Auto high-beams

pioneer2000

pioneer2000

pioneer2000

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For anyone that has auto high beams, do you leave it on?

I've nearly reached the point now where i'm defeated by the reaction other drivers have to these.

They work pretty reliably (i.e. switching off within good time of an approaching car), however tonight on some back roads I've had an oncoming car decide to switch their full beams on in reaction to my own auto full beams, despite them operating accordingly and turning off in what I would say is a fair distance (obviously the other driver didn't agree!)

Disappointingly they chose to completely blind me by turning on and leaving their beams on as we passed each other (mine having reverted to dipped). :confused:

It seems to me that many drivers simply rage if they see you having your high beams on, irrespective of the fact that they turn off before they get anywhere close enough for it to cause an issue.
 
High beams aren't supposed to be seen by anyone else. At least that's what I thought the rule was. Any approaching vehicle or pedestrian should result in high beams being off, doesn't matter how far.

If they on long enough to be noticed by the other driver then they should be off imo. Sounds like the other driver was affected in some way by them.
 
If that is indeed the case, then I can only conclude that auto-high beams are not fit for purpose then, as they obviously only revert to dipped when it is close enough to distinguish that the oncoming light / car is what it is (at which point the other driver CAN see that they're on).
 
The thing I hate about these (and drivers with normal headlights that are too ignorant to dip) is being blinded from the rear on long straights when I am any distance in front of the car.
 
pioneer2000 said:
If that is indeed the case, then I can only conclude that auto-high beams are not fit for purpose then, as they obviously only revert to dipped when it is close enough to distinguish that the oncoming light / car is what it is (at which point the other driver CAN see that they're on).
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Reading the highway code it can be open to interpretation.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-hig...-advice-for-all-drivers-and-riders-103-to-158

In the scenario you've described, unless they are just being petty and blinding you dangerously because they are crazy, it does sound like they've been dazzled in some way.
 
People always seem to wait to switch off their high beams until you have direct line of sight with one another. I'm not sure why, but I guess it's some kind of laziness / reluctance to bother.

If I'm feeling arsey, I full beam anyone that impairs my vision (and therefore safety) by lazily leaving their full beam on until it's obvious I'll be staring directly at it. Switch it off sooner, thanks.

If your auto full beam isn't dipping soon enough then you need to make a judgement on whether the other person is being unreasonable or you're being annoying.

Maybe a dealer can re-calibrate them or something.
 
pastymuncher said:
The thing I hate about these (and drivers with normal headlights that are too ignorant to dip) is being blinded from the rear on long straights when I am any distance in front of the car.
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The thing I hate most is where people switch to high beams in urban areas at the first sign of fog. Seriously?

Even worse when you are on a road with speed humps combined with high beam.
 
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Catch me after a bad day at work and I couldn't care less whether they're auto or manual, if they're on long enough to dazzle me, you're getting a blast in return :p

If it's happening a lot, I'd suggest that perhaps yours aren't dipping soon enough
 
Volvo (all manufacturers probably the same) website says manual control may be required when

  • In heavy rain or dense fog
  • In freezing rain
  • In snow flurries or slush
  • In moonlight
  • When driving in poorly lit built-up areas
  • When the traffic ahead has weak lighting
  • If there are pedestrians on or beside the road
  • If there are highly reflective objects such as signs in the vicinity of the road
  • When the lighting from oncoming traffic is obscured by e.g. a crash barrier
  • When there is traffic on connecting roads
  • On the brow of a hill or in a hollow
  • In sharp bends.
Click to expand...
 
The ones on my car are pretty good but there are issues as described in this thread. They only turn off when the car is in view whereas a conscientious driver will turn the beam off when he sees the light coming around the corner, so the oncoming driver does not see the full beam at all.

I find them more use on long straight A-Roads at quiet times when there are large distances between you and any oncoming traffic. In those situations I usually just set and forget, but on country lanes I end up just dipping manually due to the issue described above.
 
muon said:
Volvo (all manufacturers probably the same) website says manual control may be required when
Click to expand...

Brilliant, so basically use them in auto if you're on a long straight road on your own but other than that it should probably be in manual :p
 
I found mine incredibly frustrating for exactly this reason. I ended up manually operating most of the time as the auto high beam either didn't do anything because there was a small house light in the distance or blinding people coming over the brow of a hill as it waited to see direct light rather than the glow of an oncoming car.
 
Teuton said:
I find them more use on long straight A-Roads at quiet times when there are large distances between you and any oncoming traffic. In those situations I usually just set and forget, but on country lanes I end up just dipping manually due to the issue described above.
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So your Auto high-beams work great on roads where you no need to dip your headlights due to no traffic.........:p
 
[TW]Fox;30209601 said:
I found mine incredibly frustrating for exactly this reason. I ended up manually operating most of the time as the auto high beam either didn't do anything because there was a small house light in the distance or blinding people coming over the brow of a hill as it waited to see direct light rather than the glow of an oncoming car.
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One thing that really annoys me about mine is just as I knock the auto high beam off it auto dims a split second before so my manual action just knocks the high beam back on again .:(

And I also had problems where am just driving behind a car and of cause for no reason at all my auto high beam thinks it a good time to throw the high beam on so the car in front thinks am flashing my lights at it...:mad:
 
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I've switched the auto high-beams off in my car. For the same reasons already described.
I dip as soon as I see lights coming round the corner but the Jag waits until it can see the oncoming lights, by which time I've already blinded the driver.
Stupid system and I'm glad it's just a menu option to turn it off.
 
I'm pretty sure part of this problem is to do with how many people seem to get instant road rage the "second" they see your full beams though, even if it doesn't end up causing them to be dazzled.

I can only imagine Audi's laser lights on their full beams are death rays.
 
They are dynamic though aren't they? Like BMW's dynamic LEDs that are on high-beam all the time and they just cast a shadow around cars.
 
Weird to see so much hate for auto full beam. I bought a car with this a couple of months ago and I've not touched the headlights since, I've not had one issue with it despite a couple of thousand miles already. Very good system on mine (e class Mercedes). It tends to be quite cautious over using full beam, maybe other systems are more "aggressive".
 
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