Irritating adaptive headlamps

[northern_nubie]

On 2/19/2023 at 9:30 AM, Botus said:

taken me this long to hold back from ranting

high-beam assist is stupid and dangerous.  Often dazzling to coming traffic as it gets muddled and fails to operate (especially VAG cars), dips dangerously when you are the only road user - when finding other roadside detritus it thinks is another vehicle, and due to stupid urban area laws doesn't reactivate high beam until you are back over 30mph on dark unlit country lanes

but here we are talking about corning illumination - it has three main reasons they fit

1)  many cars are now fitted with LED laser death ray lights, meaning few other road users can see if the indicator is actually on (cornering light features helps differentiate, either on proper cars dimming the light so the indicator stands out -  or at least giving an asymmetrical stance bringing focus to the indicator area that's hard to see 

2) people are now so lazy, it works as a slightly late to the party indicator even if they don't bother

3) at night it better highlights the side of the road - to save tyres and pedestrian's lives making it safer for everybody

 

Entirely agree about high-beam assist. I tried it, then turned it off. I found it dips the headlights a little too late for most oncoming cars.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has noticed that a fair few modern cars have directional indicators that are hard to see, being embedded in the cluster. I find this quite surprising considering governments and manufacturers and often going on about safety, but they seem content to accept these embedded indicators. Several times I've thought someone isn't indicating when they're slowing down to pull in, but in fact they are. Similar problem on roundabouts.

I respectfully disagree about cornering lights. I simply don't see a purpose for them. I believe they're installed to try to attract buyers to a what is in fact a needless feature. In my previous cars, including two Focuses, which didn't have cornering lights, I could see the edges of the road perfectly. And, frankly, the very few times the cornering lights don't come on when I go round a bend, I can see the edges perfectly. So the constantly flicking of the lights when negotiating many bends, especially on narrow roads, is just annoying to me, especially because I also think they're not needed.

[northern_nubie]

In an effort to find out if I can have the cornering lights disabled, I contacted a number of local (non-Ford) dealers. One has diagnostics called Snap-on Solus, another has Autel. Wondering if its worth letting either of them plug into my car and see if disabling cornering lights is an option. I somehow seem to think it wouldn't work, because apart from Ford's IDS/FDRS software, the only other thing I've seen mentioned here is FORScan.

[northern_nubie]

9 minutes ago, northern_nubie said:

In an effort to find out if I can have the cornering lights disabled, I contacted a number of local (non-Ford) dealers. One has diagnostics called Snap-on Solus, another has Autel. Wondering if its worth letting either of them plug into my car and see if disabling cornering lights is an option. I somehow seem to think it wouldn't work, because apart from Ford's IDS/FDRS software, the only other thing I've seen mentioned here is FORScan.

Potentially good news. I rang one of my local Ford dealers, and the service desktop assistant went away and checked if they could plug in and try to disable the cornering lights. I expected her to come back and say it's not possible. On the contrary, when she returned she said they can try and if it can be done it would be £108, or no charge if they can't disable them.

[StephenFord]

20 minutes ago, northern_nubie said:

In an effort to find out if I can have the cornering lights disabled...

Judging by the number of words you have written over this topic, it's obviously causing you great distress. No one here can offer an answer you are satisfied with. So I would respectfully advise that you do whatever you need to, to attempt to customise your headlight setting to your satisfaction. Just try any garage you can find to sort it, you'll feel much better...

[northern_nubie]

58 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

Judging by the number of words you have written over this topic, it's obviously causing you great distress. No one here can offer an answer you are satisfied with. 

What an odd thing to say.

[northern_nubie]

Just now, northern_nubie said:

What an odd thing to say.

 

59 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

Judging by the number of words you have written over this topic, it's obviously causing you great distress. No one here can offer an answer you are satisfied with. So I would respectfully advise that you do whatever you need to, to attempt to customise your headlight setting to your satisfaction. Just try any garage you can find to sort it, you'll feel much better...

People have been very helpful. They've responded to me, and I to them. Not at all sure what mean. Maybe not intentional, but what you've said doesn't come across too well.

[StephenFord]

Just now, northern_nubie said:

People have been very helpful. They've responded to me, and I to them. Not at all sure what mean. Maybe not intentional, but what you've said doesn't come across too well.

I'll have you know you're speaking to a Grand Master - have some respect 

[northern_nubie]

On 2/20/2023 at 2:19 PM, northern_nubie said:

Potentially good news. I rang one of my local Ford dealers, and the service desktop assistant went away and checked if they could plug in and try to disable the cornering lights. I expected her to come back and say it's not possible. On the contrary, when she returned she said they can try and if it can be done it would be £108, or no charge if they can't disable them.

