Model Year 25/26 Matrix Headlights - Question

[Steve-Formentor]

Being doing a fair bit of night driving lately and have a question, when set on Auto and travelling on a busy 2 way road, high beam activates and the matrix works very well, shutting off part of the beam when oncoming lights detected. However, when travelling down very dark, unlit lanes, of which there are many where I live, the lights stay on dipped beam and I have to manually select high beam using the stalk. Is this normal or is there a problem?

 

[slamka33]

I think the first switch from normal beam to high beam happens at 60 km/h. Do you reach this speed on that small dark road?
The only first auto-switch is important, later it switch even from lower speeds - if switched off automatically due to entering e.g. enlighten village. Leaving such village again to dark will switch highs automatically from any speed. The first one is important >60 km/h and then not touch lights at all, leave it on auto.

 

[Steve-Formentor]

Thanks very much

I think the first switch from normal beam to high beam happens at 60 km/h. Do you reach this speed on that small dark road?
The only first auto-switch is important, later it switch even from lower speeds - if switched off automatically due to entering e.g. enlighten village. Leaving such village again to dark will switch highs automatically from any speed. The first one is important >60 km/h and then not touch lights at all, leave it on auto.

Thanks very much, this explains why the lights behave in this way. I don't reach 60 km/hour on the country lanes, that would be suicidal! The speed limit on them is 40 km/hour and there are lots of blind 90 degree bends. I will investigate the various light settings to see what is best.

 

[slamka33]

Yeah, that's what I thought.. Possible workaround is to put headlights into "auto" still in the enlighten village (or area where safely possible), reach 60 km/h and slow down while keeping the lights in "auto". Not sure if it will work, but it MIGHT !

 

[slamka33]

Yesterday night I had opportunity to test it again on small known dark road.
Truth is that auto high beams, matrix, works even below 60 km/h, but they are VEERY SLOW !

I tried to count, they are every time roughly 10-12 seconds slower than I would switch high beams manually.
I started to count seconds when I had a feeling to switch high beams on by myself, tried to be "good" enough to put them on really after leaving enlightened area, village. Every time I counted up to 10-12s when auto high beams has been activated. Never reached 60 km/h..

 

[Steve-Formentor]

Yesterday night I had opportunity to test it again on small known dark road.
Truth is that auto high beams, matrix, works even below 60 km/h, but they are VEERY SLOW !

I tried to count, they are every time roughly 10-12 seconds slower than I would switch high beams manually.
I started to count seconds when I had a feeling to switch high beams on by myself, tried to be "good" enough to put them on really after leaving enlightened area, village. Every time I counted up to 10-12s when auto high beams has been activated. Never reached 60 km/h..

Must admit, didn't give it that long, when negotiating the roads where I live, you need full beam immediately.

 

[SRGTD]

Must admit, didn't give it that long, when negotiating the roads where I live, you need full beam immediately.

Although I live in quite a large village, it’s in a semi-rural area with very few street lamps and within minutes I can be in the middle of the countryside driving on quite narrow roads with lots of twists and turns. My non-VAG car also has auto high beam and apart from when I first got the car, I’ve never used it; I always switch to main beam manually when I need it as the ‘logic’ programmed into the auto high beam functionality doesn’t match my requirements. In my car, it doesn’t activate at speeds below 20 mph and it switches from high to low beam when slowing down to speeds above to below 20 mph. It’s then that I often also need full beam immediately e.g.

1. after negotiating tight bends on unfamiliar country roads
2. to clearly see the edges of narrow roads and hazards such as pot holes
3. to avoid the wildlife. There are lots of muntjac deer in my area that seem to appear from nowhere and can cause quite a lot of damage if you’re unfortunate enough to hit one. It doesn’t do the deer much good either.

On faster main roads, I’ve also found high beam can be quite slow to respond to auto-dip back to low beam when there’s oncoming traffic. I’ve been flashed a few times because I’ve dazzled the drivers of those oncoming vehicles.

In nearly 50 years of driving, my current car is the first one I’ve owned with auto high beam. I’d certainly not miss this feature if any future car I bought didn’t have it.

 

[Steve-Formentor]

Although I live in quite a large village, it’s in a semi-rural area with very few street lamps and within minutes I can be in the middle of the countryside driving on quite narrow roads with lots of twists and turns. My non-VAG car also has auto high beam and apart from when I first got the car, I’ve never used it; I always switch to main beam manually when I need it as the ‘logic’ programmed into the auto high beam functionality doesn’t match my requirements. In my car, it doesn’t activate at speeds below 20 mph and it switches from high to low beam when slowing down to speeds above to below 20 mph. It’s then that I often also need full beam immediately e.g.

1. after negotiating tight bends on unfamiliar country roads
2. to clearly see the edges of narrow roads and hazards such as pot holes
3. to avoid the wildlife. There are lots of muntjac deer in my area that seem to appear from nowhere and can cause quite a lot of damage if you’re unfortunate enough to hit one. It doesn’t do the deer much good either.

On faster main roads, I’ve also found high beam can be quite slow to respond to auto-dip back to low beam when there’s oncoming traffic. I’ve been flashed a few times because I’ve dazzled the drivers of those oncoming vehicles.

In nearly 50 years of driving, my current car is the first one I’ve owned with auto high beam. I’d certainly not miss this feature if any future car I bought didn’t have it.

I have the same issues living in a rural location. Although I am very pleased overall with my Formentor, can't help thinking that it has too much tech that's either not been perfected yet or needs unnecessary input to activate certain features: Lane assist that I have to turn off because Spanish road markings too often fool it, auto matrix headlights that don't do what is really required and cruise control that is cumbersome to activate compared to my old BMW are the main annoyances, rant over.

 

[trew]

Truth is that auto high beams, matrix, works even below 60 km/h, but they are VEERY SLOW !

I thought that was the case, but didn't like to disagree with earlier posts.

On my car I've never noticed that it takes 10-12 seconds to activate when leaving an area with street lights. It does take longer to switch to full beam than if I was doing it manually, but I'd have guessed it to be more like a 5 second delay - I'll time it next time I'm driving at night.

Overall, I love the auto/matrix lights. I've only been flashed once in 18 months.

 

[slamka33]

Yep, the timing of auto-activation is just too long.
On my Golf VII I have the highest lights (including rotation) and they are superfast.

Today I tested another scenario with Formentor and it works - switch on high beams manually, drive for 15s in the dark, switch them manually off and switch again into auto. It will work immediately, including full benefit of automatic matrix lights.
Looks like the "car logic" is to have light sensor for ca. 10s in full dark.

Mine takes really 10s as I would do manually.