BYD Seagull Lights Stay On After Locking: Delay or Fault?

BYD Seagull lights on after locking: lighting delay or auto light-off conditions

Scope: China-mainland 2026 Seagull; official website owner's manual file 260317; physical PDF pp. 74–75, "Automatic light-off function" and "Lighting delay function"; equipment and screens depend on the actual vehicle; not extended to other model years or markets

First separate two control purposes

In the manual, follow-me-home lighting keeps the relevant lights on when you switch off, lock all four doors and leave the car; approach lighting switches them on when you unlock and approach. Both have delay settings, so lights staying on after locking is not on its own grounds for deciding a switch has failed. Owners can check this car's existing settings while safely stopped, without assuming that a menu location from another software version must exist on this car. ^[1]

Auto light-off also depends on the doors

Automatic light-off is enabled after the power goes from start to off, and the manual gives separate light-off delays for when the front left door is closed and when it is open; if the anti-theft system is set and then disarmed, lights that had gone off come back on. We suggest recording the power state, the front left door state, the locking or unlocking sequence and the set delay together, to separate auto light-off from welcome delays, rather than reading one occasion of lights staying on as a battery problem. ^[1]

Check abnormal behaviour against this car's state

If the lights keep behaving in a way that doesn't match the actual settings and the manual's conditions, stop safely and have the workshop check it; don't drain power repeatedly to prove whether the lights go off by themselves. The manual also requires the four-in-one sensor at the top of the windscreen not to be covered or splashed, so don't cover the sensor to simulate night-time for a test. This article gives no guidance on bridging switches or altering lighting circuits, and does not treat delayed lighting as a guarantee of driving lights. ^[1]

Sources

[Source 1] BYD China official website: 2026 Seagull Owner's Manual (in Chinese) (public PDF on the official website)
https://www.byd.com/material/domestic-official/user-manual/ocean/2026%E6%AC%BE%E6%B5%B7%E9%B8%A5%E7%94%A8%E6%88%B7%E6%89%8B%E5%86%8C260317.pdf
Publication date unknown; information checked at 2026-10-05T00:50:43Z, which is not the publication date.

Suggestions on record-keeping, enquiries and service choice are editorial opinion, not a manufacturer procedure.