So I took my car into a Ford dealers today, they plugged in, but no luck in turning off the cornering lights. The technician said they used to be able to change such settings, but now Ford has prevented it. I asked him if the setting for changing the fog lights to fog only (rather than fog and cornering) appears in the software on screen, but is perhaps greyed out. He simply told me that car configuration does not now appear at all. I've no knowledge of these things, so I'm just saying what he said.
But I'm not sure if he meant the vehicle itself is preventing this, or the software they use. Hopefully the latter, otherwise then FORScan would not be of much help in solving this issue for me, surely.

[DaveT70]

4.5s don't have Fog Lights do they?

Pre 4.5s, with adaptive LEDs, didn't have cornering fogs, it was disabled.

Configuration for cornering Fogs is in BCMii, configuration for cornering lights would be in HCM

[northern_nubie]

5 minutes ago, DaveT70 said:

4.5s don't have Fog Lights do they?

Pre 4.5s, with adaptive LEDs, didn't have cornering fogs, it was disabled.

Configuration for cornering Fogs is in BCMii, configuration for cornering lights would be in HCM

Not separate fogs, but integrated into the fixed LEDs. I wish they were separate, because then I could cover them up 🙂

Thanks, but I don't know what BCMii or HCM are. Are they in FORScan? I don't know much, compared to others here.

[DaveT70]

16 hours ago, northern_nubie said:

Not separate fogs, but integrated into the fixed LEDs. I wish they were separate, because then I could cover them up 🙂

Thanks, but I don't know what BCMii or HCM are. Are they in FORScan? I don't know much, compared to others here.

BCMii is the body control module that controls all the electrical systems, lights, locks, wipers etc

Except when you have adaptive LED headlamps, that requires an HCM which is Headlamp Control Module

[northern_nubie]

On 3/2/2023 at 2:10 PM, northern_nubie said:

So I took my car into a Ford dealers today, they plugged in, but no luck in turning off the cornering lights. The technician said they used to be able to change such settings, but now Ford has prevented it. I asked him if the setting for changing the fog lights to fog only (rather than fog and cornering) appears in the software on screen, but is perhaps greyed out. He simply told me that car configuration does not now appear at all. I've no knowledge of these things, so I'm just saying what he said.
But I'm not sure if he meant the vehicle itself is preventing this, or the software they use. Hopefully the latter, otherwise then FORScan would not be of much help in solving this issue for me, surely.

Any thoughts on my final paragraph above would be appreciated.

[alexp999]

The Ford software can be quite limited in what changes they are able to make. Forscan can make more changes but you might not know if there is a setting or if that setting will change anything until you try it. 

[unofix]

53 minutes ago, northern_nubie said:

Any thoughts on my final paragraph above would be appreciated.

I doubt the vehicle is preventing it, more likely the settings are just not available to them.

Just as an experiment to check that the cornering lights are the cause of the problem, next time you are out on a dark twisting road change the headlight switch from 'Auto' and set it to Headlights 'On' Then turn the front fog lights to 'On'

If the problem that you are seeing is the cornering lights turning on and off, that should cease as the lights will be permanently on.

Does the lights dancing about stop ?

[northern_nubie]

2 minutes ago, unofix said:

I doubt the vehicle is preventing it, more likely the settings are just not available to them.

Just as an experiment to check that the cornering lights are the cause of the problem, next time you are out on a dark twisting road change the headlight switch from 'Auto' and set it to Headlights 'On' Then turn the front fog lights to 'On'

If the problem that you are seeing is the cornering lights turning on and off, that should cease as the lights will be permanently on.

Does the lights dancing about stop ?

Good idea, and thanks for the suggestion. I'll try it asap and get back to you.

[Botus]

on my not ford car, I flashed a later software iteration at the headlights and the set swivel of the headlights with the steering wheel (curve light control) changed this feature from well judged perfection - to crazed halfwit wildly flicking the beam about like an idiot - how they felt that was an improvement I don't know

the feature works brilliantly on bends on unlit roads, so you can see round the corner earlier than normal fixed lights - they used to wander back as the lock unwinds in an imperceptible fashion, but not anymore - but its part of the software not some secret setting you can get at in deep engineering fiddling so I can't put back to how a proper engineer originally built it

fiddling about with dealer tools looking for something to help, I came across the active cornering lights (as per this post) I have these on but they used to only come on in tight corners..  but I changed the setting from "Standard" to "Comfort" and now they come on a lot more frequently - its a bit disconcerting as you get used to it - but its more light on the road around the car so who cares if its a bit odd - more light for most people is better than not much

[northern_nubie]

