Disabling unwanted exterior lights actuated by doors
Applicable to other Ford cars, SUVs, and trucks
As delivered, the lights on our new Ford Escape weren't doing quite what I wanted for astronomy observing sessions. Even with the interior lights turned off, the "perimeter lights" (parking lights and license plate lamp) would come on whenever I opened a door.
I started imagining electrical modifications, but meanwhile, the dealer (Akins Ford) called Detroit. They were told to connect their laptop to the car's OBD port and look at the menus. Interestingly, the menus reside in the car's firmware and can differ from version to version.
Anyhow, they found two programmable options, Perimeter Lighting and Welcome Illumination, and disabled them both.
Now, exterior lights don't come on when I open doors or use keyless entry. The interior lights, of course, are controlled by a switch.
Interestingly, Daytime Running Lights were also a menu item — already disabled.
All these things are fairly often requested by people who go camping with Ford vehicles and also are needed by law enforcement (police cars have to be able to hide in the dark). So it makes sense to implement them in software.
Kudos to Andrew Todd and Gerry Carroll at Akins Ford for finding all this out and then doing the programming for me.
Addendum: After doing these settings, the front parking lights and rear tail lights still blink on briefly (for perhaps 0.5 second) when you press the "lock all doors" button, either inside the car or on the key fob. So I don't lock my doors while I'm on the campground at night. This feature means I can still use the key fob as a car locator, by pressing "lock" rather than "unlock."
