Interior Lighting Reset Odditity - 98 XC70

[Chris Bowne]

I have noticed that if the interior lights that come on upon turning off the ignition (a nice feature) "time out" while I am fumbling around collecting stuff that's coming out of the car with me, I cannot turn them back on again by simply opening the driver's door (an annoyance). Opening any of the other doors WILL turn them on again however. I thought that I might have a bad door position sensor in the driver's door, but opening that door when the car has been left unlocked will turn the lights on, just as if I had unlocked the car with the remote control entry device. Something amiss, or is this just a quirk of how the lighting control system works on this car?

[Chris Bowne]

Eurocars Plus of Groton troubleshot the interior lighting glitch for me when the car went in for a warranty adjustment of the parking brakes the other day. Problem was isolated to the driver door LATCH mechanism. Not clear to me how the latch plays in the circuit (would think a simple door position sensor would do) but it does. I confirmed tonight that I could turn the interior lights back on after they "timed out" every time by opening the driver door with the EXTERIOR door latch handle, but NOT AT ALL using the INTERIOR door latch handle! Eurocars told me they will replace the latch under warranty. They are excellent on making good on warranty repairs on thier cars, even on something as minor as this issue! :)