Take the headlights out of Auto, and select Manual, then revert back to Auto once underway.

 

It kind of defeats the purpose of auto.

 

That's the reason I don't have auto-on when I had the HRV. It doesn't matter that much in a warm climate.

 

OK, I had to check the manual to get the precise behavior:

Canadian models

■ Lights off
Turn the lever to OFF either when:
• The shift lever is in P.
• The parking brake is applied.
To turn the lights on again, turn the lever to OFF to cancel the lights off mode. Even if you do not cancel the lights off mode, the lights come on automatically when:
• The transmission is moved out of P and the parking brake is released.
• The vehicle starts to move.

Anyway, this all happens after you start the car. There's no way to prevent the headlights from turning on while you are starting it in a slightly dark place (like your garage).

 

It is a bad setup on Honda's part. On my Mazda, the headlights don't turn on in auto until the engine is running.

 

@VMat Ahh, in that case I will defer to the more knowledgeable Canadian contributors.

 

@Ein,

I agree. Noticed that the headlights turn on before the engine is running and i don't like that feature.

I sometimes just flick the headlight switch from auto to off to turn the headlights off. I do this when i open the drivers door and just want to take something from the car.

 

I have been turning them off just as I press the Start button. It feels like it helps a bit, but it's far from ideal. And quite often, I just forget to do that. Still thinking about an extra relay to prevent the lights from turning on...

I was wondering about the battery draw as well coming from a Fit that ate batteries. Now that I am LEDs is the draw much less? I also have my fogs set to turn on with headlights all the time.

It should be a lot less. But still, to keep my obsession under control, I would rather have them off until the engine is fully running.

It would have been soooo much easier to take care of this at the factory. 😤

VMat

 

I live in Nova Scotia and when I open my driver's door the headlights comes on

 

I was wondering about the battery draw as well coming from a Fit that ate batteries. Now that I am LEDs is the draw much less? I also have my fogs set to turn on with headlights all the time.

This morning before start-up

 

I just set the emergency brake when I park, and turn off the lights completely. Then not even the DRL LED's come on.
I seem to recall that the headlamps don't come on when I have the parking brake set, but I might also be thinking of your 2018.

 

While I agree that setting the ELECTRONIC parking brake will keep the lights off prior to starting the HRV, if your battery dies with the electronic parking brake set, you will not be able to release the parking brake until you get 12 volts to the HRV battery.

So if you don't have a 12V power pack handy and you are parked where jumper cables wont reach your battery, you are stuck waiting for someone to bring a 12V battery pack or a tow truck.

As discussed in other threads, this is a huge disadvantage of the EPB.
I never set the EPB in our automatic HRV, unless I'm on a really steep hill.

 

EPB (Electric Parking Brake), I never use it either, I never did on my Civic 2016.

 

Both my HR-V and previous vehicle had automatic headlights, they had the 'coming home' function activated, so on dark winter days the headlights were on from the moment I left the house, getting in and starting the car. Battery life for my previous vehicle was around 5 years. I have just replaced the battery in my HR-V at around 6 years.

Both the mobile fitter and the breakdown guy (the battery went flat twice in less than a fortnight) stated they would expect the battery in your average modern vehicle to have a lifespan of around 3-5 years. It would appear, thanks to all the safety gubbins and the technology not only demanded, but expected by buyers to be fitted to their vehicles, the days of having the same battery well into double digits are long gone.

 

It is annoying to me, although in this cold weather, I’ve made it a habit to turn my lights on & off a few times before attempting to start the car to give the battery a wake up call (a little jolt like this will make starting the car a little less hard on the battery…old person’s trick). I’m not a fan of DRL so I’ve actually pulled the fuse (one thing we don’t have to worry about here in the US).

 

one thing we don’t have to worry about here in the US

Which is really weird. By law every car manufactured since the early 90's is required to have DRL's. However there is no federal law requiring the use of them like there is in Canada. You can find some areas where you are required by law to run them, but it's very limited like on certain sections of specific roads.