Parking light won't stay on

[haiyyu]

Hello,

I am a relatively new driver and thus not as familiar with cars and their features as most of you. About a year ago, I completed driver's ed and am now a licensed driver. My first car was bought for me by my parents, and it's a Chevrolet Aveo 2009 model with 3 doors.

In my country, if you're parked on a road without sufficient lightning, you have to make sure other people driving by can still see your car. For that, there's the parking light, a standard feature in every car. Mind you, I'm not talking about the headlights, I know you aren't supposed to leave those on unless you're driving.

Here's the problem I have with the parking lights, though: When turned on, they illuminate as expected, and upon removing the key from the ignition, they stay on. So far, so good. But as soon as I get out of my Aveo and close the driver-side door, the lights turn off again. As you might be able to tell, this means that I can't leave my car parked anywhere that isn't lit properly without having to fear getting a ticket.

Is this expected behavior or should I look further into it?

Thanks in advance!

[PoisonIvy]

That sounds like normal behavior for North America. So in Austria, you're supposed to leave lights on when the vehicle is parked?

[xintersecty]

We need an Aussie to explain this to us.

[haiyyu]

There's parking lights which barely use any electricity and can thus be left on for a long time without the car running out of battery. You don't have to have them on every time you park the vehicle. They're only necessary if the car cannot be seen in the place that it's parked due to improper illumination (no street lights etc.).

On the headlight lever to the left of the steering wheel, there's a step between "ON" and "OFF" that's just the parking lights. Looks like this: http://puu.sh/hecOG/b21286e81a.jpg (Sorry for the bad quality, I couldn't find a better picture).

Is it really normal for them to go off? That seems kind of weird to me.

@intersecty: I'm not sure if you're joking, but Austria isn't the same as Australia. But I'll forgive you, since a lot of people confuse the two.

[xintersecty]

@intersecty: I'm not sure if you're joking, but Austria isn't the same as Australia. But I'll forgive you, since a lot of people confuse the two.

Oh sheee..... I always have a bad case of foot in mouth. Please forgive me. One of these days I will learn how to read. Yes Austria is not the same and they are never called Aussies nor Germans. In fact they are way cooler than Germans. Many moons ago I used to be a glider instructor and every glider club in the US has at least one German or even sometimes an Austrian. The Germans really could be insufferable.

[xintersecty]

And yes it's normal for them to go off when I remove the key in my car.