Car went in for its first service today. General for Wings of Peterborough... (not perfect but hey, who is?).

However - since new my xenons flicker when I have back seat passengers. When I'm on my own they are fine and I love them. But with people in the back they kinda wobble up and down really quickly, and its really horrible. 1 more "whats up with your

I don't know a cure, but I do know many cars with xenons do this, the ammount of times a car following me has had this flicker, and hence caught my attention thinking I was being flashed, or it was a copper, is countless!

maybe you should re-align them when you have passengers (i.e.angle them down a bit) 'cause they are always on bright arn't they? full beam "angles them up" ect... could be worth a try....

Don't they self level? therefore there wont be a manual levelling switch on the dash.

Do they flicker because they are at the limit of thier adjustment angle when the car is fully loaded?

And isnt the full beam a conventional halogen or are they bi-xenon like the passat? or are they the same setup as the Octavia Xenons??

All these questions and no decent answers yet

Mine do this whenever I go over bumps, regardless of passengers in the back. But they did only cost me 400quid :P

I understand all Xenon lights have to be self levelling in order to ensure that you don't blind driver in front. I guess the flickering is the lights constantly adjusting as you go over bumps. Probably worse with passengers as you are more loaded - choppier ride? Or maybe Xenon on limit of adjustment? Or maybe a bit of both?

As said they will travel up and down especially if the car is loaded as the motors try and keep them level. All you can do is ensure they are set up to the correct height.

I understand all Xenon lights have to be self levelling in order to ensure that you don't blind driver in front. I guess the flickering is the lights constantly adjusting as you go over bumps. Probably worse with passengers as you are more loaded - choppier ride? Or maybe Xenon on limit of adjustment? Or maybe a bit of both?

hhmmm possibly the best explanation so far... any more?

IIRC the self levelling is determined by a sensor mounted on the rear suspension. Using my rudimentary physics knowledge the rear suspension is likely to move more when there's a couple of hefty dudes in the rear seat.

Adjusting Xenons are still less annoying than the Xenons fitted to the Range Rover and Porsche Cayenne. They are mounted so high up they just blind everyone all the time. SUVs shouldn't be permitted to have Xenons IMO!

Adjusting Xenons are still less annoying than the Xenons fitted to the Range Rover and Porsche Cayenne. They are mounted so high up they just blind everyone all the time. SUVs shouldn't be permitted to have Xenons IMO!

Totally agree - I hate coming anywhere near a Range Rover at night

Steve

The xenons certainly are self levelling with no switch on the light switch panel to adjust the height like on the halogen Fabias.

I gather the self-levelling sensor is on the rear suspension. I suppose that it might be reaching its limit and causing the "flicker" (sounds reasonable).

Why doesn't it adjust while the handbrake is on or something? Adjusting over every pothole or undulation seems rediculous, as it will not be able to adjust at the speed the rear suspension changes. If it is doing this then it makes sense that they will flicker/wobble all over the place. But surely it shouldn't be doing this? Its quite horrible and I wouldn't have bought xenons if this is what they are like.

So its more likely a design fault than a problem with my car...? Has anyone else experienced this as the driver of a car with xenons?

I only notice flickering when going over potholes or bumps in the road. Any other time they are just like halogen...except brighter. There is no manual levelling switch. The only fault I can give to the xenons are that I sometimes get flashed at night because oncoming traffic think I have full beam on:mad:

It doesnt help that the light is sent out through projector lenses giving the beam a sharp cut off point, if another driver is seeing the lights near the cut off they will give out the flickering effect that everyone hates,

Personally I find cars with xenons that dont use projectors easier on the eye (some Renault Laguna's, Older E-classes etc) but they probably aren't as efficient.

The levelling with the handbrake wouldnt work too well when it comes to compensating for heavy acceleration and such like therefore it needs to be as dynamic as possible.

Some systems already adjust the beam length depending on road speed so maybe future systems will be able to predict the angle adjustment for acceleration via the engine management.

Mine appear to get adjusted down again when the car goes in for a service. I then have to spend my personal time getting it adjusted back properly.

Flickering hasn't been too bad, but it does kinda suck how it adjusts that vigerously :(

Blimey, I'm glad I didn't get one with Xenons now :eek:

Came close to buying one when I was looking around, but it had already been sold. I was expecting the system to be a bit more polished than it sounds, especially for the cost of them - probably the same feeling as those who have them fitted :thumbdwn:

Steve

I do love the xenons, and maintain they are worth every penny. When I'm on my own, or with passengers they don't flicker AT ALL. Its only when I'm heavily laden they look bad, making me think something to do with reaching the limit of travel or something? Hopefully something that can be fixed though...

You don't really expect something factory fitted to stop working properly when you have some passengers though!

Fingers crossed you get it sorted at the dealer, or I'd be onto Skoda UK myself.

Steve

What really got to me is not the lights themselves, but the rubbish adjustment they get given as standard (ie FAR too low) - this totally and utterly defeats having them as the light is than frankly sub standard (worse than my Rover 100, admittedly with uprated bulbs in that, but still :eek: )

When adjusted properly they are awesome. When making progress they are excellent too as people do tend to shift out of your way a little more promptly