[NateDC]

I couldn't find anything about it in the manual.

 

[Roesterman]

That is a light sensor. Tells your vehicle when to turn on the lights and what brightness instrument panel lights should be.

 

[NateDC]

That is a light sensor. Tells your vehicle when to turn on the lights and what brightness instrument panel lights should be.

Ok. Thanks.
I saw it flashing red one time when it was in a parking garage, so I was wondering what it was doing.
In Virginia they put the inspection sticker in the center of the windshield. I wonder if that interferes with it?

 

[Terrain]

I was just going to add that it is also a red LED indicator for the security system.

 

[RIT333]

In Virginia they put the inspection sticker in the center of the windshield. I wonder if that interferes with it?

Speaking from experience, with my Vibe, and the resistration sticker shading the light sensor, it will make your lights turn on full power much earlier than needed, and dim your instrument lights making them harder to see. Sorry, but it is annoying.

Few states have stickers in the middle, and that is probably why GM moved the sensor to the middle. An option for you is the move to NY, and put up with our high taxes, but no stickers in the moddle of the windshield !

 

[Terrain]

Speaking from experience, with my Vibe, and the resistration sticker shading the light sensor, it will make your lights turn on full power much earlier than needed, and dim your instrument lights making them harder to see. Sorry, but it is annoying.

Few states have stickers in the middle, and that is probably why GM moved the sensor to the middle. An option for you is the move to NY, and put up with our high taxes, but no stickers in the moddle of the windshield !

Off topic, but what do you mean by registration sticker? Isn't that what a license plate is for? Or do you guys not have put your yearly stickers on the corner of your plates?

 

[TheCrow1994]

Off topic, but what do you mean by registration sticker? Isn't that what a license plate is for? Or do you guys not have put your yearly stickers on the corner of your plates?

That's how it works for us in Nebraska, too. No lame registration sticker on any part of the vehicle, especially not the windshield.

 

[2010Nox]

As others have said, it senses exterior and interior lighting requirements and turns on headlamps and dims instrument panel as required.

Automatic lights is one thing I've always liked about newer (post 1998 by my experience) GM's. You don't have to worry about forgetting to turn them on or off. I see way too many Chrysler's driving around when it's getting quite dark without tail lights visible. Now that's a safety hazard!

Has Chrysler gotten with the times yet and added this feature across their line of vehicles!

 

[NateDC]

Speaking from experience, with my Vibe, and the resistration sticker shading the light sensor, it will make your lights turn on full power much earlier than needed, and dim your instrument lights making them harder to see. Sorry, but it is annoying.

Few states have stickers in the middle, and that is probably why GM moved the sensor to the middle. An option for you is the move to NY, and put up with our high taxes, but no stickers in the moddle of the windshield !

Maybe after the next inspection I'll ask if they can move it to the right a little.
As much as I love NY, I don't think my Red Sox ball cap would go over too well

 

[fourmoremarine]

In Pennsylvaina, we get 2 stickers a year one for state inspection and one for emissions test. They locate them at the lower left hand corner of the windshield.
Added cost per year for these inspections are around $65.00

 

[Terrain]

In Pennsylvaina, we get 2 stickers a year one for state inspection and one for emissions test. They locate them at the lower left hand corner of the windshield.
Added cost per year for these inspections are around $65.00

Do you have to renew your registration each year too or is the $65 it? We don't have yearly inspections (we do have emmissions every other year on older vehicles) but we have to renew our registration. In Ontario it's $74.


On topic: so what's the black box mounted to the inside of the windshield for, that's to the right of the rear view mirror? I thought I remember reading it was a solar sensor. I could be out to lunch, though. It's almost that time of the day.

 

[RNOX]

Prefer that vehicles are inspected every year. Too many people playng games with bald tires and bad brakes on the road.

 

[RIT333]

Off topic, but what do you mean by registration sticker? Isn't that what a license plate is for? Or do you guys not have put your yearly stickers on the corner of your plates?

Right, each year, we get to pay oddles of moolah for a sticker on our windshield based upon the weight of our vehicle. No annual sticker is put on the license plate- although we used to 20 years ago, or so.

