Why do my lights turn on when it gets cold outside?
710

Asked by Keith Jan 22, 2014 at 04:02 PM about the 2003 Toyota Matrix XR

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

When the temperature gets below 20 degrees at night, my headlights turn on which in turn
drains my battery all night. I have tried attaching a battery charger, but when it gets down
below 10 degrees, that even isn't enough.

I know that I can just remove the battery, but I don't really want to do that every single
night during the cold winters. Any ideas as to why my car would be doing this and is there
something that I can do to keeping it from doing this?

4 Answers
44,975

tuff4x4 answered 10 years ago

The 03 matrix had issues with the head light switches shorting out in cold weather draining the battery with the lights usually come on.

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chellek39 answered 10 years ago

Mine has been doing the same thing (that's why I'm here obviously!). I have no idea why but my temporary "solution" has been to turn my brights "on" when I get home at night. I don't understand why, but if I turn my bright switch on, the lights shut off/don't come on in the middle of the night.

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Sksmm answered 5 years ago

Well it’s in the negatives here in Michigan. My Toyota thinks it needs to somehow turn its lights on in the middle of the night n draining the battery. Looks like I’m not the only one with this problem. Guess I’ll start with a headlight switch

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