Drivers only just realising what ‘confusing’ car button does

As a driver, one of the most important things is to know how to properly operate your vehicle. However, keeping track of all the various buttons and features of your car can be a lot more confusing than expected. With so many buttons in modern cars, most drivers avoid touching anything they don’t recognise, just in case it does something they didn’t mean to.

But sometimes, they might be more useful than you might think. Taking to Reddit’s ‘What is this’ forum, one car owner shared a photo of a button on what appears to be the inside ceiling of his car, with a picture of a car with the two front doors open and the word ‘off’ written to the right side of it.

“I bought a car but I have no idea what this button [does]! Can anyone tell [me] please,” they wrote in the caption of the post, as they went on to ask other users what the button does. While some users were just as confused as the car’s owner, some soon were able to answer his question.

What does the button do?

This button controls the automatic interior lights. When activated (ON/Door mode), the interior lights turn on when a door is opened, and switch off when it is closed. Setting it to OFF disables this automatic feature.

According to the Cars and Vehicle thread on Gumtree, many modern cars have this setting. These buttons are typically located at the driver’s dome light position and rear cabin area, they added.

They went on to explain that these interior reading lights serve multiple purposes in modern UK cars, including providing a primary cabin illumination for night-time use. In premium models they are also often integrated with sunroof/blind controls.

These interior lights activate when any door opens, including the boot on estate cars, and remain on for a set time after the ignition turns off. This time varies depending on the car’s manufacturer. They later turn off once the engine starts or after a timeout period.

Commenting on the Reddit post, one person said: “Those buttons are really frustrating when you accidentally press them and have no idea that option was available. Suddenly your interior lights don’t come on or the rear hatch won’t open by itself.”

When asked by users why the car owner hadn’t read the car manual to figure out the answer, the person replied: “I have read the owner’s manual but in the manual it says there should be a button for the alarm’s motion sensor where this button is and nowhere does it mention the button I posted a picture of. I just got my license and this is my first car.”

Someone else said: “To be fair, I’ve driven 100s of cars in my lifetime and have never seen this particular switch. I’ve seen switches with similar functions, but never that iconography.”