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mattwnz

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#317415 13-Oct-2024 17:31
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I have been driving a few new cars lately and noticed that the automated high beams in them are very poor. The cars system is supposed to dip the headlights when there are oncoming vehicles, but it often doesn't. This results in people flashing me with tier high beams.  Also if the medium, barer is  one of these wire type (cheese grater) barriers, it usually doesn't detect the headlights at all. Prior to driving these cars, I noticed that there was an increase in the number of people driving new cars with their high beams with very powerful bulbs on and often they didn't dip them. Now I realise it is likely because the automated sensors are poor. So it does make me wonder why these systems are permitted if they are so unreliable and is resulting in more people being blinded by cars with their high beams on full. Has anyone else come across this issue with new cars.


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kiwifidget
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  #3296995 13-Oct-2024 17:49
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My 12 year old Mazda CX5 had very effective auto-dip.

 

My new CX5, I'm not sure if its actually working most of the time.

 

Himself's Ford Endura seems just as bad, its 5 years old though.





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jamesrt
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  #3296996 13-Oct-2024 17:50
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2019 car, so not "new" as such anymore; but the sensor for this in our car is pretty reliable - occasionally not as fast as I'd like to dip, but that's fairly rare, tbh.

 

 


billgates
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  #3296999 13-Oct-2024 17:58
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I can provide first hand experience with 3 cars.

BMW iX1 - Auto high beam headlights just work and they are LED matrix. They come ON automatically at night. They are so bright and light up the road and sides so well specially traffic signboards. Never had it fail to dip down for oncoming traffic. Its perfect.

Mazda CX5 Takami - Auto headlights worked 9/10times and they were also LED matrix although not as wide spread of the lights as the BMW. The lights were also not as bright as the BMW. Auto high beam headlights usually came on most of the time but sometimes I had to activate them manually.

Kia Seltos EX - Auto high beam headlights work 50% of the time to dip down to oncoming traffic. I have been blinded by angry truck drivers and oncoming cars rightly so after the seltos fails to dip down. The automatic high beam function also needs to be switched ON each time you get in the car so I don't bother using it anymore.

On another note, I can tell a tesla with its self assisted driving function enabled is driving behind me at night as without a fail, there highbeam fais to dip down for cars in front of them.




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alasta
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  #3297002 13-Oct-2024 18:06
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I previously had a 2019 Mazda CX-5 and found the auto high beam very reliable but slightly laggy. I would take manual control on windy roads like the Rimutakas, but otherwise I was happy to rely on it.

 

I now have a CX-30 which I bought last year. It has adaptive matrix LED lighting, and it's very hard to be fully aware of what it's doing or what other drivers are experiencing. Hopefully it's doing what it's designed to do!


michaelmurfy
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  #3297005 13-Oct-2024 18:35
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My previous car, a 2019 Kia Seltos was utterly useless and I would often get flashed.

 

My current car, a Tesla Model 3, has amazing headlights now and instead of dipping it uses a matrix of LED's and will blank out oncoming traffic. Never been flashed since that software update:

 

 

Other cars have this too but I find it superior compared to auto dipping.





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richms
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  #3297008 13-Oct-2024 18:53
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billgates: 

On another note, I can tell a tesla with its self assisted driving function enabled is driving behind me at night as without a fail, there highbeam fais to dip down for cars in front of them.

 

They certainly do dip down, I can see the car infront get better lit up when I turn off autosteer so it goes back to the normal low beams, as it was dimming the areas that would hit the car infront.





Richard rich.ms

  #3297010 13-Oct-2024 19:01
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My Ford Escape has amazing matrix LEDs that auto dip, black out oncoming cars and dance all over the road as I take corners. Amazing piece of technology.

Also, don’t assume you’re being flashed for high beams. Modern LED low beams are very bright and if you hit a bump in the road you will glare oncoming traffic.



mattwnz

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  #3297014 13-Oct-2024 19:07
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alasta:

 

I previously had a 2019 Mazda CX-5 and found the auto high beam very reliable but slightly laggy. I would take manual control on windy roads like the Rimutakas, but otherwise I was happy to rely on it.