21 hours ago, Botus said:

on my not ford car, I flashed a later software iteration at the headlights and the set swivel of the headlights with the steering wheel (curve light control) changed this feature from well judged perfection - to crazed halfwit wildly flicking the beam about like an idiot - how they felt that was an improvement I don't know

the feature works brilliantly on bends on unlit roads, so you can see round the corner earlier than normal fixed lights - they used to wander back as the lock unwinds in an imperceptible fashion, but not anymore - but its part of the software not some secret setting you can get at in deep engineering fiddling so I can't put back to how a proper engineer originally built it

fiddling about with dealer tools looking for something to help, I came across the active cornering lights (as per this post) I have these on but they used to only come on in tight corners..  but I changed the setting from "Standard" to "Comfort" and now they come on a lot more frequently - its a bit disconcerting as you get used to it - but its more light on the road around the car so who cares if its a bit odd - more light for most people is better than not much

I've never had adaptive headlights, only the cornering lights. The former sound far better. I'm repeating myself, but I find what i have to be irritating and pointless. They do not improve visibility. And, after all, why would they? Fog lights are designed to improve the vehicle's visibility, and do not throw enough light to make much or really any difference, but enough to annoy some people, because as you're driving around multiple bends, they're on, then off, then on again, etc. Urgh.

[StephenFord]

4 minutes ago, northern_nubie said:

 I'm repeating myself...

Ya think?? 

[Botus]

1 hour ago, northern_nubie said:

 Fog lights are designed to improve the vehicle's visibility, and do not throw enough light to make much or really any difference, but enough to annoy some people, because as you're driving around multiple bends, they're on, then off, then on again, etc. Urgh.

well, the flickering on off is not nice - but my first omega had shocking lights and driving with the front fogs on all the time helped tremendously - the comfort of sufficient light around the car is invaluable if you like to press on, on narrow roads

the later facelift went to xenon's and I never switched on the fog light in the 10 year's I kept that one - FYI it was a much better car than an S class merc could ever dream of being !!!!

[mjt]

11 hours ago, northern_nubie said:

Fog lights are designed to improve the vehicle's visibility,

That only applies to the rear fogs. The purpose of the front fogs is - or was when I started driving - to illuminate the road close to the car to make it easier to see the centre line (if there is one) and the kerb/verge when the main lights are reflecting too much glare to see far ahead. It would actually be useful to be able to use them with only the parking/position lights to reduce the glare but modern cars don't seem to allow this.

[Wino]

55 minutes ago, mjt said:

That only applies to the rear fogs. The purpose of the front fogs is - or was when I started driving - to illuminate the road close to the car to make it easier to see the centre line (if there is one) and the kerb/verge when the main lights are reflecting too much glare to see far ahead. It would actually be useful to be able to use them with only the parking/position lights to reduce the glare but modern cars don't seem to allow this.

I use them for the exact same purpose IF I'm out n about in the dark. It makes a world of difference in the MK4 with those sh1tty halogen lights.

[StephenFord]

2 minutes ago, Wino said:

... in the MK4 with those sh1tty halogen lights.

Makes you wonder how Ford pass any car through R&D when every model they make, people complain about how bad the headlights are LOL Lost count of the number of threads on, 'How do you improve the headlights on my Mk2, Mk3, Mk4 etc etc...'  Can it be that hard to design a headlight that lights up the road ahead at night? 

[unofix]

9 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

'How do you improve the headlights on my Mk2, Mk3, Mk4 etc etc...'

I'm generally accepting of bits of design that are not to my liking and realise that the perfect car most probably doesn't exist at any price. The one bit of technology that has been forced upon me that I hate with a passion is the stupid pointless and greatly annoying Stop/Start. Fortunately every car I've owned since 2010 I've been able to defeat the system and have it remain disabled.

Which brings me to the subject of lights. The first thing I did when I got the Mk4 was to immediately disable the cornering lights. In my opinion a total gimmick and confusing and even misleading to other road users especially when approaching a roundabout. Then there is the Halogen headlights. Of all cars I've driven in possibly the last 20 years they are without doubt the worst. I've tried to accept them and live with them for the last 3 years but after next weeks MOT the time will have arrived when I will give in, and look to do something that improves the lights. Watch this space as I delve in to the deep dark pool of headlamp upgrades.      

[StephenFord]

5 minutes ago, unofix said:

...and look to do something that improves the lights. Watch this space as I delve in to the deep dark pool of headlamp upgrades.      

I do hope you are not going to follow me down the 'dark' path of illegal LED Bulbs LOL

[Wino]

18 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

I do hope you are not going to follow me down the 'dark' path of illegal LED bulbs LOL

I'd like to know as to whether anyone who has changed their lights from Halogen to LED have actually had the car pass through an MOT without having to faff about changing the bulbs ? 

I mentioned changing ours ( when we bought it) but straight away the Brother in law told me it would fail. Perhaps some MOT testers aren't  as keen ?