An interior illumination system can help you see inside your vehicle, recover misplaced items, and read in the dark. However, when this light refuses to go off, it becomes frustrating.
Interior car light not going off is one of the common issues most car owners face, and when left unchecked for a long time, it could result in other issues like draining your vehicle’s battery.
If you are in this situation, you must understand the common causes so you can implement simple troubleshooting techniques; effectively to resolve the problem.
In this post, we will share several reasons why your interior light won’t go off and the significant ways to fix it quickly.
Table of contents
What Are Interior Car Lights?
Interior car lights are those lights that come up automatically when you open your doors and go off when you shut them.
All cars have a dome light located on your vehicle’s roof. However, some newer vehicles have other interior lights at the bottom of the door and the luggage compartment.
Note that the dome light does not only come up automatically; you can manually switch it on or off when it’s dark to illuminate the interior of the car, including the backseat, making it simpler to read, discover, or otherwise see what’s inside.
Types of Interior Lights
1. Dome Lights
The dome light is found on the roof in the middle of the car. It automatically comes on when your door is open and can serve as a warning that you’ve got an open door. It can also come in handy to help you see inside your car clearly while you are driving at night.
2. Door Lights
This light is located at the bottom of each door. It gives your vehicle a good look when the door is open. This light also comes on when the door opens and allows the driver or passengers entering or exiting the car to see the ground.
3. Luggage Compartment Lights
This light illuminates your car’s trunk automatically when it’s open. It helps you see your car trunk clearly in the dark.
Reasons why Interior Car Lights won’t Turn Off
1. Faulty Door Switch
A faulty door switch is one of the common reasons why your lights might not go off when you have shut the doors. The interior light has several switches–a push-button switch and another switch on the door latch.
So, if your light is not going off, you will need to open each door to check for damage or breakage on one or both switches because you might have an interrupter issue, not necessarily a wiring problem that will require electrical work.
2. Wrong Light Setting
Another reason your light won’t go off could be a result of the wrong dome light setting. By the left side of your vehicle, where the headlight switch is located, you can manually set your interior light to either remain on or off.
This switch is called the dimmer switch and differs from the dome button.
Therefore, if you adjust the switch to stay on, your interior light will remain on and won’t go off unless you reset it.
3. Door not Properly Closed
When your light does not go off, it could indicate that your doors are not correctly closed. This is because the interior lights are automatically linked to your doors.
Therefore, the interior light will remain on if you have a faulty door or are not well closed, serving as a warning light.
4. Activated Control Knob
If your control knob is on, then your light won’t be able to go off even when you have shut your doors properly.
If this knob is broken, it means that one of your car’s switches is stuck to the “on” location of the switch, and you won’t be able to switch off the interior light.
You might have to remove the bulbs to keep them from draining your car’s battery until you can take it to a mechanic.
How To Fix Interior Lights That Won’t Turn Off
1. Check the Doors
This is the first step you must take if you want to fix your light. This is because when your doors are not correctly closed, your interior light will remain on. So, you must do a physical check to ensure all your doors are shut.
If your car trunk is also connected to the interior light, you can open and close it to see if it solves the issue.
2. Check the Headlight Switch
When you have checked your doors and confirmed they are properly closed, you need to check your light setting to see if you can operate your dome light from the headlight switch.
This is one of the easiest ways to fix your car light. Locate the headlight switch by the left side of your wheel and turn the switch off if it’s set to be on.
3. Adjust Dome Light Switch
If your dome light was put on manually, then the solution will be to put it off manually. Locate your push button or your dome light switch, gently put it off, and your light will go off.
4. Visit an Automobile Electrician
If you are unable to figure out what the problem might be or you don’t have a service manual, you should seek out help from an automobile electrician instead.
They have more experience dealing with these electrical issues, so you can rest easy knowing it will be repaired correctly.
Read: Warning Red Circle Light on Dashboard
Conclusion
Having an interior light that won’t go off could be frustrating and will drain your vehicle’s battery if left unchecked for a long time.
Before panicking, you need to find out if it’s because of a wrong light setting, a faulty switch, or any of the causes mentioned in this post. By discovering the root cause, you can easily find the best way to fix it and have your lights off.
If you still cannot resolve this issue, take your vehicle to a professional mechanic who can help you diagnose the problem correctly and help you fix it. But until you meet a professional, take the bulbs off to avoid draining your battery.
Also, it would help if you took preventive measures like regularly checking the condition of door switches, headlight switches and automatic lighting sensors. This will save you from unnecessary trouble in the future.