GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I've seen many people making reference to the auto light sensor only turning on the full headlights alone. Is it true the taillights and other standard lights that come on with headlights are not turned on by ALS? i've just always assumed that all my lights are coming on, and never bothered to check? at night, i just let the als kick in instead of turning on lights manually...please let me know if this is the case so i can be sure to not get pulled over!

All exterior lights illuminate with the Twilight Sentinel (ALS). It is just as if you were to manually turn on the exterior lights.I pretty much just let the ALS control my lighting at night. I can assure you the rear lights, as well as all others, are illuminated.Of course, if the exterior lighting is ON (whether manually or by ALS), you can still control the Fog Lamps to be either ON or OFF. You cannot, however, turn the Fog Lamps ON if your exterior lights are OFF (or DRL's are ON).The headlamp indicator will light on the gauge cluster notifying you the headlamps are on also.

quote:I've seen many people making reference to the auto light sensor only turning on the full headlights alone. Is it true the taillights and other standard lights that come on with headlights are not turned on by ALS? i've just always assumed that all my lights are coming on, and never bothered to check? at night, i just let the als kick in instead of turning on lights manually...please let me know if this is the case so i can be sure to not get pulled over!I thought the same thing! Turns out it just takes about 15 seconds to kick in and then everything will turn on. Have no fear!Kent

I picked up my vibe last thursday and have been checking out everything on it.....the ALS works like the ALS systems in other GM's that I've owned/ridden in. I have seen posts that the sensor may be very sensitive, but I haven't seen that yet, since it's been raining alot over the last week. I did notice that the sensors in the other GM's were quick to respond, so I suspect that the vibe's will behave the same way.

quote:since it's been raining alot over the last week.It's been raining here and I noticed the ALS is very calm under these conditions due to lack of shadows. Wait until you have a sunny day and encounter different shadows over the sensor.I also noticed one day when I saw 3 Vibe's on the same road with same lighting conditions... my ALS had my lights on, 2 Vibe's were off, and 1 other Vibe was on. Both were traveling the same direction as myself. So it is very sensitive and unique per Vibe it seems.quote:I did notice that the sensors in the other GM's were quick to respond, so I suspect that the vibe's will behave the same way. The ALS has a delay of about 15 seconds when reacting to changing lighting conditions.

Yeah,i read about that time on the board. Another thing I did notice is that in the other GM's, the sensor was in the middle, whereas on the vibe, i believe it's on the driver side. I say this b/c the dealer put my inspection sticker out in the bottom middle of the windsheild, where all (most now) cars in NJ have it in the driver side corner. Having it on the side, where the post shadows can more easliy affect it, is causing it to react more often than it normally would. On my 97 olds, i would only notice it change over was going thru a tunnel, or into a parking garage.

Gee here's a thought GM...why not TWO sensors? One in each corner. That way, unless both sensors are dark, it's not dark OUT...or, put the sensor in the REAR window...OR...put the sensor outside all together.