My gear shift light and radio light goes out when I put on my headlights but the radio light will come on if I turn off headlights. What could this be. Saturn ion 2006 automatic

 

Dimmer switch for interior lights may be turned down all the way so that when headlights come on, the the lights you have mentioned are dimming . Turning the headlights back off takes the dimmer out of the circuit.

Either that or I have no idea

 

Thanks for input that is what happened

 

thank you that was it, feel dumb but the mechanics were really nice about it

 

We've all been there.

 

Great call on that one, derf.

 

So what is that dimmer for. Why would you want to dim your interior lights. Have owned that car since I drove it off showroom floor and never noticed it. But thanks guys for letting me know.

 

Some people find the the light from the dashboard to be distracting when driving at night. Also, sometimes when your spouse is trying to sleep in the passenger seat, the glare of the lights are annoying. Especially with today's brighter LED bulbs.

Honestly more of an old person thing. Do not mean that in a derogatory fashion. More that it originated in a long long time ago as an option