On my 2015 XLE I leave the light switch in the 3rd position (parking lights) all the time and whenever the engine is shut off the DRL lights and parking lights go off. Only at night do I move to the headlight position and back to parking when shut off the engine.

Frank 2015 Rav4 XLE AWD with 8700 miles

 

yeah it seems silly to me too and no you are not missing anything when you turn the lights off you just have to leave the stalk in the DRL position if you want them to come on when you drive again.

 

It's really quite insane. DRLs should simply be always on when the car is in drive.

 

Our 2014 DRL's are on all the time without having to do anything.
They come on as soon as the car starts to move and stay on until
engine is turned off - all as standard.

 

Canada too.

 

When auto makers began to put DRLs on vehicles, the cry of many was that there was no way to turn them off. (Driving through a military base where the rule was for no lights.) So the auto makers put a position on the stalk to turn DRLs off. Think of the DRL position as off. Then think of the DRL off position as really fully off.

 

I wonder if the Canadian stalk is a drop-in replacement for the US part?
I wouldn't mind having that, as we never go anywhere with a "lights off" rule.

Better would be if they reversed the positions of "off" and "drl" so rotated fully back sets the DRLs on and one click forward goes fully dark.
My wife rarely runs her DRLs because she's used to shutting off the lights on her last 3 Toyotas for the last 20 years and hasn't retrained herself to leave the switch up by one.

 

I just leave the light switch on DRL position all the time.

 

I assume you don't mean all the time because you have to turn on the headlights at night.

 

Is there no way, like via Techstream for the DRLs to always be on when the engine is on, regardless of stalk or vehicle settings?

 

Nope.
Shut off delay can be adjusted, but you can't force the DRLs to be on or off in defiance of the stalk setting.

Buy a Canadian rav. ;p

DRL are required and no way to shut them off. We have heated seats and automatic headlights standard on our XLE as well. Of course our cars cost $5000+ more as well.

But you have free medical! 0

 

I wish my Tundra had the same setting as the Rav4. I can't turn my DRLs off, which is annoying at times.
Can't please everyone I guess.

 

Buy a Canadian rav. ;p

DRL are required and no way to shut them off. We have heated seats and automatic headlights standard on our XLE as well. Of course our cars cost $5000+ more as well.

 

So what's the part number on the Canadian turn signal stalk?
I'd like to look into replacing ours.

 

I assume that wouldn't address the DRL issue that frustrates me.

 

Perhaps this can be changed using Techstream?

 

We have a Limited and leave the lights in automatic all the time, and do not have issues with manually trying to turn the lights on or off. Its pretty obvious the lights are on when they shine on the garage wall. After parking in the garage I momentarily turn the light knob to an adjacent position to turn the lights off. Only concern my wife has is that the switch is kept in auto all the time she doesn't want me to touch it.

 

DRL location?

Just confirming as a new 2015 RAV4 owner, the DRLs are only used in the high beam location by lowering the voltage, correct? I read a post (not on this site), therefore with this being my first post, I want to confirm that other site was incorrect in it's stating that the DRL also used the low beam, therefore installing any HID kit in ONLY the low beam would lead to my never being able to use the DRLs because of the lower voltage and ultimately damaging the HID kit.

So basically... Is the DRL only powered and used by the high beam?

 

I am aware of two methods that use high beams as DRL;
1) Pulse width modulation of the 12 volts at about a 50% duty cycle using an electronic module
2) With a relay the two high beams are put in series so there is 6V on each bulb
I know for a fact that my 2009 Nissan Versa uses #2 and I suspect the Rav4 uses #2 also since it is cheaper than the electronics for method #1.
Hopefully someone else can give a definite answer.

Frank 2015 Rav4 XLE AWD with 10550 miles