Auto Headlights off? Can't turn my headlights off
 

Never had this happen before but can you turn manually off your headlights with your car running? I have the auto headlights but when I flip the switch towards me, only the interior lights turn off but the headlights stay on. Is this a safety feature, or is something not working right?

Thanks :)

It may be your daytime running lights. In the R56, they are the same as low beam headlights turned on. Look in your Owner's Manual for instructions on how to turn off daytime running lights.

Maybe that could be it but I have no idea because I don't have a manual. Guess I am searching the pdf

That's interesting - I wondered how the R56 handled daytime running lights on cars that had the Xenon lamps, since the R56 has Xenons for both the low- and high-beams, and you can't run Xenons at less than full power.

On the first-gen MINI with the Xenon option, only the low-beams were Xenon, and the high beams were conventional halogens. This made it easy to do daytime running lamps - the DRLs are just the high-beams modulated at about 70% power.

My R56 is Canadian and therefore is mandated by law to have DRLs. It seems to use the low beam xenon for DRLs. I hope that doesn't mean premature death of the HID bulbs, but hat's what it is. Note that I don't think the tails come on with the DRLs at least not with the 09-10 R56. Might be different with the new LED tails.

Mine has the nav system with the settings built in. I had to scroll through to find DRL options and turned it off. My xenons were doing the same thing and I felt I didn't need them on a bright day, thus deciding to turn off that function.

Not sure the specs on your car but I'm sure regardless there should be a menu in the radio somewhere.

I haven't quite figure out the auto-headlamps on my JCW. Back to the manual I guess but I don't see much point of it on a Canadian Cooper. The lights are basically on all the time front and back. The auto stuff seems to just handle dimming interior dash lights, the follow me home feature and path lighting...? Even if you don't have Navi, you can disable DRL using the left steering wheel stalk button - I think that feature is disabled on Canadian cars.

The PDF manuals are posted on the "library of motoring" site. Google for the link.

Anyways, don't worry about the Xenons... they have long life as long as you don't frequently turn them on/off a lot. My previous R56 didn't blow out a single bulb in over 3 years with the exterior lights on at all times.

Thank you!!! Just did this and perfect now :)
Great way to start my work day =)