Headlight switch malfuction

[CoHam]

I have a 2019 Laramie, about 6 weeks old, with 1400 miles on it. This morning I got in and started it up, then noticed the interior displays were dimmed. It took a few minutes to realize the headlights were on (causing interior displays to dim), but my headlight switch was off. I tried changing the headlight switch setting, but the lights would not cycle (instead the headlights and tail lights stay always on). Also the fog lamp button did nothing, fog lamps will not turn on. High beam switch works normally. When I turn the truck off the lights turn off, but when I start it the headlights and tail lights are always on regardless of switch position.

Has anyone seen this before?

 

[goatmann]

What time of day are you experiencing this?

This past Saturday i was traveling east at about 4:00 and the auto headlights would not cycle off, the sensor thouht it was nighttime. I had to rotate the switch to off to see the guages and center stack info.

After I stopped for fuel, restarted the truck to continue home, the lights worked as designed.

Something was amiss with the auto headlight sensor behind the rearview mirror cluster is what i figure.

 

[CoHam]

What time of day are you experiencing this?

This past Saturday i was traveling east at about 4:00 and the auto headlights would not cycle off, the sensor thouht it was nighttime. I had to rotate the switch to off to see the guages and center stack info.

After I stopped for fuel, restarted the truck to continue home, the lights worked as designed.

Something was amiss with the auto headlight sensor behind the rearview mirror cluster is what i figure.

The problem started first thing in the morning. At first I thought it might be the auto sensor, which would be weird because I never use that setting. When I checked the switch setting it was in the off position, so headlights should not have been on at all. When I set it to parking lights, still the headlights are on, and the same when I set it to auto. Also, the buttons in the middle of the switch that turn on the bed light and fog lights are not working, those lights will not turn on. The switch position doesn’t matter, if the engine is running then the headlights are on.

Thanks for thinking about it.

 

[CoHam]

Warranty fix completed yesterday at Autonation Dodge. There was a TSB out for this. During assembly on some trucks the rotary light switch had not been fully seated in its electrical connector behind the dash and they eventually work themselves completely loose. I thought the “always on” headlights was a weird (but good) result of a disconnected switch. The service tech guessed that perhaps the lights stay in whatever state they were in the instant the connector came loose? It works as it should now, and I’m glad that it was a mechanical problem instead of some weird electrical gremlin.