Active high beam headlights

All Volvo XC40 related discussions
EdK
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Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2019 5:09 pm
Location: Hertfordshire UK

Post by EdK »

I’m due to collect my new XC40 at the end of next week. :D Fingers crossed all goes to plan.

I’d be interested to hear about people’s experiences with the active high beam headlights, which are supposed to drop to dipped mode when facing or catching up with another car. Volvo’s animation makes it look really sophisticated, placing the oncoming vehicle in shadow while maintaining high beam around it. How well does this work in practice? I live in a rural location with few street lights and so this feature is of particular interest. I know it isn’t new to Volvo but my current car doesn’t have it.
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kirsty_s2k
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Location: North West, England

Post by kirsty_s2k »

I think the lights are definitely superior to the Focus (high spec) I had last. I found the switch on/off with the same twist motion a bit random - although it could be I didn't use them that much when I got the car as it was heading into summer. Happy with it now, but it confuses my OH each time he drives it in the dark :)
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balmoral
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Location: Northumberland UK

Post by balmoral »

I find that it works very well - I was very impressed. It seems to be much more effective and reliable than in any of the other cars I have driven with the same functionality.
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Silver Moose
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Post by Silver Moose »

Can't speak from experience yet (collect mine this weekend) but, from what I've read on this forum, you should ignore the Volvo animation as Adaptive Shadow Technology is notably absent from the XC40. The most you can get is auto high/low beam & Active Bending.

It was one of the major disappointments for me when cancelling my Tiguan order & switching to the XC40. It may, however, be a blessing in disguise as, those mechanical shuttering style of LEDs can be hellishly expensive to replace. The way forward is matrix/multi beam type solutions.
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Sventek
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Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2018 1:11 pm

Post by Sventek »

As Silver Moose has said, the lights do not adapt to the vehicle in front at all (at least in Australia). They do improve the night driving experience, though - although I'm not that impressed with the overall high beam power. Auto high beam makes some surprising decisions sometimes, but it's very good in general.
stu22
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Joined: Mon Mar 04, 2019 12:36 pm
Location: Colchester

Post by stu22 »

I a similar system on my last car (Mercedes Benz ILS, they called it) , by far the best option I’d specified on a car! You could see the beam shape adapting all the time and ‘moulding’ around the car in front, almost to the degree that it was supplementing their headlights too.
My understanding is that the Volvo system isn’t quite as advanced and simply bends the beam for cornering etc. I would have specified it on our recent order if it were similar to the Merc system.
EdK
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Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2019 5:09 pm
Location: Hertfordshire UK

Post by EdK »

Thanks, everyone. Yes, I had imagined what I now know is called adaptive shadow technology was installed but I see that isn't right and it's really just automatic dipping. Well, I'll be able to experience it for myself soon because the dealer was in touch yesterday suggesting that I might be able to collect the car by the end of this week. :)
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morrishey
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Location: Hampshire, UK

Post by morrishey »

I almost never use the auto-dip, either on the XC40 or my previous A-Class. It only sees oncoming traffic once their lights are in view and obviously by that stage you've already shone your full beams into the other driver's face. Controlled manually, I can see the other car's lights illuminating the bend from the opposite direction, so can dip the lights before I dazzle the other driver. It's not something I'd bother choosing from an option list if it hadn't been included already.

Possibly a better experience with full adaptive shadow lights, but I've never driven anything with those fitted.and like others have said, it's not what we get with XC40.
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TrevG
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Joined: Sun Sep 30, 2018 1:50 pm
Location: Sunderland

Post by TrevG »

Hi do you find you have to turn on the auto dip function every time you start the car is there a way to set this option on permanently
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Boxybutgood
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Location: Scotland

Post by Boxybutgood »

morrishey wrote: Wed Mar 27, 2019 4:17 pm I almost never use the auto-dip, either on the XC40 or my previous A-Class. It only sees oncoming traffic once their lights are in view and obviously by that stage you've already shone your full beams into the other driver's face. Controlled manually, I can see the other car's lights illuminating the bend from the opposite direction, so can dip the lights before I dazzle the other driver. It's not something I'd bother choosing from an option list if it hadn't been included already.

Possibly a better experience with full adaptive shadow lights, but I've never driven anything with those fitted.and like others have said, it's not what we get with XC40.
Totally agree. Like most if not all tech on cars it can only react, not anticipate. Autonomous Emergency Braking for example is great if you're not paying attention, but it won't react to the child running towards the edge of the road until they are actually on the road in front of you.
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