Sometimes i camp in my SUV. If warm weath I can't leave the lift gate open because the interior lights stay on. Read info on newer vehicle w power lift gate. Any insight on manual lift gate?
Thx
TC

 

Turn the instrument cluster light dimmer all the way down, then there's a detent that switches off the interior lights. I think also there's a battery saver relay, which automatically turns off the lights after 20 minutes or something. At least the 2nd gens have that, I'm not 100% sure if the 1st gens have that.

 

1st gen turn off too. Has saved me several times from a dead battery!

 

Thanks all.

The recommendation didn't work on this old war horse. Time out hadn't worked after about 45 min. I'll just trigger the latch closed with a screw driver.

 

The dimmer switch detent doesn't work either? Of course, latching it closed does the trick as long as you remember not to slam the gate shut with it still latched..

 

If you open and close another door the timer resets. Kind of dumb in the first place to not to have an off switch designed in if you ask me.

 

I'd take it a step further with a 3-way switch: Force ON, Auto & Force OFF. Thanks for the idea Alloro, one more switch in the console

 

I'm surprised they don't. The 2nd gens have that at least. I'll check next time I'm in my friends '99 Expy, but I'm pretty sure that one has that as well. Turn the dimmer switch all the way down and then over the detent and it turns off the lights, turn it all the way up plus a detent and it turns on the lights. Isn't that quite common in US cars? Think my old classic chevy's and Cadillacs had something like that as well.

 

Yes it is quite common, however...some of the substandard designers over at Ford saw fit to not include this feature in some model years.

 

The infinite wisdom of Ford's designers... There are really some times I have to scratch my head and wonder what in the world they were thinking... Removing cabin air filter and all possibilities to install one, which has carried on all the way to the 2015 and I wouldn't be surprised if beyond as well is another one of those things. As if they didn't think dust and crap would ever make it into the AC and removing the entire dash to clean the damn thing is so easy.

 

That's what leaf blowers are for. Works great.

 

Engineers/designers don't design cars and trucks. Accountants do.

If they can save $0.12 per unit and you produce 100,000 units, that's $12,000 in savings. Do that in a few other places and the savings increase.

 

When you get too cheap and **** off your customers they tend to go buy from your competitors which negates any cost savings.

 

But if you load it with every option and whiz bang gizmo, then you break the bank.

It's a fine line that they walk.

 

A switch turning on or off the lights doesn't qualify as a "whiz bang gizmo" in my opinion, it's a standard feature which has been around on most cars since the 50's...