Question: My boyfriend and I are going to the drive-in theater later tonight, and the email confirmation reminded us that we have to turn off our headlights while there. It’s good they emailed us, because I have no idea how to turn off the automatic lights. How do you turn off headlights while a car is running?
Answer: Not being able to turn your automatic lights off while at a drive-in theater could undoubtedly cause some problems, so it’s excellent they emailed you and you’re learning how now. Your challenge these days is that some cars have daylight running lights which means that as long as your car is on, your lights will also be on.
Turning off your vehicle is not ideal either, since many drive-in movie theaters emit sound through your car radio for optimized listening. You might also need access to the air conditioning or heat, depending on the night you go.
Let’s go through some ways in ascending order of difficulty. These will help you ensure that your car stays dark at a drive-in.
How to turn off headlights when parked
Turn your headlight knob to OFF
Look to see what the headlight options are. Newer car models might be set with an automatic option, but you should be able to move the headlight knob to “on” or “off” too. You can find the headlight control stalk on the left side of your steering wheel.
Pull parking brake
In some cars, the automatic daylight running lights are activated by releasing the parking brake. Therefore if you want to keep those lights turned off, make sure to pull the parking brake. Some vehicles have a more complicated process, for example, the Honda Accord requires you to turn the vehicle off, engage the parking brake and then turn the vehicle on.
Pull fuse for lights
A more sophisticated method is to pull the fuse that connects to the lights. Pulling a fuse will disallow any electricity to reach the lights, therefore guaranteeing you that your headlights will not be able to emit any light.
To do this, you will need to refer to your manual to find where the fuses are and how to pull them. If you have pulled the right fuse, you will not see any light coming out of your car even when the engine is running. However, before you leave make sure to replace the fuse because you can’t drive a car without working headlights at night.
Summary
And that’s it! Many cars now have automatic lights and daytime lights that are always running if the vehicle is on. They’re great safety features which is why they make disabling the lights so tricky. Fortunately, these methods work with many makes and models, so it’s worth recommending if you see anyone struggling with their lights!
Xuyun Zeng is a content strategist with a wide-ranging content background including tech, journalism, cars and health care. After graduating with highest honors in journalism, Xuyun led a newspaper to win eight awards, helped start an award-winning film industry podcast and has written over a hundred articles about cars repair, state laws and insurance. Prior to joining Jerry, Xuyun worked as a freelance SEO consultant with a mission to create the best content that will help readers and grow organic traffic.
Ashley Eneriz is an editor and finance writer with over 15 years of experience in a wide range of financial topics, including car loans and insurance. In editing for Jerry, Ashley aims to make all car material reader-friendly for both the new driver and car enthusiast alike. Prior to joining Jerry, Ashley was the financial deputy editor for ConsumerAffairs. Her work is featured on Forbes, Yahoo, MSN, The Hartford and more.
