Does your GLS have the power/popular package? If not, it doesnt have automatic headlights.
If it does, Im not sure what to tell you. Mine seem to come on at the right times. Maybe make sure the sensor isnt dirty or have anything casting shadows on it.

 

Yes, I have the pop package. The auto lights kick on once it's dark. They just seem to need a lot more darkness than I'm used to.

 

easiest way... try leaving your lights on and observe your car for a while, if they go off then you have the feature, that's how I found out... or is that the auto off feature? lol

 

I don't have a question about whether or not I have auto lights. I know I do, and they do work. I'm just complaining that they don't come on until it's darker than I would prefer.

 

u have the same thing...

they do not turn on when there is rain and it's dark... it needs to be dark dark...

or sometimes the interior lights dimm but the headlights don't turn on...

no clue...

before i had no automatic lights so I can work with this

 

Even with a tinted windshield, my lights seem to take too long to come on when in auto mode. I've left mine on a few times and they still go off. The only difference is that they're on as soon as you start the car.

 

I agree. I usually find myself turning them on manually.

It's pretty easy to tell when they're on and off, but it would be nice if the photocell turned them on sooner.

 

I was kicking around the idea of putting some tint over the sensor, to make it think it's darker out.

 

I agree, I have had several cars and trucks with autolamp and they all seem to trigger earlier than the Sonata. Hard to say for the rainy day. I found on all vehicles i would have to turn headlights on manually unless it was one heck of a storm.

 

I have the same problem with my 2013 Sonata GLS with the POP Eq Package...it seems to need more dark than I think it should need as well. Also, how long, (and what setting does that light switch have to be in) do the lights take to automatically shut off when I get to my destination?

 

Seems like they stay on a long time. However,if you hit the lock button on the key fob they will go out.

 

I have to turn mine on manually in the rain but for the most part the auto doesn't bother me as for when it comes on.

 

+1
My experience exactly...

 

I think the sensor is in the center of the dash near the windshield. How about covering it with a little piece of tinted plastic? You could experiment with different degrees of tint till it worked as you wished.

 

It will have to be darker than 35% tint to be effective.

 

Complicating things, because the instrument cluster is always lit, it tricks me into thinking the headlights are on when they aren't.

You can always tell if they are on if you see the icon to the right of the hi beams on in the instrument cluster:

I've resorted to placing something (usually a napkin) over the sensor at times to trick it into turning the lights on. I've never had auto lights before so I'm afraid I'll forget to turn the lights off if I turn them on manually!

 

I leave mine on all the time. They auto shut off within 30 seconds of locking the car and turn off completely with a double lock key press.

 

I leave mine on all the time. They auto shut off within 30 seconds of locking the car and turn off completely with a double lock key press.

Same here. I leave my headlights on at all times, but they shut off as soon as I open the door. Works fine for me. I actually turn my lights on every vehicle every time I drive. Seems like turning a switch on or off is not too big of a deal. People who drive with their lights off during rain or at dusk and dawn are annoying, to me. They think if it doesn't help them see, they shouldn't have them on, but seem to forget it helps other people see you. Glad so many more places are making/enforcing it as a law.

 

I had to "LOL" at the first half of the thread with people telling him how to tell if he has the auto headlights when nothing in the first post was asking that... Peoples lack of reading amazes me!! HAHA

On a side note.... I have been thinking this since I have owned the car, seems our Auto Headlights take alot to get them to kick on. I cant see how when it starts to rain especially hard rain they don't come on and it has to be pretty **** near full night time before they kick on.

Also, are you sure you have Auto Headlights?? LOL(Had to throw that in to keep with the first posters)

 

I had to "LOL" at the first half of the thread with people telling him how to tell if he has the auto headlights when nothing in the first post was asking that... Peoples lack of reading amazes me!! HAHA

I know, that was pretty funny.

You can always tell if they are on if you see the icon to the right of the hi beams on in the instrument cluster...

I know. But if the cluster is lit up, and that green light isn't on, it's easy to be fooled into thinking your headlights are on, unless you're specifically looking for it.

 

One thing I've noticed - the NAV screen doesn't go into night mode off the same sensor as the auto headlights. So if you think it has to be really dark for the headlights to come on, it has to be pitch black before the NAV screen goes into night mode.

 

I don't have a NAV unit, but I wonder if it's set to dim by time and not light sensor? Most GPS units dim based on time since they don't have light sensors. Having said that...you'd think that the NAV unit would dim with the auto lights since they do have the sensor

 

SOmetimes the lights come on before I would have turned them on, but better safe than sorry I guess.
In the rain, I turn them on manually.

 

The lights come on when I go thru a dim tunnel, it takes maybe 10 seconds. The sensor in the middle of the dash is programmed to dwell for a short time before making changes so the lights won't do the on-off-on thing at dusk or dawn.

 

You must have gotten a South Carolina model..........everything happens more slowly here in the South.

 

In my previous 1993 Ford Taurus SHO you could adjust the sensitivity of the auto lights.

Just curious...do the lights go on when you turn the wipers on? (Which is the law out here in CA)

Also...because I had the old car so long...do the instruments always light up in cars nowadays even with the lights off? Or is that just a Sonata thing.

 

Lights don't come on with wipers. I think the DRLs eliminates that need. On your other point, many cars these days have the dash backlit all the time. My 08 Acadia which I just traded had the same effects.

 

I do a Bearcats does and I leave them on all the time. however mine turn off 30 sec after I remove the key from the ignition. That way I know people can see me coming and I never have to think of turning them on of off.

cheers

 

I agree with others.

It needs to be extremely dark for the lights to kick on. The Sonata's lights are not that sensitive.

While driving, I've witnessed lights igniting on an Acura going under an overpass and then turning off once through the overpass.

 

My previous car had automatic lights, and I never gave the headlights a passing thought, they always came on as it got dusk. The Sonata seems to have a much different interpretation of when the lights should come on. There are many times that I look down and am surprised the headlights haven't come on when I have them in auto mode. Just as an example, it was a very rainy day today, but they never came on, which I have been accustomed to with my previous car.

Complicating things, because the instrument cluster is always lit, it tricks me into thinking the headlights are on when they aren't.

Anyone else?

I just said this to myself. All my other cars turn on the lights sooner. Seems it almost has to be dark for them to turn on. I even got pulled over one day because the cop thought I should of had my lights on. I told him they were on auto so I didn't think twice. He didn't give me a ticket but told me to watch out. He was behind me.

 

Hmm, I have not noticed this in mine, I feel it comes on at the right darkness, though my wifes Santa Fe feels like it needs to be pitch black for them to come on.