Headlamps: Always "ON"?

[Sharkster]

Yea, I know where the sensor is and it is not covered... and yea, I also know that I can manually turn the headlights off and leave only the DRLs on. But as far as I understand it, on US cars, when the light's turning knob is set to "auto", the amber DRLs are always on and the headlights turn only on when it's dark, correct?

On my H3, it ALWAYS automatically turns on both (DRL and headlights) whenever I start the engine and the light's turning knob is set to auto.

I don't think that my sensor is malfunctioning... I rather think that it is something that has been changed when the car was imported into Germany. In Germany it is considered non-streetlegal if you drive around with only the parking lights (i.e. DRLs) turned on. You always need to have full headlights or everything turned off at the front of your car in Germany.