Do your head lights stay on? You might need to know this....

So, today I had my headlights stay on with no keys in the ignition.
Here is what happened, I opened the passenger door and put the keys in the ignition and turned
the key to "run" with out starting the engine. I cracked the windows and then removed the keys from
the igniton. My headlights remained on. HERE IS WHY.

1. Get in the truck from the drivers and start the truck.
2. Turn the headlights on and then stop the engine. LEAVE THE HEADLIGHTS ON.
3. At this point the headlights will still be ON. Open the door and they will go OFF. THIS IS NORMAL
4. Now exit the truck and walk to the passenger side and open the door. KEEP THE DOOR OPEN.
5. Insert the keys in the ignition, then turn the key to the run position. No need to star the engine.
6. THE HEADLIGHTS WILL COME ON.
7. Remove the keys from the ignition. THE HEADLIGHTS STAY ON.
You can shut the door and lock them. But the headlight stay on.
I don't like this. This would drain the battery.

Please let me know if your truck does this.
I have a 2007 and I also tried it on a 2010.


Yes, I know the simple answer is to just use the drivers door.
But I was at the motocross track and it was a tight squeeze on the drivers side.

 

You could turn the headlights off with the switch too...

What you described is normal for 2nd gen Tacomas.

 

Seems like you had to go through an awful lot of effort to find this "problem". I can't think of a single time I ever had to put the keys in from the passenger side?

 

DITTO!! A none issue

 

Definitely an oversight by the engineers.. I think he is just putting it out there for people that may not know. Might save someone from a dead battery. Thanks OP.

 

Whether it's aplicable knowledge or not, I like learning anything I can about these trucks. i just think it's cool knowing about little things like this. Thanks for posting, OP.

 

Yes, Just letting people know.
Some people might just leave there headlights on all the time and rely on the
truck to turn them off. And It does. But if you are in this habbit, just remember
to use the drivers side when messing with the ignition. Or at a minimum go around and open ND then close the drivers door. Lol

 

The last several vehicles I owned before my Tacoma had auto on/off headlights which came on when the engine was running at dusk or on very cloudy days, in tunnels, parking garages, etc. and went of at daylight or when exposed to othe bright lighting.

When you turned the ignition off the automatically turned off in about 30 seconds give or take.

I am trying to get in the habit of turning my Tacoma lights off with the switch as I do not need them on in the daytime. This was the way all cars/trucks were back in the day. Yes I am old for those who can't remember cars being wired that way.
Lots of dead batteries when driving to work on foggy mornings back then. Remember PA announcements like " the owner of (insert car description and license plate number) has left your lights on.

 

I love my amber DRLs, but I have a 2015 so I'm better than all you peasants anyway

Sounds like Tn had a door ajar switch problem back in 2015

 

Re: >>Let me know if your truck does this<<

No. ...but I think I may have forgot to do one of the steps. ...or did #4 after #5 instead of after #3 like I was supposed to. (maybe) Then I was tired from all the running around and a dog barked somewhere off in the distance that distracted me, and I couldn't remember what letter I was on, so I quit.
Sorry

 

OK: Made it successfully through another test-round try OK. (despite a bird going by and landing on the grass to next me and running around.... see previous)

Results/findings: Open the driver's door test: headlights go out. Passenger side open door, turn key to ON: lights come on. remove key from ignition: lights stay on. Close the door/lock: lights stay on. Bang the top of the dash (like when you're trying to stop one of those damn rattles behind there.... lights stay on.
Open the driver's door: lights go off.
Model Year: 2014

 

Never dated a girl with no arms?

 

3rd gen does this too.
I was installing new fog lights and I used the passenger door to get in to turn on the lights to test the connections/aim them. Assumed they would turn off after like normal and went inside, 10 minutes later I go out and the lights were still running.

 

It's interesting because my truck has some kind of monitoring system that will turn off the dome lights after a set time. I'm not sure if there is anything else on the that it can control and shut down. I also really like that the windows stay powered for a while after shut down and was pleasantly surprised when I discovered the feature by accident several month after I got the truck.

 

I inadvertently found this out today. Was rainy during daylight hours. Had the lights on and forgot to turn them off. Unloaded a bunch of stuff from the passenger side, forgot I needed the mileage for business records so I turned the key to check it then went inside. Hours later, I realized my lights were on... and the truck was dead.


Leave it to TW to know what the cause was. Thanks, internet.

 

no, but one girl had really short arms, like a T-rex.

 

Regular sized hands?

 

Of course! Done be weird.

 

All I know is that if you leave your headlights and fog lights on without the engine running, it will drain your battery in about 30min to the point of not being able to start the engine back up.