No daytime flash-to-pass feature for HID-equipped '08 CTS

[Zymurgy]

Daytime flash to pass. To me, this is an absolutely worthless feature. Nobody around here would even notice a headlight flash from behind during daylight hours.

[Loveldos]

Originally Posted by Zymurgy

Daytime flash to pass. To me, this is an absolutely worthless feature. Nobody around here would even notice a headlight flash from behind during daylight hours.

Although they may not notice a "flash" from behind (myself among that group), here in Pennsylvania, it is common to do that to indicate for a vehicle to "go ahead" at a four way intersection, to let another driver know they can make a left hand turn in front of you just as the light changes and there is a stream of traffic behind you (on a single lane, urban setting), if there is a "speed trap" by local Police and you are warning opposing traffic, when there are wildlife (deer) that you have just passed and you want to warn opposing traffic to use Caution (i.e. get their attention), etc. These types of communicating via the "flash" are far more common than using the feature on the highway when coming up behind someone in traffic! As already said, this is inexcusable, when there are plenty of other lamps to hook-up to this feature, perhaps the fog lamps or the DRL's!

[radinr]

That's one of the dumbest omissions from an otherwise well put together vehicle. I have always flashed to pass. It's a time honored standard to get rid of left lane bandits. EVERY car I have ever had, with the exception of my first, a Plymouth 340 Duster had this feature.

[Bathel]

Originally Posted by RAB

Bathel, when was the last time I moved over when someone flashed their lights? It was the very last time I was on the highway here in Canada. If I inadvertently linger in the passing lane for a while, and someone comes up on me quickly and flashes a 'heads-up' to let me know they're coming and would like to get by, I have no problem at all moving over - if I'm able to move over at that moment. Why should anyone have a problem with that? (you know, moving over when flashed). It's an extremely common way of doing things in Western Europe and the UK -- a very much accepted and practised highway courtesy & safety mind-set thing -- and is adopted by at least a certain percentage of drivers in Canada. Still lots of left-lane bandits out there though, who ignorantly remain in the passing lane for miles and miles, while angry drivers have to navigate their way around them, often dangerously. To be honest I've seen a lot of this sort of thing while driving in several states in the US. I don't get it.
Who knows.. maybe flash-to-pass isn't a workable idea for many parts of North America.
It's unfortunate that in the area in which you live no one really cares. It is difficult, if not impossible, to educate / re-educate large numbers of folk who, for whatever reason, refuse to practice proper road etiqette.

If you're driving at night and have your lights on, you can flash a car out of the way... During daylight hours the car ahead of you would have to be looking in his re-vew mirror to notice you flashig your lights.... if he's looking in his rear view mirror, he should know to move over without you flashing... you're flashing isn't going to tell him anything he doesn't already know. If you are having to flash him .... he doesn't care as he has already seen you run up on his a$$ and didn't move.

You can flash your lights on the CTS with your lights already on... Does it have Daytime running light feature, if so then just have your DRL on and you can flash all you want in the day time.

So bottom line, if you want to Flash to pass in he daytime, turn your DRL on and flashy away.

[RAB]

Originally Posted by Bathel

If you're driving at night and have your lights on, you can flash a car out of the way... During daylight hours the car ahead of you would have to be looking in his re-vew mirror to notice you flashig your lights.... if he's looking in his rear view mirror, he should know to move over without you flashing... you're flashing isn't going to tell him anything he doesn't already know. If you are having to flash him .... he doesn't care as he has already seen you run up on his a$$ and didn't move.

You can flash your lights on the CTS with your lights already on... Does it have Daytime running light feature, if so then just have your DRL on and you can flash all you want in the day time.

So bottom line, if you want to Flash to pass in he daytime, turn your DRL on and flashy away.

At times it doesn't occur to people to move over unless they're 'reminded' to do so. A flashing of the high beams when coming up on him/her is a much kinder, gentler reminder than the all-too-common act of tail-gating and horn blowing, something I've seen a lot of folk do while I've traveled throughout areas of N.A..

