# Hazard triangle flashes



## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

I noticed something weird with the hazard triangle the other night and forgot to post it then. When it gets dark outside and you turn the car off, stare at it. It flashes but not bright enough to catch on camera phone recording. I was sober when I saw this happen. 


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Electrical poltergeists.

Hmm...


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## Sunline Fan (Jul 29, 2012)

Merc6 said:


> I was sober when I saw this happen.


This.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

How old is your battery?


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## ChevyMgr (Oct 27, 2010)

Correction is to not stare at the triangle. Bulletin coming soon.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

obermd said:


> How old is your battery?


Have to check, build date is 13 May 2013. I had a "service charging systems" message and it disappeared after I got it in the dealer service bay about 3 months ago. 


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## MilTownSHO (Oct 9, 2013)

I noticed the same thing the other night.

I was sober too at the time


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

ChevyMgr said:


> Correction is to not stare at the triangle. Bulletin coming soon.


LOL I don't understand. Is staring at triangle known in the state of California for causing cancer?


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Could be starring at your triangle, she is falling in love with you, and starts winking back. Could try the same thing with a good looking woman, a bit more action than with a triangle.


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## iKermit (Dec 13, 2010)

NickD said:


> Could be starring at your triangle, she is falling in love with you, and starts winking back. Could try the same thing with a good looking woman, a bit more action than with a triangle.


Lol... I always had a thing for hazardous lights. 

Waitwat

 -I'm mobile-


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

iKermit said:


> Lol... I always had a thing for hazardous lights.
> 
> Waitwat
> 
> -I'm mobile-


Normally not in a good situation when you have to use them. And really worthless if the reason why you have to use them is with an electrical problem that caused your battery to go dead. 

Electrical problems are the most dominate problems in vehicles.


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

The hazard triangle flashing with the hazard lights is normal. My August 2011 build Cruze does it, and always has. It's so you see something flashing and realize they're on. I put mine on when backing out so folks see my car amongst the sea of minivans and SUV's at the local mall.


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## Mick (Dec 31, 2011)

Merc6 said:


> I noticed something weird with the hazard triangle the other night and forgot to post it then. When it gets dark outside and you turn the car off, stare at it. It flashes but not bright enough to catch on camera phone recording. I was sober when I saw this happen.
> 
> Maybe being sober is bad for your health. Its not normal to stare at your triangle sir.
> 
> Sent from AutoGuide.com App




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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

Mick said:


> Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App


Tried to quote you, lol how did it let you post w/o a single post outside of my quotes? I wasn't intentionally staring at it, the hotel I was parking at has like 0 lighting in the parking lot out back so I caught it flashing as I reached up to hit the unlock button. 



sciphi said:


> The hazard triangle flashing with the hazard lights is normal. My August 2011 build Cruze does it, and always has. It's so you see something flashing and realize they're on. I put mine on when backing out so folks see my car amongst the sea of minivans and SUV's at the local mall.


That's the thing, the hazard lights aren't on when it does this rapid flash pattern. I wasn't going to see if the flashes are in relation to the USB plug still being powered after the drive cycle till it timed out. I may try tonight when I leave to work to see if it does it again. 





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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

City tiny water department pickup truck has that super loud beeper when in reverse. Told my wife, we got to get one of those, so we also can wake up everyone in the neighborhood when backing out of our driveway.

Heck, I could save money on buying that beeper, just run a wire from the backup lights to the car alarm system. That certainly would wake up all the neighbors when we have to leave at 3:00 AM in the morning.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

NickD said:


> City tiny water department pickup truck has that super loud beeper when in reverse. Told my wife, we got to get one of those, so we also can wake up everyone in the neighborhood when backing out of our driveway.
> 
> Heck, I could save money on buying that beeper, just run a wire from the backup lights to the car alarm system. That certainly would wake up all the neighbors when we have to leave at 3:00 AM in the morning.


That's how the Subaru was till I got resonators on it. Remote start would rattle the bathroom mirror on the 2nd floor.


It did it again tonight and time delay lights, radio and locking the car didn't stop it. Only when I opened the door and the interior lights came back on did it stop. Gonna add it to the list of normal till something stranger happens. 


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## JCarlson (Jun 11, 2013)

Merc6 said:


> That's how the Subaru was till I got resonators on it. Remote start would rattle the bathroom mirror on the 2nd floor.
> 
> 
> It did it again tonight and time delay lights, radio and locking the car didn't stop it. Only when I opened the door and the interior lights came back on did it stop. Gonna add it to the list of normal till something stranger happens.
> ...


Have you noticed if it goes away after a certain amount of time? It could be electrical discharge or EMF discharge just draining any electricity from the system and that's just it's path of drain and the surging (blinking) could be due to electromagnetic frequencies produced by electrical current. 

If it just keeps going without stopping after a given time, then it has me stumped. Lol. Also keep in mind that locking the car or anything else that would send signal to the car could re energize the system and possibly need to "drain" again afterwards. Just a thought. But this definitely is a weird happening


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

I totally missed what you were saying, lol. No, having the hazard triangle flash without the hazard lights on is not normal. Leaving something plugged into the USB drive should not have anything to do with it, but I'm not ruling it out. All the switches run through the BCM in this car, even the radio. Want to change stations? Not unless the BCM okays it...


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

sciphi said:


> I totally missed what you were saying, lol. No, having the hazard triangle flash without the hazard lights on is not normal. Leaving something plugged into the USB drive should not have anything to do with it, but I'm not ruling it out. All the switches run through the BCM in this car, even the radio. Want to change stations? Not unless the BCM okays it...


