I've had my '10 RA SB for almost six months and this is the first 'odd' thing that has happened, I'd appreciate if anyone could offer an explanation. I'll try to be concise.

On Sunday morning I ran out to the car in the rain to get my jacket, when I sat in the car I decided that since the windows were wet and the car was a bit dirty I'd hit the wipers front and back to clean the windows. Closed the door, hit the wipers a couple of times checked the mirror everything looked good, got out hit the lock button on the key and went back inside the house.

That evening, we had guests so I went outside for a bit to greet them, didn't notice anything odd about the car, it was just sitting there as it should.

Then at around 11PM when I went outside to dispatch my guests, I noticed my car's low beams were on. I grabbed my keys went to the car, unlocked it and sure enough my headlight switch was at the 'on' position. So I turned them off, and thought for sure that I had just killed my battery...it started right up with no hesitation!

This morning as I started it up I noticed that now I have a 'scheduled maintenance required' message, but I just had scheduled maintenance at the dealer about 2000 miles/three months ago and last time I went through the displays I had over 10,000 miles and many months to go before the next maintenance was due.

So I guess what happened is I turned the headlights on out of habit when I got in the car and hit the wipers and just didn't notice, that isn't the mystery. Why were my low beams not on 6 hours later and yet they were on 12 hours later? And if they were on for 12 hours (and I somehow completely missed it) how did my car start so easily? I believe these cars have a timer after you turn the car off that will disable lights so maybe they did turn off after some time and that's why I didn't notice them that afternoon but then why would they turn on later that night? And why would any of the above trigger a required maintenance message?

Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope I'm not missing some obvious answer.

Cheers.

 

Ive never actually seen the lights come back on but Ive left the lights turned to the "on" position and 3 times my battery was dead in the morning. I know for a fact the lights went off when i turned the car off and opened my front door. My only thought is the lights did turn back on and drained the battery.

 

honestly... the car is haunted

 

if you leave the lights on in the car, turn it off and leave, car is smart enough to turn lights off. if you unlock the car, grab something and (relock it seems to be when) the lights will come back on for you to see? who knows.
But if you don't turn your lights off after just unlocking the car, they will stay on. has happened to me many times (dead battery) so tried this theory over a couple nights and sure enough......hope this helps.

 

and to answer about not seeing them, chances are just didn't see them. your car would have started just fine cause ( at least in canada) the cold crank is what is key in a car. so you can drain your battery to a certain extent, but as long as you have a high rating cold crank, even better if its not cold out, the car will start easily. Have to remember that the lights would have been on for max 12 hours. low beam. not much energy usage. leave it that way for two days, might be a different story.

 

Thanks for the replies. I've driven about 100 miles since it happened and I still have the sceduled maintenance reminder message. I was hoping this would clear itself after some miles, as other error codes have done. Guess I'll have to risk a trip to the dealer to see what's up. Thanks again for the help. Cheers.

 

i love how going to the dealer is a "risk" lol

 

Maintenance reminders will not clear themselves. The only reason CELs clear themselves is because the issue goes away. Since maintenance is based on miles, it will always persist until you turn it off.

 

^and the owners manual will tell you how to reset for set for a specifc mileage remaining (which you need in this case).

 

Yeah I called the dealer and they said to come in and they'd just reset the reminder so I just reset it myself. But I will RTFM to find the part about specific mileage. Thanks for confirming it's in there somewhere. Cheers.

 

It's also possible you have auto headlamps like mine has. the next switch from the off position is auto. For example: Off // Auto // Parking only // On.

If you thought you had turned them off but put them in auto. they would not have been on because of the daylight sensor. but obviously came on when the sun set.

 

There's a TSB out about the headlights coming on spontaneously with the headlight switch in the ON position. It has to do with the ETACS module.

TSB−11−54−008 (Canada)

SUBJECT:
ETACS REPROGRAMMING FOR HEADLIGHTS TURNING ON BY THEMSELVES WITH KEY OFF

PURPOSE
Some customers may report a discharged battery after the vehicle has been parked. Due to a software error, the headlights on some affected vehicles with automatic OFF headlights may turn back on by themselves when the vehicle is parked. This may cause the battery to completely discharge.

This TSB provides instructions for reprogramming the ETACS with new software or replacing it to resolve the condition.

The headlights should not come on in Auto position if the car is turned off, whether it is day or night. If they do, its due to the problem I posted above, and can be repaired via the TSB.

 

Thanks for the TSB heads up. I know for sure I don't have auto headlamps, and I'm 99% sure I just left the lights on. The qustions I still have are why they came back on at night and why this seems to have triggered a service due reminder. Thanks again for all the suggestions. Cheers.