2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI: Lights out

You can't turn a light off yourself? I think the foot needs to be removed from your mouth and surgically implanted somewhere due south...

Besides my Forester, I don't think any of my cars that didn't have auto headlights turned themselves off automatically. Thats why they make that annoying sound, to tell you to turn off the headlights.

*click* done.

I didn't know auto headlights were that common.

Spoiled by expensive cars.

Just be happy it started and make a mental note of it.

My '96 ES300 just turns off the headlights when you turn off the car. Nothing 'automatic', just 'simple'.

drove a 2004 VW Golf TDI for 4 years...Maybe this is why I've never been exposed to auto-headlights? I am always in shock when people complain about not having them. Maybe thats because I've never had them? Maybe its because turning a switch off is not that hard?

* I drove.

edittttttttttttttttttttttttt!

I have a GTI and yea its a bit counter intuitive at first, but it is possible to enable an auto on/off with the MKV Golf/Jetta platform. Using the diagnostic tool Vag-Com you can enable the coming home/leaving home features. One turns the lights on when you unlock and the other leaves the lights on after you remove the key. Both are on separate timers and can be controlled through the MFD. Instructions on how to activate coming home/leaving home can be found here: http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=17094&d=1192628446

When you are in the habit of turning your lights on and off manually the automatic lighting seems like a useless novelty, but when you go from a car with automatic lighting to a car without one you become annoyed because you have to preform one extra step before you can get going. I recently borrowed a friend's Ram to move some furniture and made it about 6 miles down a well lit street before I realized that I had never turned the lights on. I guess we get spoiled! Point of story??? Not exactly sure, but don't complain about it!!! It's a $25k car.

Up until the fall, I had a G35 with auto headlights and I hated them. They would go on when I didn't want them to and it got annoying to the point I had to turn them off manually. My new Jetta obviously does not have auto headlights and I am thankful for that. The one annoying thing I experience is having to depress the brake pedal just to start the car. That's a pain. Also, I am thankful for a manual rear view mirror. I don't care for those auto dimming things either.

Wow, we had auto headlights on our '88 Taurus (just to point out that it's not exclusive to modern or expensive cars). It never occurred to me that a car made in the last 15 years wouldn't have auto headlamps.

dldave, there's no reason to prefer a car not to have automatic headlights. It's just one more thing to select if you want to and to not use if you don't.

My Volvo's headlights are always on whenever the car is - no having to worry about them turning on and off when I didn't want them to. They also turn off on their own when the car is shut down. It's easily the most convenient and safest way to do headlights.

I had an 05.5 Jetta and it had Auto headlights, a compass, trip computer,and auto dimming mirror ....I now have an 09 Jetta SE and it doesnt have any of those things.....I love the car, but why take those features away...I am always leaving them on or not turning them on when it is dark.....VW in a few years you better bring back these features!!!!!!

It should have at least an auto-off feature to protect against draining the battery. Seems like a pretty simple convenience thing.

eya the auto headlight, high line MFD, auto dim, rain sensor was only available on package 3 jettas in 2005.5, Now those options are only available on the R32, or I guess were, cause its not available anymore.

every car should have automatic headlights. It's very easy to make and it's a nice feature. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it. A jetta with automatic headlights is a better car than an identically equipped jetta without automatic headlights. Too bad this one doesn't have the feature.

You don't have to spend a lot to get auto headlights. My 91 Legacy LS wagon has them and I only paid just over $3000 4 years ago.

Here in a Canadian winter where it's dark (or close enough) most of the time, I just leave the lights on all the time. They automatically shut off when I shut off the car and come on when I start it.

Simple.

The shockwave washes over Edmunds when a non-top trim car lands!

Oh my god how can any car not have perforated and double stitched leather seats and interior surfaces, self-aiming-and-leveling-HID head lights, LED tail lights, navi, heated and cooled seats, full skyroof, 3-memory 16-way power drive and passenger seats, massaging 16-way rear seats, retractable footrest, head-up display, power side mirrors, surround view cameras, interior mood lighting, automatic sunshades, DVD entertainment, and 40 GB music drive?!?!?!?!

That's unpossible!

I like the auto headlights and they are not exclusive to expensive cars. For God's sake if Ford and Chevy can make them standard on pickup trucks I think VW could at least offer it on the Jetta. My old '98 Accord at least had auto-off headlights that turned off after 20 seconds. And for people who have auto headlights that hate them because they never come on or go off at the right time may I suggest the OFF setting. From my experience with several different manufactuers I think Nissan/Infiniti and Honda/Acura have the best systems. They turn on within seconds of entering a tunnel or parking garage then turn off just as quickly when exiting. Don't know if the salesman knew what he was talking about but he said that Nissan programmed some artificial intelligence in the system to distinguish between slow fading light (sunset) and sudden changes (tunnels).