You've touched on a good point though where you said, "if he's looking in his rear view mirror". Could well be that a lot of people make it an everyday habit of not using those 'annoying contraptions' (rear view & side view mirrors).
I don't know about other members here.. but when I'm driving my car (whether it be freeway, rural highway or urban).. as a matter of habit, I scan all of my mirrors FREQUENTLY to have an understanding of who/what is around me and what's coming up on me. And I will see a flash of "high beams" from behind in my mirrors, whether it be daytime or nighttime. (For those who say they probably wouldn't see a flash of high beams in daytime, it may be prudent for them to adjust their mirrors properly... or go and get themselves an eye exam!). If I'm happening to dwell in the passing lane for no good reason, and someone is closing-in fast, a flash of their high beams has me out of there.. day or night.

Bathel, with respect to the dedicated ice-cube optic DRL's on an HID-equipped '08 CTS... when the stalk-mounted exterior lamp control is in AUTO, and it is still "daylight" (as monitored by the light sensor on top of the IP), the DRL's will come on. In this DRL mode of operation, pulling the turn signal/multifunction lever toward you will have no effect whatsoever on front exterior lighting - period. (I've just proven that point in a practical way on my '08 CTS4).
And therein lies the point of this thread.

[concorso]

Originally Posted by Southern

I use them.
The Nissan Murano has HIDs and they have flash to pass.
I have probably used them close to 100 times since I have had the car.
When you are talking about lights that are designed to operate over many thousands of cycles, 100 times is insignificant
to the reliability of the design.
My car is 4+ years old now, and have had no problem with the HIDs.

Hopefully the service manual will show the way to possibly modding the car so that the parking lights, or the fog lights, can be flashed.....for those that want them. It is not necessary to make the HIDs flashable IMO.

AFAIK, the Murano uses a separate bulb for the flash to pass.

You can't uses the high beams for flash to pass when theyre bi-xenon, if the lows are off. HID Ballasts may be designed to be turned on and off thousands of cycles, but they ARE NOT designed to be flicked on and off quickly as this can kill the ballast. Cadillac should have used a separate bulb, definitely.

[Chuck C]

Time to keep a Mag-lite under the seat I guess!

[concorso]

Originally Posted by Chuck C

Time to keep a Mag-lite under the seat I guess!

a set of cop lights would work too

[1701]

Thanks for the reply...coincidently to my post, below. I was flashing...or at least I thought so, an on-coming car to permit him to make a left turn in front of me in heavy traffic but he didn;t respond. Reason...I WASN'T flashing afterall. Well, it is as strange as not lighting up the shifter at night, I guess. See newest post, above.

[smokiejoe]

Should have used the same design as the 08 SRX w/ Xenon, a separate bulb for the flash to pass. Here in Pennsylvania there are many four-way stop signs. I probably use the flash to pass feature 5 times on my 15 minute drive home each day.
Not sure on why the CTS is different....

[Southern]

Originally Posted by concorso

AFAIK, the Murano uses a separate bulb for the flash to pass.

You can't uses the high beams for flash to pass when theyre bi-xenon, if the lows are off. HID Ballasts may be designed to be turned on and off thousands of cycles, but they ARE NOT designed to be flicked on and off quickly as this can kill the ballast. Cadillac should have used a separate bulb, definitely.

Sorry, but the Murano flashes it's Hid when the lights are off.
They flash the high beam. I know. I own one.
When the lights are on "low beam" the pass to flash then flashes the high beam.
There can be no flash to pass when it is on High beam as the same stalk is used for flash to pass and set high beam.

I'm not sure what you mean by bi-xenon.
But the Murano uses a HID that does not increase/decrease its output based on hi/low beams. It has one output and it has a mechanical gate that cuts off the beam on the top for Low beams. On high beams, it raises this mechanical gate out of the way..

Nissan has no unusual proiblems with thses lights.
As a matter of fact at Murano.org I can't remember anybody ever having any problems with HIDs.

Bottom line, there are reasons and there are excuses.

[concorso]

Originally Posted by Southern

Sorry, but the Murano flashes it's Hid when the lights are off.
They flash the high beam. I know. I own one.
When the lights are on "low beam" the pass to flash then flashes the high beam.
There can be no flash to pass when it is on High beam as the same stalk is used for flash to pass and set high beam.

I'm not sure what you mean by bi-xenon.
But the Murano uses a HID that does not increase/decrease its output based on hi/low beams. It has one output and it has a mechanical gate that cuts off the beam on the top for Low beams. On high beams, it raises this mechanical gate out of the way..

Nissan has no unusual proiblems with thses lights.
As a matter of fact at Murano.org I can't remember anybody ever having any problems with HIDs.