 

[fourmoremarine]

Do you have to renew your registration each year too or is the $65 it? We don't have yearly inspections (we do have emmissions every other year on older vehicles) but we have to renew our registration. In Ontario it's $74.


On topic: so what's the black box mounted to the inside of the windshield for, that's to the right of the rear view mirror? I thought I remember reading it was a solar sensor. I could be out to lunch, though. It's almost that time of the day.

we have to renew "plates" every year also cost for the terrain is 36.00 a year but thats supposed to go up to 45.00 we receive a sticker to place on the plate, plates have not been replaced for a number of years sorry for the late answer to your post

 

[psywzrd]

On topic: so what's the black box mounted to the inside of the windshield for, that's to the right of the rear view mirror? I thought I remember reading it was a solar sensor. I could be out to lunch, though. It's almost that time of the day.

Did you ever find out what this black box is?

 

[cafeldmann]

Speaking from experience, with my Vibe, and the resistration sticker shading the light sensor, it will make your lights turn on full power much earlier than needed, and dim your instrument lights making them harder to see. Sorry, but it is annoying.

Few states have stickers in the middle, and that is probably why GM moved the sensor to the middle. An option for you is the move to NY, and put up with our high taxes, but no stickers in the moddle of the windshield !

Even without the sticker, I found that the shadow of the A pillar was enough to affect the light sensor in my Vibe. I had a 2003 Vibe, and when the light sensor would dim the lights because it thought it was dark out, everything got nearly impossible to see (unless you had the instrument cluster lighting on full bright, which was way too much when it was actually dark). My 2004 Vibe had a different color scheme for the cluster, which made it a lot easier to read when the lights would dim. They would still dim as often, it just wasn't as noticeable.

I think just about every vehicle except the Vibe has the sensor in the middle.

 

[gmiemigrad]

That is a light sensor. Tells your vehicle when to turn on the lights and what brightness instrument panel lights should be.

For those with automatic climate control - it also contains the sunload sensor and interior temperature sensor for the climate control system

 

[gtpprix]

It's the Ambient Light/Sunload/Security LED (Sunload only used on Auto Climate)

The ambient light/sunload sensor includes the sunload sensor and passenger compartment temperature sensor.

This sensor assembly provides information about:




•

Sun heat intensity





•

Passenger compartment temperature


The solar sensor is connected to ground and to a 5 V stabilized voltage supply through the HVAC control module. As the sunload increases, the sensor signal voltage also increases and vice versa. The signal varies between 1.4-4.5 V and is provided to the HVAC control module.

The passenger compartment temperature sensor is a negative temperature co-efficient thermistor. A signal and low reference circuit enables the sensor to operate. As the air temperature increases, the sensor resistance decreases. The sensor signal varies between 0-5 V.

Bright or high intensity light causes the vehicles interior temperature to increase. The HVAC system compensates for the increased temperature by diverting additional cool air into the vehicle.

Temp sensors on these vehicles are in the ducts.

 

[gmiemigrad]

It's the Ambient Light/Sunload/Security LED (Sunload only used on Auto Climate)

The ambient light/sunload sensor includes the sunload sensor and passenger compartment temperature sensor.

This sensor assembly provides information about:

Sun heat intensity

Passenger compartment temperature


The solar sensor is connected to ground and to a 5 V stabilized voltage supply through the HVAC control module. As the sunload increases, the sensor signal voltage also increases and vice versa. The signal varies between 1.4-4.5 V and is provided to the HVAC control module.

The passenger compartment temperature sensor is a negative temperature co-efficient thermistor. A signal and low reference circuit enables the sensor to operate. As the air temperature increases, the sensor resistance decreases. The sensor signal varies between 0-5 V.

Bright or high intensity light causes the vehicles interior temperature to increase. The HVAC system compensates for the increased temperature by diverting additional cool air into the vehicle.

Temp sensors on these vehicles are in the ducts.

To clarify - the passenger compartment temperature sensor is in with the sunload sensor, etc. but the two temperature sensors in the ducts are used by the climate control system to determine hot/cold damper position (by detecting air outlet temperature)??

 

[RnB]

MS has to have an inspection sticker on the windshield. Its in the lower left and you have to renew every year. At least its only $5. But I'd rather not have one at all...