Like firstwagon said about his '91 Legacy and tcolberg85 about the '88 Taurus, it doesn't have to be a new, expensive, modern car to have the automatic headlights./

Even my '87 Subaru Justy has them. It was a pleasant surprise that an economy car that was $6k when new had them. I've been spoiled (funny to say driving a Justy) by them, and it's hard to adjust when driving newer cars and I leave the lights on.

No auto-on headlights I can understand. But even Cavaliers have a battery-protection system that eventually turns left-on ones off, in addition to a warning chime. Even my nephew's Kia Sportage has a sytem where if you turn off the key, the headlights go off. If you then open the door and remove the key, all the lights go off. Just turn the switch off then back to Park if you really wanted parking lights.

By the way, when did VW stop making their cars where the headlights go off when the key isn't in the On position. I note the switch above doesn't have a Park position, so I figured that turning off the key with the switch not in the 0 position substituted.

Do you really get paid to write such comments? do you want some cheese with that whine?

I don't like the way Volkswagen gives only two choices in their switch -- either all on or all off. What if you want to turn off the headlights temporarily while leaving the running lights on?

This is why I replaced mine on my MkIV Jetta with the European switch, which has all three positions. Why don't American market cars get this -- it's like VW wants to dumb it down to the lowest common denominator.

Firstwagon, did your Legacy have a secondary parking light switch on top of the steering column? Mine did, and I could never really understand why it was there, as it functioned the same as the stalk-mounted parking light switch and was overridden by switching on the headlights.

In terms of auto headlights being a more "exclusive" feature, my stripper '01 Maxima had them but my wife's '07 Acura TSX does not. They'll go off and turn on with the ignition, but they won't come on or go off by themselves while driving, which I regard as being truly "auto". Also, when locking the Acura, it will flash the headlights, even though they are HIDs, which don't stand up to that type of treatment as well as halogens. Its pretty obvious Honda just used their existing programming for non-HID cars. My wife and I both agree this is kind of a cheap way of doing things for a "luxury" brand.

"Firstwagon, did your Legacy have a secondary parking light switch on top of the steering column?"

Yes it does. I figure it's something for Europe. They drive with their "parking lights" on a lot in the cities.

I've never used it for anything.

I would whine more if i get free cheese, thanks.

Every car should at least have auto off headlights and preferably automatic headlight function. Many drivers don't turn them on when they are supposed to and it's annoying. I'm so glad my current car has them while my '05 did not.

My A4 has a pretty cool system. It has automatic headlamps and if you unlock the car from the key fob when its dark out, the fog lights shine to give you a good amount of illumination. Helps alot when its snowing every single day here in Detroit and you want to avoid walking through huge snow banks/ puddles and what not.

Oh, give me a break. Open the door with the switch in the lights-on position and an annoying warning chime sounds. So you ignored the warning chime and walked away without correcting the situation. Heavens, those nasty auto manufacturers should be sued for adding all that drama to my precious life!

Listen folks, driving a car is a serious responsibility, an inattentive operator is capable of putting others at risk. You can learn to turn the lights on when you need them, and turn them off again. You can turn on windshield wipers when you need them, and turn them off again. You can set a parking brake, and release it when you are ready to roll.

If you are not capable of routinely doing all these tasks and more, society would be much better off if you walked or used public transportation. You do not need silly gadgets to remove all traces of responsibility for your own actions.

For crying out loud, think how a small plane pilot has to methodically execute a checklist to ensure each trip goes off as planned. And as a driver of a ton-and-a-half vehicle on public roads you can't be bothered to use even a small fraction of the same attentiveness to your task?

/end rant

auto headlights are a cheap feature that should be on almost every car. It has nothing to do with a car being "premium" since they are standard on most $20k cars these days. I do know that some manufacturers (like Honda) insist on not making this feature standard on lower trims which is just silly.

I test drove a lot of lower-priced vehicles last year when I bought my new car, and only the Cobalt SS had the auto-lights. I'm surprised to hear so many people find them on low-priced vehicles, because I certainly did not. Maybe it was the trim levels I was looking at? I'm not sure. Either way, it didn't factor one bit into my decision. I'm capable of turning a switch and understanding when its dark outside. And, like some others said, my car also turns the lights off when the key is not in the slot. So, I can leave them in the "on" position constantly if i want.

