Hi, I was wondering if anyone has done a project like this - or knows how to. I'd really like to retrofit them to get better visibility while driving on the highway at night. Currently, my high beams mostly don't even turn on since the opoosite lane has traffic - which I assume headlights like these would fix.

 

My car is a 2019 st-line X, with auto high beams and self leveling headlights (meaning there is a HCM in place). 

 

What would the required steps be? I've read somewhere that the HCM would need reprogramming, and a lot of forscan tweaks would be needed - but I wouldn't mind if someone has instructions, or a dump from a adaptive headlight car.

 

 

Pop onto the FORScan forums as a few people on there have done it.

But, be warned, it's a massive job.

I'd stick with the (very good) fixed LEDs and just turn the cornering fog lamps on (with FORScan) to help you a bit

2 hours ago, teo0781 said:

What would the required steps be?

First would be to buy two adaptive LED headlight units, about £900 (1030€) each. Once you have them and the additional hardware needed, then follow Dave's advice and head over to the FORScan forum.

On 11/27/2025 at 11:00 AM, unofix said:

then follow Dave's advice and head over to the FORScan forum.

Apologies for reviving a semi-old topic. I'm unable to find a forum post that goes full led to adaptive. I've only found one that goes from halogen to adaptive (which includes retrofitting the HCM).

 

Also, I'd plan on buying used, so I'd expect the price to be much smaller - and considering how many kms I drive per week (300+), with most of them being on the highway/motorway, I think this retrofit could be worth it.

On 11/27/2025 at 10:13 AM, DaveT70 said:

Pop onto the FORScan forums as a few people on there have done it.

But, be warned, it's a massive job.

Would you mind elaborating on the massive job part? As far as I've researched I'd need to change a few settings in BdyCM, SCCM and reflash the HCM along with downloading some other vehicles as-built for the HCM. Is there something major I'm missing?

https://forscan.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=19615

2 hours ago, DaveT70 said:

https://forscan.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=19615

Thank you! So yes, as it seems it's just reflashing the HCM and changing a few modules, no actual hardware swap apart from the lights themselves.

 

Is there anything I should be cautious about when buying used? Seller claims they've been pulled from a working car - and tested, and the price seems good (550 € for both).

28 minutes ago, teo0781 said:

Is there anything I should be cautious about when buying used

If they don't work then you won't know if the seller has provided faulty goods or you have not done the conversion correctly.

Retrofit successful!

Some info about it; I was able to test it, and my steps were based mostly on a forum post on a Dutch focus forum (link will be attached at end of post). Glare free, cornering and predictive lights work without any DTCs.

 

My forum post here is kind of an "add-on" to the linked post, listing exactly what I did, with the intention of documenting how my experience went.

 

Prerequisites:

- Vehicle that has static LEDs with auto leveling and HCM. These were produced up to mid 2019.
- FORScan beta (fw. update capability)
- Access to FRDS, or the will to go to a dealer (I was unable to do the calibrations of the HCM (probable FORScan bug?))
- Knowledge on how the firmware update process works (you can read up on it on the FORScan forum website)
- Fully reading the linked forum post. Has a lot of things I've not mentioned.

Steps:

1. Acquire the headlights themselves - more information can be found on the forum post I'll link below. Goes into detail exactly what part numbers correspond to what.

2. Remove old headlights, and do not connect your new headlights until the following steps are completed. This is critical because otherwise you're risking the possibility of HCM module damage, or something else. I did it this way - so I'm unable to completely confirm whether anything bad happens, but I can safely presume something bad will happen.

3. Fire up FORScan (beta version with firmware update capability required unless you want to replace the HCM module. I have done it via the firmware update method - so I'm unable to say how the replacement method would work, but that's what the linked forum post did.), and change your HCM strategy to a known good (if possible), or use the strategy provided by my-ford-focus. He has them listed on his website.

4. After a successful reflash of strategy, you'll get new DTCs. Instead of only leveling actuators not working now, the swiveling also won't work (this is a good indication your firmware change went successfully!)

5. Next, we'll need to change some as-built settings in different modules. I will not be listing all of the module changes, as they can be found on the linked forum post, but I am simply adding onto the steps from the forum post (as these were missing)
- HCM: before changing anything, load your factory as-built (there's a button for it), as it has been reset during the fw. change! Only after this, you can change the as-built.

6. Change settings on other modules (following the linked post)
NOTE: During the changing of as-built of the IPMA, i got an error message on the IPC saying that adaptive cruise control wasn't available. You can safely ignore this message - simply follow the steps FORScan tells you (ign. off, then on again), and the message shouldn't appear again.

7. After all settings have been written, restart your car (ignition on (accessory mode) -> off -> ignition on again). If everything was successful, your previous DTCs will still be listed, but do not proceed if you get a U2101 DTC in the HCM. Something went wrong in the previous steps, try and redo them. 

8. Clear the DTCs, we know for a fact the programming has gone well, and we can safely proceed. After you clear the DTCs, all of the other DTCs should disappear apart from the HCM DTCs (due to there not being any headlights attached).

9. Check your Vehicle settings in your instrument cluster (IPC), and disable the lighting delay if one has been set. This can only complicate matters in the next step.

10. Ignition off, all of our programming has now been completed. Reconnect the headlights (order does not matter).

11. Next, what I did to ensure the headlights worked, was to cover the ambient lighting sensors (one next to the camera, the same sensor used for rain sensing, and the other one is in the center of your dash). After this, you can turn your ignition on and confirm the headlights do work. They should perform a self test sequence (video will be attached below as a drive link to see exactly what I'm talking about).

13. Clear DTCs again. We don't need them anymore, and it'll help if something goes wrong.

12. If everything went well, the headlights now fully function, with the exception of you still having a DTC active requiring calibration. I've noticed that this DTC doesn't exactly do much. The headlights could work in this state, but preferably only for testing.

13. Perform the Calibration using the service procedure. I've unfortunately not been able to do this myself, and instead had to resort to my dealer doing this for me (50€). I am yet to fully know why this occured - but I'm suspecting a bug in FORScan.

14. Done! Enjoy!

Forum post; https://www.focusclub.nl/index.php?threads/retrofit-van-full-led-naar-adaptive-led.124086/

Self test sequence: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zdfsnpfIkakM4SZNpgqYzqb0z0cVYuSU/view?usp=drivesdk

 

If there are any questions I can answer, I gladly will.