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Headlights in auto mode

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Old 11-08-2004, 01:13 PM
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I've noticed on several occasions that, having the headlights switch in auto mode, the system decides to switch them on for apparently no good reason.

E.g., I leave my office building from the garage, the head lights are on until getting to the outside, and after some seconds on direct sun exposure, they go off.

This is expected. What it isn't is that several Km later, I notice my headlights reflected on the car in front of me, and I check the light on the switch and there on. On a crystal clear sunny day.

This happenned to me several times, for the time being I've given up on the auto headlights mode.

Did any of you guys experienced the same ?

Cheers.
Old 11-08-2004, 01:17 PM
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Originally Posted by seakat' date='Nov 8 2004, 03:13 PM
I've noticed on several occasions that, having the headlights switch in auto mode, the system decides to switch them on for apparently no good reason.

E.g., I leave my office building from the garage, the head lights are on until getting to the outside, and after some seconds on direct sun exposure, they go off.

This is expected. What it isn't is that several Km later, I notice my headlights reflected on the car in front of me, and I check the light on the switch and there on. On a crystal clear sunny day.

This happenned to me several times, for the time being I've given up on the auto? headlights mode.

Did any of you guys experienced the same ?

Cheers.
[snapback]53926[/snapback]
Yeah. Weird behavior. Mine seem to be a little better after V13.3. So long as they don't turn OFF when its dark, I always keep them on the auto setting. The Active Head Lights (which I love) only work on this setting.
Old 11-08-2004, 01:34 PM
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I think a lot of this behaviour is due to the season. We know from TIS bulletins that the auto headlamps work poorly when the sun is low on the horizon (for whatever reason). So I think that in winter, we get more spurious operation.

Anyone with MB/Audi auto headlamp experience have any similar experience?
Old 11-08-2004, 02:01 PM
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I thought I was going crazy with the exact same response from mine. I just hope they don't go ON by themselves when I park it for a few days at the airport.
Old 11-08-2004, 08:35 PM
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maybe u could try get ur dealer to adjust the sensitivity of the light sensor to the lowest.
Old 11-08-2004, 11:13 PM
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Originally Posted by Ed520' date='Nov 8 2004, 07:35 PM
maybe u could try get ur dealer to adjust the sensitivity of the light sensor to the lowest.
[snapback]54039[/snapback]
that's right. some members already have this done by their dealers and now is much better. i have a similar "problem" and asked my dealer to adjust them but they refused to . they said it'll probably screw something up . i know they certainly screwed me up .
Old 11-09-2004, 07:20 AM
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Today with a very low shining sun my auto headlights also turned on by themselves. I'm not too anoyed by it as long as they turn on when it becomes dark!
Old 11-09-2004, 08:34 AM
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I have (or hopefully "had") a similiar problem. The lights would not go off during sunlight, usually after a tunnel or some such. My dealer did a test and the sensor (in the rear view mirror) did not properly work once "on"...they have ordered a new rear view mirror. I do recall seeing this problem in the past from many people on this site. In the interim, they did set the sensor to "very sensitive" which strangely enough makes it less sensitive...this is not a fix however.
Old 11-09-2004, 03:30 PM
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Thanks to all.

I'll mention this to the dealer and will see how they handle it.

BTW, this is probably more of a "problem" to me than for the other board members, as in my country nobody drives with the headlights on with regular daylight.

The ones who do, usually mean something like I'm a very agressive driver, get out of my way, and I don't want to play that role (I guess that seeing an E60 nose on the rear view mirror is a strong enough message )

Cheers.
Old 01-24-2006, 11:19 AM
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I noticed that my car has the exact same behavior as seakat's car (1st post). It's completely sunny here in San Diego and my headlights stays on like an idiot, even at 10:00am facing directly to the sun!

Dealer can't figure out why. Sensitivity set to "Very sensitive" and software upgrade (to CIP 20.00.00) do not help.

That's German Engineering...


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