Bottom line, there are reasons and there are excuses.

Your Murano has bi-xenons, you should know what they are.

Xenons cannot 'flash' on quickly. They take a few seconds to reach full light output. It's how xenons work.

Here let me explain. Going by what you are saying, you can use your flash to pass when the headlights are off. And since you say your high beams also function as flash to pass, you can say that your bi-xenons are also your flash to pass. This would mean that when your headlights are off, and you use flash to pass, the ballast would have to ignite the xenon bulbs, take 3 seconds to reach full capacity and then move the mechanical shield up?

Take pictures to prove. Until you prove this, I wont believe it, as this defies all things xenon and hid. I just looked at pictures of the Muranos housing. It looks to me like theres a separate halogen light above the xenon projector.

But alas, you know, you own one.

[howsteele]

We have Flash Friday around here. So its not that big of a deal that the lights on the CTS dont flash.

[bad63lac]

Originally Posted by concorso

This would mean that when your headlights are off, and you use flash to pass, the ballast would have to ignite the xenon bulbs, take 3 seconds to reach full capacity and then move the mechanical shield up?

Take pictures to prove. Until you prove this, I wont believe it, as this defies all things xenon and hid. I just looked at pictures of the Muranos housing. It looks to me like theres a separate halogen light above the xenon projector.

But alas, you know, you own one.

My father in-law has a Murano so I can vouch that the high-beam is the flash to pass.

The bulb you are referencing is the turn signal.

It does have bi-xenon's (low/high beam in a single HID bulb). It does not have another halogen bulb for flash to pass.

You can find the owner's manual here: http://www.courtesyparts.com/nissan-...san-Murano.pdf
It says that pulling the stalk will flash the "high beam". Also in the maintenance section you can see a diagram of what bulb is which with pictures.


Lastly, I definately agree with you that it is not a good idea to flash HID's on/off frequently especially at a fast pace (such as flash to pass... flick flick flick). I assume Cadillac purposely left this out because of this.

That said, it does not mean it cannot be done... such as Nissan does. They will instantly flick on/off without a problem. HID's do not take 3 seconds to come on or anything like that. They do have a slightly different color hue for the first few seconds until they warm up, however, this does not provide any technical reason why an HID "cannot" be used for flash to pass functionality, regardless of whether it's a bad idea.

[Southern]

SORRY. BAD63 WAS POSTING WHILE I WAS TYPING. DID NOT MEAN TO PILE ON WITH ESSENTIALLY THE SAME INFO.
But when I say I own one.............


Nissan does not refer to the lighting as Bi-xenon.


However looking up the definition I see that that is exactly what the Nissan has. What i called a mechanical gate I see is called a shutter.





And here's the entire book online http://www.nissanmurano.org/download...san-Murano.pdf


Taking a picture of the HIDs being on, would not exactly prove anything and I don't have the equip to take a video of the operation.
However, I will go anywhere and demo this if somebody want to make it worth my while.
And BTW there is no
"3 second delay", there is no perceived delay at all.
How about the old Title against Title...?

Here is an excerpt from my owners manual, page 2-22.

PLEASE NOTE #3

Headlight beam select
1 To select the low beam, put the lever in the
neutral position as shown.
2 To select the high beam, push the leverforward. Pull it back to select the low beam.
3 Pulling the lever toward you will flash the
headlight high beam.

Battery saver system
When the headlight switch is in the orposition while the ignition switch is in
the ON position, the lights will automaticallyturn off 5 minutes after the ignition switch has
been turned to the OFF position.
When the headlight switch remains in theor position after the lights auto-
matically turn off, the lights will turn on for 5minutes when the headlight switch is turned
to the OFF position and then turn to theor position.
CAUTION
Be sure to turn the light switch to the
OFF position when you leave the ve-
hicle for extended periods of time,
otherwise the battery will go dead.
Never leave the light switch on when
the engine is not running for ex-
tended periods of time even if the
headlights turn off automatically.
Headlight aiming control (if soequipped)
Depending on the number of occupants in the
vehicle and the load it is carrying, the headlight
axis may be higher than desired. If the vehicle is
traveling on a hilly road, the headlights may
directly hit the rearview mirror of the vehicle
ahead or the windshield of the oncoming vehicle.
The light axis can be lowered with the operation
of the switch.
The larger the number designated on the switch,
the lower the axis.
SIC2048 SIC1911
2-22