[hookon43]

Hi I am a new member

I have a 2012 Volt I just purchased this month. I have noticed the dash and home screens will get very bright and the dimmer wheel will not work to turn them down. This happens day or night so I do not think it is a sensor issue.

More info: when I first start the car the dimmer works the after driving a bit the screens get bright.

 

[RobbertPatrison]

Seems like the automatic dimmer sensor is broken such that it thinks its in full sun all the time. That might make the manual dim ineffective. I've not seen any issue like this. A mechanic should look at it.

 

[emartin00]

Sounds to me like you may have a defective dimmer knob or light sensor. Mine works just fine.

 

[hookon43]

It may be that as it works when I first start driving the dash goes very bright and it stops working.

I just had it in the shop for the inverter reprogramming recall and they also fixed the VICM (communication control) as it had stopped working. They told me that they could not get the problem to happen so they could not fix it. I told them it was occurring intermittently.

I was just wondering if I was the only one that ever has had this issue. Lucky me.

 

[hookon43]

Sounds to me like you may have a defective dimmer knob or light sensor. Mine works just fine.

Thanks for the info. I am happy for you that yours works fine.

 

[ClarksonCote]

The dimmer only works when the ambient light sensor senses it is dark out. So here's an example. Sometimes I start out driving from my garage, and the automatic lights have the headlights on. I can dim the console. Then I start driving but it's brighter out, so the automatic lights turn the headlights off, and the console brightens up. At this point, I can't dim the console with the dimmer switch. This is normal behavior.

If you have automatic lights turned on (versus having lights manually turned on), and you see your headlight icon in the console, but cannot dim, then something is wrong.

 

[hookon43]

Thank You! Something that makes sense. I will try turning the auto off.

 

[Rons2013]

Correct - you only have manual control of the screen brightness when the headlights are On. If the headlights are Off then the screens are at a fixed brightness, and it's pretty bright..

Why they did it this way is beyond me.

 

[ClarksonCote]

Thank You! Something that makes sense. I will try turning the auto off.

Even if you turn the auto lights off, the light sensor will still control whether or not you can control the brightness. I reference having the auto lights on for you to help diagnose the condition, since that makes it easy to tell when the light sensor is saying it's not "daytime" bright outside.

 

[Howeharis78]

This information is very constructive for correct planning. I like your work for providing information to the other.