Maybe that's why it takes 4 tries to skip a song from the steering wheel



JCarlson said:


> Have you noticed if it goes away after a certain amount of time? It could be electrical discharge or EMF discharge just draining any electricity from the system and that's just it's path of drain and the surging (blinking) could be due to electromagnetic frequencies produced by electrical current.
> 
> If it just keeps going without stopping after a given time, then it has me stumped. Lol. Also keep in mind that locking the car or anything else that would send signal to the car could re energize the system and possibly need to "drain" again afterwards. Just a thought. But this definitely is a weird happening
> 
> ...


I will try and see if it does it over time tonight. It looks like a low powered led so it may take some time. 



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## custer3_5 (May 8, 2013)

I just looked at mine. It didn't look like it was flashing until I cupped my hand around it. And I don't have anything plugged into the USB either. So I wonder what it could be


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Edit: I just sat in my car for the past 10 minutes with everything off and the flashing is not there anymore


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## nike12000 (Sep 13, 2013)

Merc6 said:


> I noticed something weird with the hazard triangle the other night and forgot to post it then. When it gets dark outside and you turn the car off, stare at it. It flashes but not bright enough to catch on camera phone recording.





> I was sober when I saw this happen.


seems like the solution to this issue is to not be sober... 
hahhahha


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## JCarlson (Jun 11, 2013)

Merc6 said:


> Maybe that's why it takes 4 tries to skip a song from the steering wheel
> 
> I will try and see if it does it over time tonight. It looks like a low powered led so it may take some time.
> 
> ...


So I just watched my 2013 Eco do this exact thing. It did go away after like 15 minutes. Makes me think it's just draining energy. Considering the radio is set to not go off for 10 minutes the system still has juice until at the latest 10 minutes after the car is shut off. Again this is just observation and hypothesis. No quantitative data is available that I can think of to back my statements up with 


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

JCarlson said:


> So I just watched my 2013 Eco do this exact thing. It did go away after like 15 minutes. Makes me think it's just draining energy. Considering the radio is set to not go off for 10 minutes the system still has juice until at the latest 10 minutes after the car is shut off. Again this is just observation and hypothesis. No quantitative data is available that I can think of to back my statements up with
> 
> 
> Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App



Lol I forgot to come back to this, I abandoned the steak out after 8 mins. 

The radio has the ability to be turned back on after that 10 minutes has passed with and w/o door opening. This also wakes up the USB port if you were charging the phone. 

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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Trying to think of the logic behind opening and closing a door can do severe damage to my brain, so I try not to think about it.

Opening a door instantly turns on the DIC, dome, and center console lamps including the hazard, but closing that door, it takes 25 seconds before all the lamps turn off. Then not instantly, but a very slow dim. The power MOSFET that powers this is in the linear mode and dissipates just as much power as the entire load circuit at midway in the dim cycle.

So if you are concerned about not waking up to a dead battery, will stand there like an idiot for 25 seconds to make sure all those lamps go off. As an engineer, you already know that transistor is red hot during that dimming stage.

One thing that helps is to hit the remote to lock the car, then its only about a five second wait until the lamps go instantly off. But I don't normally do this when my Cruze is safely locked up in my garage. There has to be a logical reason for this, ouch, can't think of one.

Also easy enough to hit that door lock button that locks all the doors when leaving. So went to school to learn to never leave this car with the key inside.

My poor worn out brain can see the logic behind this "feature", to make darn sure you renew your OnStar subscription.


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## BrassiestYew (May 8, 2017)

I read several posts and kept getting off subject. I noticed this issue and was curious if anyone figured it out?


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## BrassiestYew (May 8, 2017)

BrassiestYew said:


> I read several posts and kept getting off subject. I noticed this issue and was curious if anyone figured it out?


 I am referring to the hazard light flashing dimly after car is off.


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## Blasirl (Mar 31, 2015)

BrassiestYew said:


> I am referring to the hazard light flashing dimly after car is off.


Welcome Aboard!:welcome:

If your lucky, @*Merc6* might be sober enough to let you know. If not, maybe @*Robby* can prop him up some... :th_alc:

Don't forget to introduce yourself and your Cruze here.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

BrassiestYew said:


> I read several posts and kept getting off subject. I noticed this issue and was curious if anyone figured it out?





BrassiestYew said:


> I am referring to the hazard light flashing dimly after car is off.



Never figured it out, I labeled it as normal Cruze behavior even after the negative cable was replaced. Before trade the orange lights for the hvac knobs would randomly either be on or not be on. 




Blasirl said:


> Welcome Aboard!:welcome:
> 
> If your lucky, @*Merc6* might be sober enough to let you know. If not, maybe @*Robby* can prop him up some... :th_alc:
> 
> Don't forget to introduce yourself and your Cruze here.



Yeah might as well post this thread as well. I was sober when I typed this but barely remember these posts exist. 


http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/9-ge...t-does-your-username-mean-17.html#post2920610


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## [email protected] (Aug 16, 2018)

So my chevy cruze 14' is doing this as well. My battery has been dying on me causing me to have to get my car jumped off. This morning when I got to work, it is super dark in our lot and I noticed the hazard lights triangle flashing. Exactly the way that AutoGuide.com App said thier's did. I beginning to wonder if this may have something to do with why my battery is dying.


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