2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS: The Three Looks

@roadburner. To my knowledge, you can just turn the DRLs off with the flick of the lighting switch. The C6 Vette and my Caddy have the same functionality. You basically turn 'off' the auto lighting.

Wait, what you're saying is that you cannot use the foglights when the headlights are on? very strange. It really probably doesn't make too much of a difference though. I know all the foglights i've had on my cars are little more than eyecandy.

That's crappy...

The "halo" rings, another nice way for GM to take an idea from BMW's Corona rings.

Kudos to GM if that's the case; that's one reason I was put off from buying a GTI; the idiots at the VW dealer refused to disable the DRLs(even though it can easily be accomplished).

Fog lights are purely decoration. The manufacturers standard issue lights are improperly aimed and serve no useful function even in fog. All fog lights are useless if you are going over 20 mph, you outrun their theoretical benefit. They do contribute to glare and light pollution at night and, in fact, many states have laws against using these lights except when foggy or raining which are never enforced. If you wish them as decoration for your car perhaps put a 40 watt bulb in the socket and the looks will be preserved without blinding others at night. This is especially true on trucks whose lights are higher off the ground always appear to be on highbeam status to the lower riding cars.

"I prefer the ability to disable the DRLs altogether."

Why?

It's an important safety feature that requires no effort or inconvience on your part. Do you disable your airbags and ABS as well?

What possible beef could someone have with daytime running lights?

"What possible beef could someone have with daytime running lights?"

The last time I checked, DRLs aren't compulsory. I don't like them and I won't buy a car that doesn't give me the option to disable them.

As for them being "an important safety feature", even the Nanny State Enablers at NHTSA haven't found a statistically significant correlation. Their study on DRL effectiveness concludes:

""The analysis found that DRLs have no statistically significant overall effect on the three target crashes. When combining these three target crashes into one target crash, the DRL effects were also not statistically significant. When examined separately for passenger cars and light trucks / van (LTVs) , DRLs in LTVs significantly reduced LTVs involvement in the target two vehicle by 5.7 percent. However, the remaining DRL effects on these three target crashes were not statistically significant. Although not statistically significant, DRLs might have unintended consequences for pedestrians and motorcycles. Particularly, the estimated negative effects for LTV's were relatively large and cannot be completely ignored."

Source: http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/contentStreamer?objectId=090000648070b5b6&disposition=attachment&contentType=pdf
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I've give them credit for a long detailed (perhaps excessively) complicated study.

However sometimes reality is much simple if you just look for the obvious.

In lower light conditions you can see an on coming car much better with DRL's then without. We get a lot of grey rainy days where I live and it's really surprising how much sooner you see a Canadian car over an American car.

We've had them for 20 years and I've seen no negative effects.

If you disable them and are in an accident, does that make you liable?

I have no problem with DRL's. I actually would prefer them as they do tend to make a car more visible even in broad daylight, even if slightly more visible. In the pre-dawn, dusk times, they are really helpful because most people won't turn on their lights and they provide at least some way of illuminating the vehicle so others can see.

The one thing I wish they would combine with DRL's is auto headlights. This is something GM has gotten right for about 10 years now. Even my 10 year old S-10 has DRL's and auto headlight (fully defeateable if you so wish). That would eliminate the idiots that refuse to to turn on their lights in low light and rainy conditions...

Why would you not want to be seen? I want people to see me as easily as possible......why do you think motorcycles and school buses drive with their lights on? I cant think of any reason somebody would not like DRLs other than vanity.

Anybody who ever approaches a guard-shack needs a way to disable the DRLs, which GM didn't figure out for a couple years. In my '96 GMC the only way to have the engine running without the headlights on is to apply the parking brake (or pull the DRL fuse). As mentioned above they soon figured it out, the lights on newer GM vehciles can quickly be doused.

I hate DRL's with a passion, personally. I don 't want to drive around in the day time with my headlights on and I shouldn't be forced to by my car. For God's sake, are you guys really trying to say that a car becomes invisible during the day unless it has stupid DRL's??? Honestly, I can't imagine what the point of being able to see an oncoming car from further away is. Unless he's in my lane or something, it really doesn't matter what he's doing. As for lane changing, I don't need to see someone's headlights in order to know they are next to me. If I turn my head and look I guarantee I will see a car in the next lane, regardless of whether or not they have their headlights on.

Its just another step on the road to the loss of liberty. I wouldn't want to live in Canada with their socialist regime for anything in the world.

Maybe I'm the only one but during all the times I've driven through snowstorms, I've found my fog lights to actually be of some use. My regular xenon headlights couldn't do a thing to cut through the densely falling snow up ahead but I could at least see what was on the road a few feet directly in front and beside of me because of the lower placement of my fog lights. It definitely saved me from running over road debris/obstacles (i.e. big branches and potholes) hidden by the snowy conditions which could have been real trouble since my car is so low to the ground. In any case, I think it's ridiculous they don't come on when the headlights are turned on because it defeats the whole point of what is at least their advertised purpose.

konocar400h says:

12:15 PM, 02/25/10

"Wait, what you're saying is that you cannot use the foglights when the headlights are on? very strange."

shaddai says:

01:23 PM, 02/25/10

"That's crappy..."

+100

I love the halos. A lot.

You don't have to conduct an investigative study to understand the benefits of DRLs. Sure, DRLs are useless during the middle of the day when every car highly visible. But as others have said, DRLs are there for the vain, selfish, stupid, inconsiderate people who don't think they have to turn their headlights on when it's dark, raining, foggy, or snowing outside. It's a safety measure to protect the public from the stupid drivers of the world.

I hate people who don't have their headlights on during poor visibility conditions with a PASSION. Those kinds of drivers actually, I lump into with the same drivers who
- Don't signal before they turn.
- Don't know the right-of-way rules at a four way intersection.
- Don't pull over for emergency vehicles.
- Don't slow down while driving through school crossings.
- Don't stop before the crosswalk at traffic lights to allow pedestrians to safely cross.
- Etc. You get my point.

"You don't have to conduct an investigative study to understand the benefits of DRLs."

In other words, even though there's no statistical proof that DRLs reduce accidents they still reduce accidents.
Got it.

It's a tool that makes it safer to drive. That part is easy to see (much easier then people who prefer to disable them).

Since there is no downside to them any advantage is a good thing.

Especially since the reason people don't like them is really just an compulsive refusal to accept that other people can make rules that they have to follow.

"It's a tool that makes it safer to drive. That part is easy to see (much easier then people who prefer to disable them)."

Except that there's no proof that DRL equipped cars are involved in fewer accidents.

"Especially since the reason people don't like them is really just an compulsive refusal to accept that other people can make rules that they have to follow.
"
What part of "DRLs are not mandated in the US" do you find difficult to comprehend? I don't like car manufacturers who dictate what they think is best for me. If a car maker wants to offer the option to enable/disable DRLs I'm fine with that.

They're technically "driving lights" anyhow. Illuminating the two feet of road in front of your bumper that you can't see from a camaro's cabin anyhow hardly qualifies as useful.