Silly question, does anyone else's auto headlamps seem to come on when you think they should'nt? 

 

Reason I ask is on Wednesday night, still fairly light outside, sun still shining in places, I came out of the shop, started the car and the headlamps stayed on all the way home... Just seemed a bit too light to me for the sensor to put the lights on.. 

 

Stu

Yes, quite often, but I prefer them to come on too often rather than not often enough. You may be able to adjust the sensitivity of the light sensor using VCDS - not 100% sure. Happy to leave mine as they are.

This is the price you pay for giving decision power to technology. Sometimes the car puts lights on when it is more shadows than sun in the evening, but I have no problem with that, as usually in the evenings, when sun is closer to horizon, its not so bad to be more visible.  

With VCDS you can make them activate EARLIER, not later. 3 options, 20% 40% or 60% earlier.

 

It is indeed a trade-off between usability and safety. I found it a tad annoying too in the beginning, now I don't think twice about it.

Having a black car as I do, I am happier if they are on sooner than later! Having said that, my previous car, a Mondeo, sometimes put them on when the sun was shining directly on the car.

I'm sure I read the technology works by comparing light in the rear view mirror with light levels ahead, or something similar, so that if you end up in that situation when the low sun is streaming through the back of the car but its not especially sunny on the road in front then the system can be fooled into thinking its got dark. I've had it a few times in these sorts of conditions and the lights have come on, only to go off again a few miles up the road when light levels even out or something else changes.

 

Its the lack of auto switching in fog that frustrates me - I'm sure thats part of why I see so many cars driving in pea soup conditions with no lights on. Owners think the auto lights do everything and they dont need to think for themselves any more!

You'll also find out they come on if you exceed a certain speed for a period of time, if I remember it's about 90mph.

As per everyone else, generally they work ok, with the odd time that you have to flick them either off or on.

The speed at which the lights come on is 82MPH or 130KMH since the car ECU works internally in KMS.

 

When I had my 2008 Superb I would often see them come on in bright daylight, especially if the front was in shade.

Exactly the same here but would echo everyone else the more visability you have on the roads these days the better.

 

I guess they can always be switched to manual if it really anoys.

Thanks for all the replies, at least I know it was normal ...

Also if you have the adaptive xenons selecting 'Tourist mode' from Maxidot lights menu adjusts the headlights to produce a flat dipped beam so you don't dazzle oncoming drivers on the continent. This mode disables the adaptive headlight functions, as does using the lights in 'on' rather than 'auto' mode AFAIK.

I just leave them on dipped usually and switch to auto to get benefit of adaptive at night. As others have said the more visible the better and you won't have to worry about not having rear lights on. Agree with Bigpikle about the fogs!

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