 

I now have a CX-30 which I bought last year. It has adaptive matrix LED lighting, and it's very hard to be fully aware of what it's doing or what other drivers are experiencing. Hopefully it's doing what it's designed to do!

 

 

 

 

The cars I have been driving are Toyota and Lexus 2023/24 models and they both suffer from the same issue and I can see when it flips between high and low beam. It can be a bit  laggy and I suspect it uses very similar tech to the non adaptive matrix leds in the Mazda. The are called automatic LED projector headlights with automatic leveling .


Ruphus
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  #3297015 13-Oct-2024 19:09
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Both of my cars have auto high beam (Kia Sorento and Subaru WRX) which work very well. Often too well. The sensor will often pickup other lights (railway signal lights) as traffic and dip the high beam.

 

In both cars for auto high beam to activate, the headlights need to be set to 'Auto' and not manually turned on. The sensor is located on the opposite side of the rear-view mirror and obviously shouldn't be obstructed to operate correctly.


kiwifidget
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  #3297019 13-Oct-2024 19:30
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Time to bring back these?

 

No photo description available.





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jonathan18
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  #3297022 13-Oct-2024 20:07
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michaelmurfy:

 

My current car, a Tesla Model 3, has amazing headlights now and instead of dipping it uses a matrix of LED's and will blank out oncoming traffic. Never been flashed since that software update...

 

 

I've noticed, since this update, that if set to auto high, my Model Y will still do the matrix dimming in urban environments. I can see it constantly adapting, often picking up various objects (including reflections of its own lights off other cars or windows). Apart from it being somewhat disconcerting as a driver, I have no idea if this is annoying for anyone I'm driving towards (whether drivers or pedestrians).

 

Agree it's fantastic in rural driving, but should I have auto high off during urban driving? If so, that's annoying as it's something I need to remember to turn on when leaving the city. I found the standard auto dimming was accurate enough on my old car (a Mazda6) to simply leave on all the time.


CrazyM
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  #3297035 13-Oct-2024 20:47
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2015 Ford Mondeo Trend - Perfect automatic lights. Always dipped on time, never got flashed by other drivers

 

2020 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid - Poor automatic lights. Dips... eventually. Got flashed by other drivers regularly enough that I don't even use the Auto setting anymore


morrisk
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  #3297051 13-Oct-2024 21:32
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I have a Kia EV6 and I would rate the auto dipping lights as the best feature of the car  - at least the one I have found really helpful - dipping reliably for oncoming cars, when approaching a car from behind and with street lighting. Only confused by red lights on railway line when traveling parallel to the line when car interpreted the red lights as a car rear lights.


Mehrts
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  #3297060 13-Oct-2024 22:28
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Also a Model 3 owner, and the matrixing LED headlights are awesome, however:

When approaching cars from behind at a long distance (long straight rural road), the car takes a long time to react to the presence of the vehicle in front. It's maybe three times the distance closer until reacting compared with oncoming traffic. (if that makes sense?)

 

If I was the car in front I know that would annoy me, so I manually dip the lights until I'm a bit closer to them that I can put the lights back on high beam with matrixing, so that they're in the unlit portion of my headlights.

I'm not sure if it's just because the car's cameras can't pick up the red tail lights as well as the oncoming white headlights, or whether Tesla just expect all other cars to have auto-dimming rear view mirrors these days, but that's the one thing where these lights fall short, and I'll be completely honest about it.


Mehrts
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  #3297061 13-Oct-2024 22:35
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jonathan18:

 

...Apart from it being somewhat disconcerting as a driver, I have no idea if this is annoying for anyone I'm driving towards (whether drivers or pedestrians).

 

Agree it's fantastic in rural driving, but should I have auto high off during urban driving?



 

@jonathan18, I run round town with the lights manually dipped, and then engage the auto-brights for out of town stuff. 

The main reason is that while the car is good to react for people/cars it does see, it also misses a lot of things on the periphery while driving around town, and I'd rather not blind people that the car can't see.


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