Spoiled much? Wow. It is odd that the manuals hows it and the car doesn't have it. Maybe it's in higher end packages?

So much for that VW interior quality, that switch, dash, and sticker look cheeeeeeeeeeeeeep

doug,

OK maybe its just most GM vehicles that have it standard. I know its not standard on most Nissans and Hondas.

seppoboy- perhaps you'll stop ranting when you encounter people driving at dusk without their lights and you can barely see them. Happens all the where I live. And don't even compare flying a plane to driving a car, it isn't even close.

"doug,

OK maybe its just most GM vehicles that have it standard. I know its not standard on most Nissans and Hondas."

I didn't drive the Sentra, so I'm not sure about that. I didn't see it on the Lancer, MINI, Focus, or Mustang (I'm not 100% sure on that one...my drive of it was such a hated experience) either.

Most GM vehicles I've been in do have this feature. My friend drives a Buick from the late 90s and she uses it constantly.

So "laziness" is the only motive for someone to desire automatic headlights? I guess I'm also lazy for liking my car's electric starter and automatic airbags.

Hand-cranks and bumpers were good enough for our forefathers! We're just spoiled now!

"Yeah, I know, the Skyline R35 doesn't have auto lamps either. But that car blows away everything else on the road and looks like a million bucks too"

Last I checked, the ZR-1 was King of the Hill, not the R35. And most people think it looks like a nice Nissan rather than a million bucks worth of exotica.

Anyway, with regards to the Jetta's headlamps - did you NOT hear the beeping sounds as you left the car with the lights still on? That simple reminder has always worked for me on all of my cars that don't have auto-off headlamps. I've NEVER left my headlights on.

my j-body sunfire did not have auto lights, nor battery run down protection. And no chimes because I replaced the radio.

In my life I never found the need for 'parking' lights. so the simple on/off switch of the rabbit is easy enough to use.

seems like such a stupid thing to complain about.

then again, i'm glad your picking on imports for once.

First,
The car has daytime running lights (if it is the same as the 07 Rabbit), so the exterior lights are always on. There is no risk of the car being hard to see at dusk.

I also really don't see the big deal here, so you have to turn on your headlights......I never found that a big burden.

This could possibly be the most petty, pointless complaint of any car in the road test blog.

Even more, he says he'll forgive the Nissan because it's faster than the Jetta not having nanny headlights?

Why does Edmunds let this guy post on here?

"So "laziness" is the only motive for someone to desire automatic headlights? I guess I'm also lazy for liking my car's electric starter and automatic airbags."

Its only mentioned when you complain about a lack of a feature on a car that most people like. Meanwhile these same people will tell you they could never buy another car without bluetooth or push button start or a nav system. You know, ESSENTIAL features for those who like to do things the old fashioned way. If this same post was about the Caravan or G8 the reaction would've been much different. We would have seen comments like "no wonder they are begging for money from congress when they cant even get the basics right".

Funny, my '01 F150 Lariat has auto lights, and also a manual setting where you can turn them on and off whenever.

I still manually use my lights. I don't need a damn computer to dictrate whether or not my lights are on.

You are a bunch of spoiled brats out there.

Take some responsibility for yourself, and quit complaining about stupid things like auto headlights.

That sticker looks ridiculous. That's the best VW could do?

I agree with Volvo's theory on lighting. All lights should always be on all the time. My '96 Jetta had that feature (you did have to turn the switch on to use the high beams) and why they discontinued it for 1997 is beyond me. Upon being discontinued only the headlights illuminate for DRLs, why not the rest of the lights?

On our TSX, the lights-on chime will go off if you leave the lights on, even though they go out automatically 30 seconds later, so the fact that you hear a chime may not be enough of a clue that they won't turn off by themselves.

That said, if I was driving an unfamiliar vehicle and heard a chime, I'd just turn the things off and not risk the battery going out.

We bought a Jetta TDI sportwagen in December 2008. Salesman did not go over this detail. The last vehicle our family had without auto lights was 18 years ago.

I got stuck in subzero weather because of this. This is a SAFETY issue since it is impossible to get these diesels jumped without another vehicle or by charging the battery.

Two different services VW Roadside assistance contractors and three ineffective jump packs later, a co-worker finally helped me start it with a Ford F150.

The alert chime in the Jetta only rings four times!

The vehicle we have has a fairly complete list of bells and whistles, so the lack of this feature is a shoot-yourself-in-the-foot move on VW's part. VW will spend more on roadside assistance contractors that they will ever have saved by not including auto lights.

They need to provide a retrofit.