I understand how they work, it’s a “safety” feature because people forget to turn their lights on at night, but I don’t see how preventing you from turning them OFF has anything to do with people forgetting to turn them ON, since they are supposed to cut on automatically at night. The headlights (not DRL’s) are not supposed to be on during the daylight unless it’s raining, but mine come on anyway for some reason. This wouldn’t be an issue, but when they are on during the day, the instrument cluster lighting is too dark to see, so I have to go into the settings to turn the brightness up every time. And since I have to do that, when I’m driving at night, the instrument cluster lights are now too bright, and I have to manually go in and turn the brightness down every single time. My question is, is there ANY way to turn OFF the headlights while driving?
Your logic doesn’t track. By definition, preventing you from turning them off would ensure you are unable to forget to turn them on. That being said, no clue if this is expected behavior for 2023 model. But also… why do you need to turn them off? I drove a Saturn for years that had fog lights permanently on. Didn’t have a problem. Editing to add: the instrument lights issue sounds obnoxious.
@Fin
My point is, a lot of people forget to turn their lights on at night, of course. So they fix that problem by automatically turning them on when the car senses night, or darkness, like in a tunnel or something. But how many people, sober or drunk, would ever go out of their way to turn their lights OFF at night, if they’re already on? And yes, it is very annoying lol. Not a major issue, just a nuisance.
@Harley
I think because it’s not just about darkness but also rain. Where I live you have to turn lights on if you need windshield wipers on. But yeah, they could just add that logic to the car and make it turn on lights if dark or windshield wipers on. But that’s more work than ON all the time forever. 
@Fin
You’re right lol. But it does actually have that feature. When the daylight sensor is working properly and the headlights are off during the day, if it starts raining and you cycle the windshield wipers a few times, the headlights will cut on automatically. However, I do park the car in a garage; that could have something to do with the car thinking it’s dark outside when I turn the car on. I just think there should be a way to turn the headlights off while driving, and in such a way that it can never be done accidentally, like holding it in the off position for 15 seconds or something.
@Harley
Ok. Imagine this. If you could choose, would you rather have people be able to stealth stalk you and your daughter/sister/mom? Or… have cars always have lights on and make that literally impossible? Yes, I totally got super dramatic there. It helps my brain just say FINE.
@Fin
Fair enough haha. I have a love/hate relationship with the “new” technology on this car. Sometimes it’s convenient, other times it’s a nuisance.
You can adjust the brightness of the instrument light, regardless of headlight on or not. Just max it out.
Quince said:
You can adjust the brightness of the instrument light, regardless of headlight on or not. Just max it out.
I know, but like I said in the post, since I have to max it out in the daytime, it’s way too bright at nighttime. So every single time I go to drive the car at day and night I have to go into the settings and adjust it. It takes only 10 seconds, but I’d rather not have to do that every single time, and for the car to have some way to turn the headlights off.
Here’s a previous post: https://www.reddit.com/r/crv/s/xkqYvKggxi
Do you have auto headlights enabled? Otherwise the cluster lights operate independently from the headlights I believe unless your headlights are always on. This is why “phantom cars” are a thing now. DRLs are so bright that people think their headlights are on and the instrument cluster is always illuminated night or day. The problem is your taillights aren’t on so these people drive around totally unseen by other drivers. Not sure how the DOT overlooked this.
@Avery
Auto headlights are always enabled on the CRV, and there is literally no way to turn them off unless you are parked, but then they just turn back on when you disengage the parking brake. The issue with me is not with the headlights themselves being on, but the instrument cluster automatically dimming when the headlights come on, and then it’s too dark to see. So when I max it out, it thinks I want them to always be on bright, so it doesn’t dim anymore when it’s actually nighttime and then I have to manually dim them.
@Harley
Maybe I’m confused but with auto-on headlights they come on at dusk (or dark tunnels), dim the display, and turn back on when enough light is detected and the display un-dims. Mine aren’t on in the day. At least in my case when the headlights come on the display doesn’t dim enough to really cause an issue. I’ve had other cars with this feature and the cluster has never dimmed enough to where I couldn’t see it. Is there a sensitivity setting?
Seems to me like you’re covering the light sensor with something, or it might be dead.
Skylar said:
Seems to me like you’re covering the light sensor with something, or it might be dead.
I thought the same thing. I might try to clean it or something.
Skylar said:
Seems to me like you’re covering the light sensor with something, or it might be dead.
I thought the same thing. I might try to clean it or something.
The light sensor is over the dash, don’t confuse with the sensors in the top of the windshield… you wouldn’t be the first person to put something like papers or a hat in the dashboard.
@Harley
Yeah that’s it, congrats on your lights working again lol.
Skylar said:
@Harley
Yeah that’s it, congrats on your lights working again lol.
Hopefully that fixes it, you’re a lifesaver. I appreciate it 
Skylar said:
@Harley
Yeah that’s it, congrats on your lights working again lol.
Hopefully that fixes it, you’re a lifesaver. I appreciate it
Also, just leave the headlight switch on auto and forget about it… it knows not only when to turn on/off the lights, but also when to reduce the dash brightness; those things work independently.