9 hours ago, Botus said:

there is a massive split second voltage spike as the car cranks over - its every time and it still there with a later GEM.  The LEDs just micro flash and cope, but the halogens just pop after enough abuse

Surely if that's the cause it's only going to be an issue if the lights are on while the engine is being started. The obvious work around is not to switch them on until the engine has been started (and turn off stop-start when running with the lights on).

On 12/31/2021 at 9:26 PM, OilSheikh said:

I usually leave it at auto. I do not want to be in a situation where I forgot to switch them on and drove around with no lights at night.

I have never seen a modern car where the instrument panel lights were not activated by the headlight switch.

You would soon realise that you were driving in the dark with no headlights as the instrument panel lights would not be on.

2 hours ago, AntonovAN12 said:

I have never seen a modern car where the instrument panel lights were not activated by the headlight switch.

Some examples, from experience:

Mk3 Focus.

Mk4 Mondeo with Convers+.

Mk5 Mondeo with the digital cluster.

There are quite a few modern cars where the instrument panel lights up as soon as the ignition is on. In some areas with street lighting it can be difficult to tell if the headlights are actually on if you're looking at the road. I'm not sure if that says more about the council overdoing the streetlights or the poor quality of many modern headlights.

1 hour ago, erictcleric said:

Some examples, from experience:

Mk3 Focus.

Mk4 Mondeo with Convers+.

Mk5 Mondeo with the digital cluster.

There are quite a few modern cars where the instrument panel lights up as soon as the ignition is on. In some areas with street lighting it can be difficult to tell if the headlights are actually on if you're looking at the road. I'm not sure if that says more about the council overdoing the streetlights or the poor quality of many modern headlights.

I have flagged down many cars who were driving at night without any lit headlights. The drivers were very thankful and they switched on their lights.

One example was when I was joining the A13 and the lady behind me was also about to join but had no lights switched on.

Car makers have created this unsafe situation by having the Speedo illuminated when lights aren’t on.   If the speedo was only lit when the lights are on you would realise much more easily that you have forgotten to put your lights on when you realise you can’t see the speedo.  I consider this to be a very stupid act by the car makers.   More crashes more repair parts sold by car makers.  Makes sense to them I guess

I didn't know that some modern cars have the gauges lit without the headlights.

I had always assumed that having the instrument lights switched with the headlights was a safety feature required by law.

20 hours ago, mjt said:

Surely if that's the cause it's only going to be an issue if the lights are on while the engine is being started. The obvious work around is not to switch them on until the engine has been started (and turn off stop-start when running with the lights on).

its there with the LIGHTS TURNED OFF every time you start the car - do you know the voltage and the ampage of this spike - I don't but it kills halogens and not LEDs