Confidently wrong? The labeling the author has chosen, with "park"/"drive", would lead someone to select headlights because they're in drive, even during the day. I have never seen the symbol they label "parking" described as such.
> “parking,” which activates only front lights, at half brightness, and (for some reason) leaves the tail lights off.
I've also just double checked the manual for my car to be sure I'm not talking out of my ass here: the symbol he calls "parking" activates the tail lights. From the manual:
> “[double headlights, one left one right symbol]” position:
> Instrument panel illumination, parking lights, front side marker lights, rear side marker lights, tail lights and license plate lights are on.
(My manual does not ascribe a name to it.)
Now, I suppose this could be an unexpected thing that differs between cars, but it also shouldn't really matter that much. The intro example is in the rain; you should be using the symbol he calls "park" in the rain, you should be using the "low beams" setting, and then your tail lights are definitely on. Or … just let "Auto" handle it?
(I've always called this symbol "daytime running lights". Wikipedia says that's a different symbol (a single headlight with stippled lines emitting from it), one I've definitely never seen before & isn't in TFA; Wikipedia claims it to be the ISO symbol, however, I've found the relevant ISO standard¹, but it seems to lack the symbol Wikipedia calls "daytime running lights". The symbol I call DRL is called "position" or "side" lights, and the term DRL is not used by ISO AFAICT, despite what Wikipedia claims. What a mess.)
(from TFA:)
> Many cars have an AUTO option now, but would you trust it to choose the right thing?
… yes? Absolutely yes. The car can just do the right thing for me, without me having to remember. Sensing ambient light is not complicated.
> pull on the stalk for high beams (another mode), or rotate the stalk left or right for turn signals.
There is absolutely no way whatever car this is a photograph of is rotating the stalk for turn signals. Turn signals are pull up or down, universally.
¹ISO-2575:2021, though technically a draft since ISO standards are not open. But this symbol has been around since forever, so unless it's changed recently…
"Many cars have an AUTO option now, but would you trust it to choose the right thing? I didn’t, being unsure if it properly accounted for daylight rain driving."
While it doesn't negate the iconography discussion throughout the rest of the article, the AUTO option is the intended default, because it turns on low beams in every case where they're needed, including daylight rain driving, which is based on the use of windshield wipers. I'm always a bit baffled at the modern cars driving around without their lights on. The car does it for you these days.
The ability to select low beams vs daylight running lights (DRLs) is mostly for convenience for one-off odd circumstances where you would want to override AUTO for whatever reason.
I have the same light control on my car. Here's how it gets turned off: when I'm parking with the engine off, waiting for someone, the lights stay on unless I turn them off manually. If I don't turn them off, my use of the stereo and other accessories ends sooner than necessary when the car shuts them off to preserve enough charge to restart the engine.
Then, when I leave, I forget to turn the lights back to AUTO. Now I have no lights at all except for the front DRLs. (Even then, though, the low beams still come on automatically when the wipers are turned on for more than a couple of cycles.)
Really, the OFF position should work only when the car is parked. Otherwise, it should be equivalent to AUTO.
Great article, which I strongly agree with. Another reason I've personally seen for over-reliance on icons instead of text is it's an easier, cheaper way to satisfy localization requirements.
In that Porsche example, you'd just leave the knob set to AUTO and it will always do the right thing. When the wipers come on (manually or otherwise) so will the low beams, given that this is a legal requirement in many places.
At least they had the sense not to try to invent an icon for 'AUTO', to give credit where it's due. English subtitles or (better) dashboard 'tooltips' would have been a good idea, and tooltips are in fact used in quite a few other contexts.
Don't parking/marker lights generally turn on your tail lights at the same brightness as when the headlights are on? Tail lights are mostly two filament bulbs. The dimmer one is the continuously-on light (goes on with the marker lights on every car I've checked) and the brighter one is for the brakes. Maybe it's different with LED-native lights? I personally use just the marker lights in the rain (and dusk) because unless I am benefiting from the headlight beams, it's just extra light pollution for oncoming cars.
Confidently wrong? The labeling the author has chosen, with "park"/"drive", would lead someone to select headlights because they're in drive, even during the day. I have never seen the symbol they label "parking" described as such.
