Dome or Courtesy lights

[rojash]

Every car I've ever owned (and the oldest was a 1956 Ford) has had a 3-way switch to control the courtesy light (I believe its called a dome light in the US). The settings are On, Off, and Door-controlled).

I'm just reading yet another (American) thriller in which every time the hero wants to exit the car without alerting the baddies, he unscrews the dome lamp. This must be at least the 20th reference I've seen to this action.

So my question is:

(a) Are cars in the US so different (even European ones - the current one is a BMW) that they don't have this switch,

or (b) are most American thriller writers just stupid

or (c) have they never been in a car?

[Toureman]

Could be .

A.

B.

And even C.