POSTED IN THE CABRIO TALK YESTERDAY, NO REPLIES = My girlfriend has a bad habit of leaving the lights on and my brand new 08 Cabrio S Sidewalk does NOT have the auto-lights. Is there anything I can do (hack/mod) so that the lights can stay in the "on" position but will shut off with the ignition? I know the 08 Hardtop S loaner the dealer gave me does this.

 

Check with the dealer - they can do various things with programming lights and other electricals. I know the daytime running lights are a programmable thing. Also, if my headlights are on and I turn the key off, the lights go off. The parking lights will stay on, but the headlights shut down. They come back on when the car is turned back on. Not sure if any of this helps or is relevant to an '08 (mine's an '03), but ask 'em.

 

Usually there's a DING DING DING when you turn off the car, open the door, and leave the keys in the ignition. Then again I suppose if you take the keys out before opening the door, you'll never know the lights are on unless you look. I'm a rocket scientist.
Have your GF double check before walking away from the MINI.

 

I am not sure if its because the car has Xenon's but they definately stay on when the car is turned off. As for daytime running lights, I asked the dealer THREE times if the daytime running lights are the Xenon's or halogen lights and they insisted that they are halogen. I like the look of riding with the Xenon's on...that's the real dilemma.

 

DRL do use the high beams, on your 08 cabrio thats the halogens. When you shut your car off your lights do go off, but the parking lights will remain on. That is until your battery goes flat.

 

Luckily my battery didn't die either after I left my parking lights on for a few hours.
I actually like driving with the Xenons on all the time now. It's good visibility and the MINI just plain looks fantastic with those babies blazing.

 

The lights should turn off when the ignition switch is in the off position except when the light switch stalk is pulled and the "light your way home" lights come on...but those turn off after about 30 seconds.

 

Dont let the GF drive it = problem fixed...the man way. Which is probably not best if you want to keep her.

 

Had the dealer program mine (no hacks, only way; they have proprietary software) so the "light your way home" function leaves the lights on for 25 seconds (plenty long enough) and then all lights shut off. No problems.

 

I think you're talking about a different issue. The "light your way home" or "pathway lighting" (or whatever MINI calls it) is for when you have the car off and the headlamps off. You pull the turn signal stalk towards you, and the headlights come on for up to 40 seconds, after which all lights go back out.

The OP's girlfriend is leaving the manual headlamps in the "ON" position when she leaves the car. I don't think there's any way via dealer programming to prevent this from leaving the parking lights illuminated indefinitely.

Even if activating the pathway lighting option would turn both the headlamps and parking lamps off at the end of the delay period even with the headlamp switch in the "ON position, I don't think there's any way his girlfriend will remember to activate the pathway lighting feature every time she gets out of the car if she can't remember to turn the headlamps off in the first place.

 

Electrically, it should be simple to hack in relays that allow lights to be on only while the ignition is on.

BTW, your question should be generally for the 1st gen and there isn't anything about it specific to the cabrio. You might have had more responses if posted in the 1st gen Electrical or Interior/Exterior forums.