Fiat Ducato - disabling DRLs?

[Derek Uzzell]

My 2015 Ducato’s handbook seems to suggest that there may be the option (via the vehicle’s MENU system) to disable/enable the vehicle’s DRLs (Daytime Running Lights). My Ducato X290 has DRLs (I think all ‘European’ X290s have them) but it does not have a MENU option to disable/enable them.

 

Does any X290 owner’s vehicle have a DRLs On/Off MENU option, or is this just an amusing entry in the handbook?

 

(This is just idle curiosity - a bit like whether the procedure for manually locking the cab doors of Euro 6 Ducatos has actually altered as mentioned in a Hints & Tips forum thread.)

 

 

[Deneb]

I suspect the option is only made available on vehicles manufactured for (non European?) markets where DRLs are not a mandatory requirement.

[Derek Uzzell]

That’s a reasonable theory, but...

 

My understanding is that vehicle manufacturers had to fit DRLs to new TYPES of passenger car and light goods vehicle (car derived vans) Type Approved to European vehicle requirements from February 2011, and I’m not sure that Ducato X290s fall into the ‘new type’ category.

 

My Ducato Owner Handbook (publication date 03/14) lists the set-up menu’s possible functions. These include headlamp rain-sensor, cornering lights, automatic main beam headlamps and DRLs. My Rapido does not have the first three features (and understandably they do not figure in the vehicle’s set-up menu) but it does have DRLs that are also not mentioned in the menu.

 

The handbook SEEMS to imply that, if DRLs are provided, it should be possible to enable/disable them via the set-up menu, but I clearly cannot do that.

 

After I took delivery of the Rapido I practiced with the set-up menu system and (although I can’t be certain of this) I have a vague feeling that the DRL Off/On option may have been present then. It’s definitely not there now, but the vehicle’s software has had a couple of revisions since then (particularly the one that turns on the instrument lighting when the vehicle’s ignition is switched on) so that MIGHT have changed things.

[Deneb]

I'd agree that the X290 doesn't fit into the new type of vehicle category, as it still displays a 2007 EC Type Approval number on the body plate.

 

However, whilst Fiat may not have been compelled to include DRLs in the design of the facelifted vehicle, they obviously did so. Without trawling through reams of legislation, I suspect it is likely if not certain, that if the lamps are incorporated in a vehicle during manufacture, whether they are required to be fitted or not, they must comply with the regulations governing their design and use that are in force at the time; which within the EEC means that they must illuminate whenever the engine is running, with a few minor exceptions.

 

There is plenty of precedence for that in UK legislation, where lights or other items may not be required to be fitted to particular vehicles due to age, type etc, but must still conform to particular requirements if optionally fitted.

 

My 2016 X290 has never had provision for disabling the DRLs, although the handbook also contains a reference to the DRL menu, with the proviso "for versions/markets where provided". There are possibly two ways of interpreting that. I read it as indicating that the setting for disabling the lamps is only present on vehicle manufactured for markets where they are not legally required to remain illuminated at all times, not that the setting is only available on versions of the van where DRLs are fitted.

 

 

[Derek Uzzell]

This 2013 MHFun discussion relates (I think!) to disabling a Ducato X250’s DRLs

 

https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/turning-off-fiat-daytime-running-lights.75278/

 

with poster ‘“laneside’” saying that his (?) vehicle had a “DAYTIME LIGHTS” entry in the MENU list accessed via the MODE button.

 

DRLs were an option on later X250s, with the DRL feature provided by a combined 15W/55W H15 headlamp bulb, rather than by the dedicated bulb or LED strip used in an X290’s headlamp.

 

I think the simple answer is that my vague feeling that I was once able to disable my 2015 Ducato X290’s DRLs is wrong and that the option to do this was never available in the vehicle’s MENU list.

 

[Lojac]

Derek I think that you were probably correct.

On my 2015 x290 imported from Germany, I did indeed have the option to turn off the drl. On the option menu. My retrofit U.K. headlights didn’t have drl. However following a new dash pcb from the main dealer the option disappeared . They spent some time trying to reverse the situation but gave up despite my complaints. I’m not happy with this but I’ll see what the Mot tester says later. Somehow your option must’ve disappeared maybe if the battery was disconnected or something similar.