Union for years, I've bought two cars from her, she sells dozens of cars every week from that location. The price for both was invoice minus any rebates that were available, no Autoland fees.

I should note that my particular CU has almost no fees for anything, low interest rates and demands that any company they deal with give the lowest possible prices/rates for their services.

Not all Autoland locations work the same as mine.

It is possible to beat their prices if you work hard and hassle with Dealers, I choose to buy from my desk chair at home without ever leaving the house.

 

The first car I bought was in 2008 for my 87 y/o mother-in-law, I told the AL Rep what I wanted and she found one. In addition, the AL Rep delivered the car and the paperwork to my MIL's house, showed her how it worked and drove around the block with her.

My FFH was ordered in October '12, everything was done by phone, email or FAX. I was kept informed by the Dealer and the AL Rep's where it was in the assembly/delivery chain. I picked it up 6 weeks later at the Credit Union, as delivered by the Dealer.

My Dealer is gkinla's Dealer, we're lucky.

Very cool to see how it works. That's a great deal!! How does Autoland make money?

[GrySql]

Very cool to see how it works. That's a great deal!! How does Autoland make money?

LOL! They lose money on every deal but make up for it with Volume!

 

Seriously, I don't know how each AL Rep comes up with their particular price but there is profit somewhere in the Ford Sales bookeeping.

My Rep delivered over 7 cars in the week I picked mine up in December, all makes and models. I saw a new Jaguar, Buick and a couple others waiting for customer pickup in the CU parking lot.

-

DRL's: gkinla and I have the same Service SA and I asked the SA if I could get it done on my next visit, he wasn't sure.

Before I arrived the following week it was gkinla who did the heavy lifting by applying extra pressure to get the DRL's turned on, for free.

The Dealer initially wanted to charge for the service but as gkinla and I were 'regulars' in the Service Department that charge was waived.

 

I walked into the Service Dept with the DRL setup all ready to go the next week,

My discussion with the Tech and the SA afterward was that this was not a difficult thing to accomplish, it just took a knowledgable Tech, the most modern Ford software and a willing Service Manager.

[hybridbear]

LOL! They lose money on every deal but make up for it with Volume!

 

Seriously, I don't know how each AL Rep comes up with their particular price but there is profit somewhere in the Ford Sales bookeeping.

My Rep delivered over 7 cars in the week I picked mine up in December, all makes and models. I saw a new Jaguar, Buick and a couple others waiting for customer pickup in the CU parking lot.

-

DRL's: gkinla and I have the same Service SA and I asked the SA if I could get it done on my next visit, he wasn't sure.

Before I arrived the following week it was gkinla who did the heavy lifting by applying extra pressure to get the DRL's turned on, for free.

The Dealer initially wanted to charge for the service but as gkinla and I were 'regulars' in the Service Department that charge was waived.

 

I walked into the Service Dept with the DRL setup all ready to go the next week,

My discussion with the Tech and the SA afterward was that this was not a difficult thing to accomplish, it just took a knowledgable Tech, the most modern Ford software and a willing Service Manager.

Perhaps they get a kickback from the dealer for each car they sell. Or, does Autoland buy the car from the dealer and resell it to you for slightly more than what they paid the dealer? Like dealer financing of loans...the dealer gives you the loan at say 2.19% and then they sell the loan to a bank for 1.49% and the dealer pockets the difference.

[MaineFusion]

State Law, Headlights must be on when raining and in Fog. Well, if you have automatic headlights, you dont even think about turning them on, and if the rain isnt enough to trigger the wipers, the headlights wont go on. You would think that Ford would welcome the fact that owners WANT something like this, and not have it forced upon them by Congress.

 

This is an annoying shortcoming of the automatic headlights. One workaround would be if there was a button next to the headlight bulb (like the fog lamp button) that would turn the lights on for the duration of the trip. This way we wouldn't have to remember to turn headlights back to automatic mode after turning them to manual because of weather. I'm forever forgetting to turn my headlights on in misting weather. I've gotten way too used to them automatically coming on.

[hybridbear]

This is an annoying shortcoming of the automatic headlights. One workaround would be if there was a button next to the headlight bulb (like the fog lamp button) that would turn the lights on for the duration of the trip. This way we wouldn't have to remember to turn headlights back to automatic mode after turning them to manual because of weather. I'm forever forgetting to turn my headlights on in misting weather. I've gotten way too used to them automatically coming on.

I agree! I've just gotten into the habit of checking my headlights at the beginning of each trip to turn them on so that they're always on. In the Prius we can just leave the headlight switch set to on all the time and they turn off automatically a few seconds after you get out of the car.

[MaineFusion]

I agree! I've just gotten into the habit of checking my headlights at the beginning of each trip to turn them on so that they're always on. In the Prius we can just leave the headlight switch set to on all the time and they turn off automatically a few seconds after you get out of the car.

