Citroen C3 / C5 Aircross Forums

had my c3 aircross for a few months now and discovered a fault with the automatic headlights ,driving in bright sunlight the lights come on for a few seconds then off this happens repeatedly .Has anybody else had this problem ? This could be a potential danger if it happens near a junction as another driver might think it is a signal to proceed.
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Hi. My wife's C3 Aircross had exactly the same problem. The headlights will come on on a bright sunny day and either stay on for the rest of the journey or go on and off numerous times. The car has been back to the dealer twice but they seem to be either reluctant to find the problem or have no idea on how to cure it. It seems hard to make them even understand it is actually happening. I agree, the consequences of someone mus-interpruting you are flashing them could be dangerous. Citroen need to acknowledge the issue and find a solution before there is an accident.

thanks for the reply shaznmark .the service engineer took the car out and the problem occurred so they know the score ,they have ordered a new sensor so we'll see when fitted if ti cures things

Hi. Well my wife took her car to the garage for a recall and the technician "adjusted" something. As she drove home she found the headlights flicking on and off! worse than before. So she had to turn around and go back to get the adjustment unadjusted. Since then the headlights returned to coming on in auto under bright sunlight. Also we now find the stop/start function is intermittent for the engine. More strangely when the headlights are set to "auto" the fanspeed for the heater/aircon controls them. Turn the fan off the headlights come on and dash goes to nightime mode. Turn the fan back on even one setting and the headlights go off and dash goes back bright! Also finding now the headlights flash on briefly when she starts the car. Needless to say the car is going into the dealer for "diagnostics" ASAP.

The stop-start should be intermittent depending on the battery charge and load. If you have the lights and the fan on and the battery isn't fully charged then the load is too much and the engine will keep running. Everything else is indeed screwy. You have a gremlin somewhere in your system.
I turned my headlights off auto anyway. I found they were more hassle than they were worth driving around the unlit roads in my area. Imagine this... Driving down the road at night , just passed the last car coming towards me so my lights switch back to high just as a car comes around the bend 200 feet ahead. My lights switch back to low and the car waiting at the side junction 100 feet ahead thinks I flashed him to let him pull out in front of me. So he pulls out…

A little confusion here. Are we discussing the automatic illumination of headlights when it gets dark, or are we referring to the automatic dip function. I read the OP as the former!

We are talking about the auto On/Off feature not dipping.

We have found the stop start recently is intermittent since the adjustment the garage made regardless of load or length of run. No load and reasonable run it didn't work Monday.

Car is at the dealer for its second day now being looked at by a "technical expert".

So car is back from the dealer. They seemed to have cured the fan control turning on and off the headlights. Have to test the stop/start yet. But have conceded it needs a new part. So a "camera" is on order. By camera I presume they actually mean the photocell detector that controls the auto lights that sits at the very front of the dashboard... i hope....

Today I just noted that when I lift or lower the passenger window (it is a RHD model) both from the passenger switch and from the driver switch, the headlights switch on and then turn off after 10/15 seconds....in daylight? the touchscreen goes into (dim) night mode and the green side and headlight indicator lamps in the dashboard come on. The rotator switch on the stalk set to Auto mode. This only happens with the passenger window. Strange but true and somewhat funny too. It's like opening the bath tap and flushing the toilet. But I agree it can be dangerous.

Hi everyone. Okay. So, I have a C3 Aircross- new, 7 weeks with me - 1.2 110 Feel and with 1600km on the clock.
An issue today that I see from the forum is not ‘unknown’.
A bright sunny day here - unusual for Ireland - and the auto headlights are coming on. To make matters worse they’re going rapidly on and off, as if flashing to other drivers. Nearly caused an incident at a junction today.
Presumably a sensor but any ideas please? I don’t seem to be able to disable the function other than turning the lights on manually.
Thanks in advance.