On a recent road trip to FL I noticed several 05/06 525's with their driving lights on. Why can I get mine to come on. Book says to put the light switch in the Auto position, then they'll work...not mine! What am I doing wrong?

 

Mine had to be programmed by the dealer to turn on...$90. But they got turned off after a software upgrade and I left them off because I upgraded my angel eyes to a whiter/brighter bulb. If you plan on doing that, I wouldn't have the DRLs turned on because they'll always stay on and you'll lose the effect of the brighter angel eye halos.

 

Requires dealer activation for DRL.

 

What is Day Driving light?
and how could I check if mine is working or not?

 

Check if you don't have it in the "car setting" menus in the iDrive. In my EU version I have a selection of daytime running lights and if I check that box in the menus the lights are auto by the ingnition. Unchecked it's controlled by the ambient light sensor and turns on/off depending on outdoor light condition.

The manual way is to turn the light switch to the right, then is the lights on as well.

 

It's strange you can do that in Sweden! In our E60, from Sweden we can't select daytime driving lights!

In car settings I don't have that option.

So when my light switch is at "A" = xenon ON, "O" = lights off, Lights ON: Xenon ON.

 

The daytime running lights (DRL) setup is a feature that varies from country to country. Many countries require the use of these types of lights and many don't. If you have a car in a country that has no DRL laws, you'll likely have a setting in iDrive to control whether or not they are on or off. If you live in a country that has a DRL requirement, then they are turned on at the dealer and you can't turn them off.

The biggest exception to this rule is the USA. In the US, there is no law requiring them but the dealer still has to set them on or off (they ususally ask you how you want it set prior to delivery.) I can't say for sure why the US is setup this way but my theory is that we should blame Canada. In Canada, DRLs are required. I think BMW has one version of software for North American cars so we end up with the same setup as Canada...

 

Daytime Running Lights (DRL) are the two inner lights next to the low beams. They are the same as the flash-to-pass high beams but in DRL mode, they aren't as bright and focus lower than in flash-to-pass mode. When activated (by dealer or through i-Drive depending on which country you're in), they come on whenever your car is on so in effect, they're on all the time. They serve as an extra safety feature to make your car more visible during daytime.

 

Strage... The old E61 I had did not have this menu first, but after the last SW upgrade in September or October I got this option under the lights menu in car settings. To bad that the angel eyes are not on when the sensors indicate "light" then I think we could have been able to use this legally as DRL. Now the car turns all lights OFF in the days.

My cars have A-ON and auto following the ingition when DRL is marked and A- auto depending on ambient light when DRL is not marked.

 

I got to tell you, it really pisses me off that I need a software change to turn them on!