 

All cars should automatically turn off headlights after the ignition is turned off to prevent accidentally draining the battery. It really seems like Ford has gone out of their way to make it inconvenient to have headlights turned on during daylight hours. Ford's decisions in regards to how the headlights operate make absolutely no sense. It wouldn't have cost extra to make headlights automatically turn off when in manual mode and it wouldn't have cost extra to give everyone a daytime running light option. Furthermore, since everything is software driven, it makes no sense that tail lights don't come on when daytime running lights are enabled.

 

It really does feel like Ford is trying to force regulators to require DTRLs rather than voluntarily doing the right thing when it wouldn't have cost Ford any extra to implement.

[milleron]

This is nothing but a rant because that's all that Ford leaves me. For those who don't tolerate such posts, kindly skip to the next one.

 

<rant on> After wasting many hours on the effort, I've given up having DRLs enabled, but the experience has been enough to pretty much turn me off on Ford Motor Company -- I cannot tolerate fools or groups of fools lightly. I also cannot recall the last time I've encountered something as ludicrous and customer-hostile (obviously NOT including the Federal Government) as Ford Corporate's idiotic and hateful insistence on denying that it's possible to enable DRLs in the 2013-14 FFH. When this capability has been proven over and over and over again to exist in every FFH, the refusal of Ford to allow their customers to avail themselves of this obvious safety feature is simply incomprehensible, perhaps even self-destructive. Those Fusions equipped with automatic headlamps fail to illuminate them until it's overly dark, and that contributes further to the safety gap that Ford is manufacturing. Because sooner or later there could be a wrongful death attributed to the absence of DRLs in such vehicles, I don't believe it's far-fetched to think that Ford may be opening themselves up to extremely costly lawsuits and class actions. This very thread would seem to arm any attorney with the facts he would need to successfully prosecute such a case.

 

I'll not complain hereafter, but in consideration of how horribly obdurate Ford has been, my final denunciation must be vitriolic: what incomprehensible lunacy!!. <rant off>

[GrySql]

Milleron, I truly sympathize with you, and as you mention, this very Thread has been the reason most of our DRL's are on.

Strangely, I see FFH's locally with DRL's on and wonder if they read this Forum and which member they might be.

 

Yesterday I was looking at the 'built your own' website for the newest Transit Connect and one of the exterior accessories you can buy as an Add-on for $45 is, guess what, DRL's!!

[corncobs]

Milleron I'm with you all the way. I had to turn on my heads light on my ride home today it was just too "dark" while snowing lightly.

 

I have yet to bring up this topic with my dealer but I will soon for my next service. If they are unwilling or incapable I just need to make a little road trip to visit acdii's dealer.

 

Maybe there is some business in the Chicago area you need to attend in the near future. I'm sure acdii would hook you up with his dealer too.

[inco]

There is a country to the north of you where you could probably stop in for service and complain that your DRLs are not working and would you please fix them! In Canada they are standard equipment. Or your better than our buck dollar would get you a good deal to buy one here.

[corncobs]

Hey acdii it looks like I will get to know your service adviser very soon.

 

I just had my 15k service and oil change done. I did ask if they could please turn on the DRL's.

 

When I got my keys back I was told like so many others it can't be done on this car only for cars north the border.

 

I told him I would just need to drive to Harvard since they have done it already. He said ok that's fine and if they can do it he would like for me to come back and show him so he can show his technician that it can be done.

 

acdii let them know I'm coming ;)

Edited March 10, 2014 by corncobs

[acdii]

See, I knew it. I get this funky feeling about certain places, and I get that feeling whenever I go to your dealer. I don't get that feeling at all with my dealer. They are all a great bunch of people. I will ask. I am dropping mine off tomorrow, so when I pick it up I will talk to them about your car, its an SE correct?

[corncobs]

Cool thank you and yes it's a SE.

Which shouldn't matter since GrySql's is an SE as well IIRC.

Let me know what they say I'm on a mission now to prove my dealer wrong. ;)

[tr7driver]

Is this something that can be a DIY so we don't have to deal with the dealer?

[corncobs]

Is this something that can be a DIY so we don't have to deal with the dealer?

Very very unlikely! If you go to the beginning of this thread you will find a post that describes where in software the DRL control is located.

[acdii]

If you have one of their fancy $40K laptops you can.

 

I will let you know what they say, I dont see it will be a problem though.

[GrySql]

Very very unlikely! If you go to the beginning of this thread you will find a post that describes where in software the DRL control is located.

This post is when I had mine turned on.

I know this applies to only me but at first I forgot to turn on my headlights at night because the DRL's were on.

I was using the manual headlights switch.

Changing the headlight switch to the 'Auto' setting now prevents that serious mistake.