Smart Light Assist - Experiences?

[YTT]

Having taken delivery of my MKIII Superb at the weekend, yesterday and today I got to try the Smart Light Assist, coming home in the dark. I had High Beam Assist on my previous Audi which was very straightforward. The headlights very obviously dipped when a car approached in the opposite direction or I approached another car from behind. However, the Superb Smart Light Assist does all sorts of things with the lights! I've read the manual, watched the videos etc, so I basically know what to expect, but when you're actually driving with it, it's much more difficult to determine whether it's working and not blinding someone. Sometimes you see the lights dip, other times you can see the offside 'shutter' off in to darkness, other times you can't really tell whether it's done anything at all. This isn't a great criticism, by definition if it's doing something then you are going to have multiple light sources all over the place (approaching car etc), which make it difficult to tell what your own beam is doing. To be fair, I've yet to be flashed by an oncoming car. I'm actually thinking of going out on some quiet roads at midnight with the missus in her car and me in the Superb and try some opposing passes, rear approaches (!) etc, just to reassure myself that it's all good.

 

Which leads me to the point of the post. What are other members experiences with SLA? Any thoughts on how to 'test' it?

[Sagalout]

First question is do you have the dynamic light system? The one that has the additional LED whiskers in the front lights and has the dynamic lighting option in the infotainment menu?).

Or are you asking about standard high beam assist which simply dips/raises the headlamps. I had the standard AFS system on my first S3 and that was very good.

If you are talking about the dynamic system then I can say that I think it is much better than standard. Try looking along the near side when approaching traffic or behind another car and you will see the edge of the road illuminated as if on high beam. When following behind a car you can often see the 'box' around the rear of the vehicle which has been blanked.

As long as you have the white (or is it green I cant remember off hand) symbol in the dash display and NOT the blue full beam symbol then I would say just let it do its thing.  I have been using it for the last 6 months and never had anyone flash me.

The only thing I dont like is that sometimes on slower rural roads where I would normally flick onto high beam the system speed parameter doesn't do so automatically. Easy enough to override into manual but is a bit of nuisance  (first world problems)  

However, it is really worthwhile closely reading that light section and the DCC section in the manual to make sure you have checked out how things like which drive mode, rain mode and fog mode can limit the operation of both the standard and dynamic systems. For example there is an option in the 'individual' mode to set the dynamic cornering lights (which I think is set by default when in sport mode but not in others )

 

Edited 15 November, 2017 by Sagalout

[JackySi]

I have to say it was worth investment for me. It makes driving outside town is a little safer. As mentioned above Smart Light Assists (that's how its called in Slovenia) always makes sure that you can have high beam all the time on. It does some times turn off without good reason (like car coming ahead and it could just dim the light against them but instead it turns high beam off completely) but other than that, it usually works great and I like it. 

However, I do not understand above post with "green symbol"? When my smart lights work it always starts blue symbol. So when high beam is working and its adapting to cars ahead it still shows blue symbol. After it turns off there is light and inside A which says "Auto High Beams". I have Model Year 2018 maybe that's the case?

 

P.S.: If you are not driving a lot in Night Time, I would say this feature is an overkill. Because honestly its almost useless on High Ways (here in Slovenia we have very high fence on the middle of high way which makes Smart Light Assist horrible cause it tries to use High Beams all the time and it really bothers people coming on other side of High Way on outside town its useful, but if you use it all the time. If you drive once in a month it can't justify 450€ cost (as it costs here).

Edited 15 November, 2017 by JackySi

[YTT]

I've been messing around with the lighting, trying to find something that suits me. Smart Light Assist is very impressive when you first use it, but I've got less comfortable with it as time's gone on.

 

There's a few things that bother me. It's quite slow to react and there have been several occasions when I can clearly see that it hasn't 'shuttered' down low enough when a car passes on the other side of the road. This tends to be when I'm going round a corner, so the system doesn't get much notice of another car approaching. Also, when you're going round a right-hand bend, if a car passes and the right side of the beam shutters down, once the other car's gone you're left with a big black blank for a few seconds, right in your direction of travel! Finally, I've also had a few occasions approaching another car from behind, when the box-like shutter that comes down in the beam doesn't quite go low enough and again I can see that beam is shining right through the rear window!

 

I'm actually quite happy to just have Light Assist, which just drops the high beam when another car is around. Trouble is, there's no simple switch that turns it from Smart Light Assist to Light Assist only. However, looking at the manual it seems there are two ways to cajole it into Light Assist. One is to switch to Eco mode, which actually works well because I'm happy to drive in a bit more laid back fashion on dark roads! The other is to switch the light settings to right hand mode. This not only switches over to Light Assist, it also flattens and slightly lowers the beam. I like this because Xenon lights always seem to be a bit high and the Superb is no exception. However, the car is a bit too clever, because next time I drive it, the satnav decides I'm in the UK and switches it back to left hand mode. Dooh!

 

So I have two sort-of solutions, although I'd much rather just have a menu item that allows me to switch to Light Assist only.

[JackySi]

I have to say that in turns where car doesn't see I manually turn off high beam. In manual it states that Smart Light Assist is just "assist" its not meant to be as smart as you :-). 

