Does everyone who has the moveable xenon's on their cars have the movement mine do when you hit sudden bumps? For example a driveway lip at slow speed makes mine kind of bounce and on the open road on particularly rough parts they also shake and you can see the beams bounce a bit? It is kind of annoying but if it is a by product of the fact they can move to go round corners etc then I guess its just the way it is.

+1 here. However, It only appears to be affecting the drivers side light and is a lot worse when in sport mode and the lights are more sensitive to changes in direction. I've checked the bulbs are secure , but will probably get this looked at in the fullness of time.

Not sure if this vibration is caused by the bumps in the road moving the front wheels and therefore inducing an input to the lights or if the self levelling sensor (fitted to rear suspension travel?) is producing this phenomenon.

No problems with mine, my lights are always in Sport mode.

Is this not just the lights self levelling? They so it constantly, or at least that's how I understand them to work.

There were a few complaints on the MkII with 'xenon shake' over particularly bad road surfaces. It wasn't a fault as such more the design that allowed the vibrations from the bumpy road surface to reach the headlights. The cleaner more defined edges of the xenon light output (compared with halogen) meant it was more noticeable too from the drivers seat.

 

I wonder if the automatic adjustment on the MkIII xenon's is simply faster which is creating the impression that they are shaking when in fact they are simply able to compensate/adjust much quicker than previous models?

Its pretty common on Xenon lights, in fact all of them do this to some degree but probably varies by make and model.

They by law have to be able to automatically self level in order to prevent dazzling of oncoming traffic, all you notice is the split second delay of the car hitting a bump and the car subsequently re-levelling the lamps to prevent the dazzling.

No its not the self levelling. Just hit your driveway curb and watch the light pattern or drive on a cobblestone road or on the motorway cats eyes lane markers. As silver 1011 says, its the vibration from the bump or rough surface transmitting to the lights as though the light mounts are loose or not damped enough because they can move. On a flat level dirt road at night its very noticeable and there wouldn't be any self levelling going on there. 

Real test is when the lights are on main beam and the whole thing shakes all over as there is no cut-off to watch but the whole visible sphere of light shakes. My Legacy GT had xenons and didn't do this at all anywhere so either the bumpers weight being subjected to sudden sharp bumps is able to influence the headlights on the Octavia or the bulb housings are so loose that vibrations get to them. Its very annoying on long drives out where there are no street lights and your field of view keeps being jarred!

Edited 30 May, 201412 yr by snala

I would imagine its movement inside the headlight positioning mechanism as the light units themselves are firmly attached the front slam panel. I'm guessing by the very nature of a light that adjusts up and down and side to side some play is possible, imagine what it will get like as the little bushes and pivots start to wear :-S

I know my wife's mx5 pop up headlights shake a little due to flex in the mounts. I'd imagine its more irritating to other drivers than her though

Mine shake a little over bumps, but so did the Xenons on my 3-Series beforehand so I think it is just normal normal play for motorised headlights. 

Okay ta. So its not just mine then. My brother in law has a Suzuki Swift Sport and they come with Xenons as standard too with the main beam setting as a moveable lens optic but no adaptive function. I'll see if his do it too as it could even be the moveable lens optic for main beam part possibly but I'd guess more likely to be the float available for the adaptive part on ours which kind of makes sense.

Just hope that the movement doesn't lead to shorter bulb life as I'd say these things are a few more $$ than your average H7.

 

They are good though but on main beam I think they don't quite reach as far as a dedicated dual beam set up like the gen II Octavia had.

Yep - mine does this too. Just noticed this after driving tonight on bumpy roads.

It's definitely the bumps.

The question is, is this a fault?

The Xenon beam is much more focused than halogen which is fuzzy and fades noticeably around the edges. As such, shaking will be much more noticeable (completely normal).

Not noticed any shake on mine.