Ford Focus adaptive headlight issue , any help appreciated, not got a diagnostics reading for said issue, 

Thanks Ian

Looks like you need to replace the headlight assembly, which is over £1000 from Ford (not including fitting).

Depending what exactly the failure is inside of the headlight, there are repair kits available.

On a 5 year old car, that's pathetic! As many know, I've just replaced the headlight on my almost 20 year old car with a £15 Ebay unit! If I had a 'new' car, I just couldn't afford to run it...

1 hour ago, unofix said:

Looks like you need to replace the headlight assembly, which is over £1000 from Ford (not including fitting).

Depending what exactly the failure is inside of the headlight, there are repair kits available.

I don't know if there are kits for the MK4, only the Mk3.5?

The MK3.5 had poorly designed headlights that like to damage themselves, but this is the first MK4 headlight failure I've seen I think.

52 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

 If I had a 'new' car, I just couldn't afford to run it...

Age isn't really the relevant factor there.  Check the prices of Mk2 Xenon clusters.  Guarantee you won't find a working one even close to £15 despite being 20 years old.

There are still lower spec vehicles being produced today.  People just don't take that sort of thing into consideration when buying.  If you buy a top spec car with fancy headlights, you just have to accept the repair costs if they fail.  If you can't afford the repair costs when buying second hand, choose a car with less tech.

3 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

...  If you can't afford the repair costs when buying second hand, choose a car with less tech.

Excellent point. A friends brother bought a used Audi Q7, at what he thought was a very cheap price. The headlamp failed last year with a replacement price in excess of £3500. People forget that when a car has a £70k new price, it's associated parts will be in the same price sphere...

2 hours ago, alexp999 said:

I don't know if there are kits for the MK4, only the Mk3.5?

A good point, I was forgetting that it was a Mk4. Perhaps the OP might like to contact the supplier of the kit for the Mk3.5 to see if anything is available for the newer headlight.

https://www.adaptivefix.com/product/replacement-wiring-harness/

Morning, so 2 days after I collected my car I had an adaptive light issue - took it straight back and ended up having the headlight replaced.

10 months later, the thing has flashed it up again. Still got warranty so it's going back in next week, but not fussed on having to deal with this out of warranty, so without a doubt I will be renewing that for the £280 they've quoted.

Is there a way to stop this problem?

7 minutes ago, twinsen said:

... so without a doubt I will be renewing that for the £280 they've quoted...

That sounds very steep, have you tried a comparison site to get something more reasonable?

2 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

That sounds very steep, have you tried a comparison site to get something more reasonable?

That was the renewal price too - a new warranty is £480.

Just did a comparison and it's about the same

OK so car went to Ford today, they apparently found a fault against both headlights in my case today, they have performed a recalibration and sent me on my way. Will see how this pans out but for the cost of these units, I need renew that warranty.

Well that lasted long, car displaying the error again before I got home. Shall be straight onto them tomorrow. Frustrated to say the least but it should get some more attention now. 

Well booked back in. Any idea if this will keep happening? I would trade it in for something else but the trade in against what I paid for it only 1 year ago is - - ouch...

48 minutes ago, twinsen said:

...Any idea if this will keep happening? ...

How on earth would anyone know the answer to that?

3 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

How on earth would anyone know the answer to that?

Mystic Meg will be able to help 🤣

It would have to be from beyond the grave - she died in March last year.

3 hours ago, mjt said:

she died in March last year.

I bet she didn't see that coming 🤔

8 hours ago, StephenFord said:

How on earth would anyone know the answer to that?

A better question admittedly would have been - how many other people have reported the same issue?

1 hour ago, twinsen said:

how many other people have reported the same issue?

Headlight problems are commonly reported here on the forums. However since there are so many different types of lights and the problems are so varied it would be hard to say if your exact problem was common.

LED lights, especially those which are adaptive are still fairly new to the market, and so problems in large numbers have so far not been a massive thing. My personal view is that they will have a much shorter life expectancy than older technologies, at least until they have been further developed.

So car went back to Ford today. They have apparently issued a new bulletin on 28/02/24 that basically states that if the message is just flashing up on the dashboard and disappearing that this is a disruption in communication between car and the headlight cluster. If the message goes away or keeps flashing then the action is to turn off the car and turn it on. (Basically a car is a computer on wheels these days).

If the message comes on and stays on, and the lights are being pulled to the ground - this is being treated as a separate fault and will need to be rectified with replacement headlight.

I renewed the warranty (turns out it was less than £300 to renew so I went ahead and did it), but can't say I am thrilled about it, but I suppose this is better than a £1400 replacement every year. I will likely start thinking about a replacement car after this year, depending on how this goes. I'm not fussed on dealing with this issue for much longer, which sadly takes the shine off what is otherwise a fantastic car.