Am I being paranoid?... Dashboard lights are dark during day time?...

[MKFred]

So this is a stupid question probably, but I'm really confused here.

I just bought an Ibiza ST from 2016, and I could bet that every-time I drove the car the dashboard lights were always on and at peek brightness, but yesterday I was inside the garage and noticed the dashboard very dark, it would only go full lit if I put the lights on Medium, I noticed it has a light sensor because if I would shine my phone flash to the dashboard the dashboard would lit to its max and go back to barely visible if I stoped lighting it with the phone light.

So... was it always like that and only after 4 days I noticed it? Or is there some explanation on why the dashboard only lits at max with the medium lights on or with lot's of clarity inside the car? I went to the car settings on the touchscreen and the dashboard lights settings is normal, set in the middle.
So, am I just being paranoid? Is there an option to have it at peek brightness all the time?

I traced on yellow the parts that go dark.

 

[everson38]

So this is a stupid question probably, but I'm really confused here.

I just bought an Ibiza ST from 2016, and I could bet that every-time I drove the car the dashboard lights were always on and at peek brightness, but yesterday I was inside the garage and noticed the dashboard very dark, it would only go full lit if I put the lights on Medium, I noticed it has a light sensor because if I would shine my phone flash to the dashboard the dashboard would lit to its max and go back to barely visible if I stoped lighting it with the phone light.

So... was it always like that and only after 4 days I noticed it? Or is there some explanation on why the dashboard only lits at max with the medium lights on or with lot's of clarity inside the car? I went to the car settings on the touchscreen and the dashboard lights settings is normal, set in the middle.
So, am I just being paranoid? Is there an option to have it at peek brightness all the time?

I traced on yellow the parts that go dark.
View attachment 12722

Give your battery and alternator a check could be weak

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[MKFred]

Give your battery and alternator a check could be weak

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

Hmmm, I'll check it but I doubt it can be the battery, every other lights are normal, even the dash lights if I turn on the Medium lights, if anything they would go darker with the increase of current need for the other lights.
Thanks for the input.

 

[RUM4MO]

I think that that is the way that these instrument lights have been designed to work, so does your car have auto headlights position on the main light switch?

Edit:- this has been said to be a safety feature so that when you are out in daylight, and the lighting level is low, so low that probably you should have your headlights on, the background lights or dimmed out to prompt you to "switch your lights on!".

Another Edit:- I've corrected "|some" to be "so" - my mistake.

 

[MKFred]

I think that that is the way that these instrument lights have been designed to work, some does your car have auto headlights position on the main light switch?

Edit:- this has been said to be a safety feature so that when you are out in daylight, and the lighting level is low, so low that probably you should have your headlights on, the background lights or dimmed out to prompt you to "switch your lights on!".

Wow, that's an odd safety feature, but good to know it's a feature and not a defect.
Thanks alot for the reply.

 

[Crossthreaded]

I think that that is the way that these instrument lights have been designed to work, some does your car have auto headlights position on the main light switch?

Edit:- this has been said to be a safety feature so that when you are out in daylight, and the lighting level is low, so low that probably you should have your headlights on, the background lights or dimmed out to prompt you to "switch your lights on!".

Yes that's exactly it. I've got a 2016 Ibiza 1.0 3 cylinder ST and that's exactly how my dash lights work too. I think they are far too sensitive, seems to me that they dim down/go out long before the outside light levels warrant switching the outside lights on. However I suppose no harm is done by switching on when the car thinks it's needed.

Far too much of this sort of "silly" stuff appearing in cars now a days in my opinion. Just for info, my car does not have auto headlights option.

 

[RUM4MO]

Ah, so it works that way even if that car has not got auto lights option.
Actually on a car with auto lights option, if you left the light switch on the "auto" position, you would never see this happening as the car would switch the lights on.
So that makes sense that it works that way, I'm one of these people that normally leave the lights switch in the off position mainly to avoid the lights switching on as soon as I start the car when its in my garage, if I'm driving into the dusk or the light levels are dropping due to weather, I'll always switch the lights to "auto" or even if conditions are not good in a way that "auto" can not be trusted to switch on in time, I'll use the headlights on switch position.

Edit:- "driving" was missing, so I added it!