My map lights won't turn off!
 

This morning, I noticed the map lights in the rear view mirror were on. I can't turn them off. The switches under the mirror do nothing. Even with the car off, key out they stay on. I'm at work, and out in the parking lot the lights are on. Any clue?

temporarily pull the fuse and get it checked by the dealer asap.

They do light up when u get in and out of the car wait around 10 minutes and should go off.

Nope. There on all the time. All day, all night. :confused:

I believe the door ajar switch is built into the latch and we have replaced a fair amount of them lately for different reasons. I don't recall a map light staying on issue though.

OK, this happened to me and after an hour of trying to take fuses off, cursing, etc., I finally RTM and realized that I had moved this knob (inadvertantly :red:) all the way to the "right" and this kept the lights on permanently. So once I moved it back to the left some (you'll feel it "unlock"), all was well!

Hopefully this is it!
(yes, I am a dork and went outside and took this pic! :smile:)

Although it took just a sec to find out, whenever the boys wash my car, They always turn that chingas to the right like that. Sometimes, it goes the other way and I dont have dash lights!. Seems that when they wipe the dash down it happens.

Ahhhhhh..... Thanks, I was fooling with that yesterday, in the daylight and felt it's detente and left it there. I'll check when I leave work.

If that's it, I get the dork o'day award. (and you my hero for saving me from taking it to the dealer) :red:

I'm the resident dork! :lol:
I played around with it so much, I actually pushed one of the buttons into the mirror trying to turn the light off--now I have to take it in to get it popped out.

Like I told someone else, what frosted my butt was after I spent all this time trying to figure it out, my sister, who has an 07 Tahoe said, "oh, I was going to suggest checking that knob!"

:cussing:
Let us know if that's it!

@

Yes folks, Doofus of the day goes to me.

I talked to my wife about it, because she was driving it after dark last night, and the rear dome light was on and she couldn't get it off. She went around back and turned it to off. I only noticed because it's still a little dark when I leave in the morning.

So... rotating the dimmer switch fully right until it "clicks" (really doesn't click). Turns all the inside lights on all the time.

This is good to know since it doesn't use the reserve power thing and will drain the battery.

Hey... new car new stuff to learn. Could have been worse.
(Like taking it to the dealer) :red:

Never too late to be of service to someone. Just happened to me and I was about to have a hissy fit since my warranty is up next month. Pass the dork hat please. :clown:

We had to retire the "Dork Hat" OKIE, it was getting threadbare.

If the budget will allow, maybe we'll order up some bumper stickers.:wink:

http://rlv.zcache.com/im_a_dork_bump..._8byvr_324.jpg

According to my wife, I should put the first one on my daily driver HHR.

Relatively new to the forum, but happy to see it!
I am currently having a similar issue, HOWEVER, I've had my '08 HHR for over 3 years and was well aware that the dimmer switch also switched on the cabin lights. That switch was the first thing I tried. No luck. As of a couple days ago, my rearview mirror map lights stay on when the car is on, including when I'm driving, and only shut off about 20 minutes or so after the car is completely shut down and locked up. The dimmer switch is working just fine regarding the dash lights, however seems to not be affecting the map lights. I have also tried the map light switches on the rearview mirror and they seem to do nothing. I fear that I may have a short somewhere...

You know about the retained power feature, right. They are supposed to stay on a bit, then dim out. May even be a setting in the DIC.

Hey there munden,

I'm sorry to hear of the complications that you have been experiencing with your HHR. Please let us know if any further assistance is needed and we will be happy to look further into your concern. Feel free to send us a private message in reference to this thread if we can be of any assistance. Hoping to hear from you soon!

Kristen A.
Chevrolet Customer Care

On my 2008, if I turned the map lights on then turned the car off the lights would turn themselves off after about 20 minutes. The RAP turns them off in a minute or 2.

If you have replaced the bulbs with L E Ds different story.

Yes as I stated above, they DO dim out eventually when the car is off. But what's weird is that they stay on the whole time that I'm driving. Now, assuming things are working properly, then one might assume that in that case as I'm driving I could just reach up and turn off the map lights with the switch on the mirror. However that doesn't work. And like I said, the dimmer switch on the dash seems to be working just fine. Is there a chance that the rearview mirror is faulty? Has anyone seen that kind of issue? I know, that sounds like a stretch.... and at least it eventually shuts off so that its not draining the battery.

Well I'm confused. (yeah, what else is new :roflol:)
Map lights "on" the mirror ? Switch "on" the mirror ?
Maybe your's is different from my 2010, but I don't have any lights or light switches on my mirror.

I do have these lights(pic below) and they each have an on/off, click switch. If you leave the switches pushed to on, they will stay in the "on" mode. The battery saver will time them out in about 15 mins after the car is shutdown.

BUT. I think they will go back to "on" once you restart the car. You then have to manually turn them off.

Attachment 16510

Nope - that's not the way mine looks.... the lights and their switches are on the mirror.... I'll go get a pic

Here's mine (sorry for the rotated view) -- lights and buttons on the mirror.

https://www.chevyhhr.net/gallery/fil...iew_mirror.jpg

Thanks for the clarification. It's always nice to learn something new.

OK, they stay on while you are driving. Somebody has pushed the buttons, they are not controlled by the dimmer. Just try pushing the buttons to turn them off, humor me.

yep, nuthin.
I try that every time I'm driving for the 'just in case' factor. Maybe it's one of the door sensors....? Although I would think I would also receive the "door ajar" or "gate ajar" notification.

I have the same problem. Please let me know if you were able to fix it

What does "same problem" mean?

Only the lights on the mirror stay on? One or both?
Rear reading lights and mirror lights stay on?
Dome light stays on?
Dome light and reading lights and mirror reading lights stay on?
Any LEDs?
Some other combination.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...85cfa60819.png

X2 on what Don ask above.
You should also state your year and model because there were changes to the interior lighting depending on what you have.

Bad lightbulb
 

I was able to fix it. The lightbulb on the ceiling on the rear seat was blown but the switch was in the on position. All I had to do was turn it to off and problem solved. I hope this may be of any help to someone.