> “parking,” which activates only front lights, at half brightness, and (for some reason) leaves the tail lights off.
I've also just double checked the manual for my car to be sure I'm not talking out of my ass here: the symbol he calls "parking" activates the tail lights. From the manual:
> “[double headlights, one left one right symbol]” position:
> Instrument panel illumination, parking lights, front side marker lights, rear side marker lights, tail lights and license plate lights are on.
(My manual does not ascribe a name to it.)
Now, I suppose this could be an unexpected thing that differs between cars, but it also shouldn't really matter that much. The intro example is in the rain; you should be using the symbol he calls "park" in the rain, you should be using the "low beams" setting, and then your tail lights are definitely on. Or … just let "Auto" handle it?
(I've always called this symbol "daytime running lights". Wikipedia says that's a different symbol (a single headlight with stippled lines emitting from it), one I've definitely never seen before & isn't in TFA; Wikipedia claims it to be the ISO symbol, however, I've found the relevant ISO standard¹, but it seems to lack the symbol Wikipedia calls "daytime running lights". The symbol I call DRL is called "position" or "side" lights, and the term DRL is not used by ISO AFAICT, despite what Wikipedia claims. What a mess.)
(from TFA:)
> Many cars have an AUTO option now, but would you trust it to choose the right thing?
… yes? Absolutely yes. The car can just do the right thing for me, without me having to remember. Sensing ambient light is not complicated.
> pull on the stalk for high beams (another mode), or rotate the stalk left or right for turn signals.
There is absolutely no way whatever car this is a photograph of is rotating the stalk for turn signals. Turn signals are pull up or down, universally.
¹ISO-2575:2021, though technically a draft since ISO standards are not open. But this symbol has been around since forever, so unless it's changed recently…
"Many cars have an AUTO option now, but would you trust it to choose the right thing? I didn’t, being unsure if it properly accounted for daylight rain driving."
While it doesn't negate the iconography discussion throughout the rest of the article, the AUTO option is the intended default, because it turns on low beams in every case where they're needed, including daylight rain driving, which is based on the use of windshield wipers. I'm always a bit baffled at the modern cars driving around without their lights on. The car does it for you these days.
The ability to select low beams vs daylight running lights (DRLs) is mostly for convenience for one-off odd circumstances where you would want to override AUTO for whatever reason.
I have the same light control on my car. Here's how it gets turned off: when I'm parking with the engine off, waiting for someone, the lights stay on unless I turn them off manually. If I don't turn them off, my use of the stereo and other accessories ends sooner than necessary when the car shuts them off to preserve enough charge to restart the engine.
Then, when I leave, I forget to turn the lights back to AUTO. Now I have no lights at all except for the front DRLs. (Even then, though, the low beams still come on automatically when the wipers are turned on for more than a couple of cycles.)
Really, the OFF position should work only when the car is parked. Otherwise, it should be equivalent to AUTO.
The parking lights vs low beam icon are quite standard, at least in the EU, and they tell you the difference when getting your licence.
Icons are still the same as they were 25 years ago AFAICT.
Great article, which I strongly agree with. Another reason I've personally seen for over-reliance on icons instead of text is it's an easier, cheaper way to satisfy localization requirements.
Not even sure why we need a parking mode for the lights now. Sounds like a legacy thing
My lights confuse me so I just leave them on all the time. Safer that way anyway
In that Porsche example, you'd just leave the knob set to AUTO and it will always do the right thing. When the wipers come on (manually or otherwise) so will the low beams, given that this is a legal requirement in many places.
At least they had the sense not to try to invent an icon for 'AUTO', to give credit where it's due. English subtitles or (better) dashboard 'tooltips' would have been a good idea, and tooltips are in fact used in quite a few other contexts.
Don't parking/marker lights generally turn on your tail lights at the same brightness as when the headlights are on? Tail lights are mostly two filament bulbs. The dimmer one is the continuously-on light (goes on with the marker lights on every car I've checked) and the brighter one is for the brakes. Maybe it's different with LED-native lights? I personally use just the marker lights in the rain (and dusk) because unless I am benefiting from the headlight beams, it's just extra light pollution for oncoming cars.