 

Its matter of preference I guess sometimes a simple option to toggle between smart and normal is missing in these cars :-)

[Auswede]

I tried keep it on all the time but too many people were flashing me. Hard to say if they were actually blinded or if they were just confused by everything else light up around them.

Agree with the above poster that the lights dip too late for oncoming traffic as I could often see my lights above their roof instead of below their windscreen.

 

[rafmike]

Two years and into the third winter and I’ve never been flashed and I’ m fascinated by the way it works.

[BriskodaJeff]

Anyone tried to retrofit SLA? Got a great deal on a 190 L+K ex-demo but of course the dealers don't spec SLA or TSR because they can't demonstrate them.  So i guess I'd need to change the camera and the lights at least. Anyone tried this?

[rtj70]

If the car has the necessary camera that is used by lane assist or TSR or high beam assist/SLA then you could at least get high beam assist with reprogramming. I doubt you could get SLA without new light units because it is different to high light beam assist - it masked parts of the beam.

 

You probably have the camera on an L&K. Shame they did not add SLA - it's only £100 for your car when built. Maybe it does have it? Easy to tell when you turn the lights on - the 'eye lashes' in the light unit illuminate if you have SLA.

[Baverhanne]

I've switched mine off too. But I did see that there are three different settings for SLA, early, normal, late or something similar. Maybe this has something to do with the differences people are experiencing?

[philsmith]

Quote

Anyone tried to retrofit SLA?

I ordered it on mine but when the car came it had not been fitted, an error at the factory, my dealership looked into retro fitting the system but it was not possible, the system is built in when the car is assembled.

I got compensation for my loss.

 

But, the ordinary self dipping system seems to work fine anyway, the beam adjusting for different roads etc and turning cornering lights, just have not got the led 'whiskers' as far as I can see.

Edited 21 December, 2017 by philsmith

[BriskodaJeff]

Thanks for confirming Phil - this was my understanding also. Sorry to hear they messed up your order.

 

Re self-dipping - do you have the Traffic Sign Recognition fitted? AIUI this is what gives you the upgraded camera that allows the self-dipping of the headlights (I think they call it High Beam Assist). And did you need to get it coded with VCDS?

[philsmith]

I ordered the car with just about every option available, so yes, it has Traffic Sign Recognition, as you can imagine it was annoying when it arrived with one of the options missing!

[wooyay]

1 hour ago, BriskodaJeff said:

Re self-dipping - do you have the Traffic Sign Recognition fitted? AIUI this is what gives you the upgraded camera that allows the self-dipping of the headlights (I think they call it High Beam Assist). And did you need to get it coded with VCDS?

 

There is only the one forward camera which is fitted as standard on the L&K (it's needed for lane assist which is standard on the L&K, possibly some others).  It's fairly trivial to enable TSR using VCDS - I did that on mine.  Likewise HBA, if not standard, can also be coded with VCDS.

[BriskodaJeff]

Thanks Wooyay - this is brilliant news for me. SLA was always a "wish-list" item rather than a must-have. I was just frustrated that Skoda UK (my car-to-be is an ex-demo from them) would be so short-sighted not to spec a £100 option that can't be retrofitted. But if I can get TSR and HBA for the cost of a few beer vouchers from a local VCDS-owner then I will be more than happy.

[wooyay]

Someone else might be able to confirm but I think HBA is standard on the L&K so you'd only need to enable TSR. I specified mine with SLA which replaces HBA so I can't check for certain but it doesn't seem to show as a valid option in the brochure for L&K trims (at least not in my MY17 brochure).

[TerryMcK]

HBA wasn't standard on my July 2017 built MY2017 L&K. However I enabled it using OBDEleven and it works great. Also enabled TSR too.

Edited 21 December, 2017 by TerryMcK

[YTT]

TSR is great. Picks up the variable speed limits on motorways. The missus was very impressed! As for SLA, personally I prefer HBA. It's simple, another car, coming at you or in front (from the rear), lights dip. With SLA, there's blanked off areas going all over the place and in some situations, they block the light in your direction of travel.

[rtj70]

13 minutes ago, YTT said:

TSR is great. Picks up the variable speed limits on motorways

 

It can also get confused and pickup speed limits for side roads or even roads that pass over/under. But it's a good aid. Just don't rely on it.

[YTT]

6 minutes ago, rtj70 said:

 

It can also get confused and pickup speed limits for side roads or even roads that pass over/under. But it's a good aid. Just don't rely on it.

 

I haven't had that, but I can believe it. It's like all these things, Skoda (and probably everybody else) are careful to call them 'aids', because they are far from foolproof. I wouldn't want to be in a driverless car that relies on them....

[GeorgeB]

On 30/11/2017 at 14:57, Auswede said:

I tried keep it on all the time but too many people were flashing me. Hard to say if they were actually blinded or if they were just confused by everything else light up around them.

Agree with the above poster that the lights dip too late for oncoming traffic as I could often see my lights above their roof instead of below their windscreen.

 

 

YTT & Auswede,

 

If the main (high) beam seems slow to dip when a car is oncoming, you can adjust the reaction speed of the SLA, press the "car" button on the main screen (its on the right hand side of the multifunction screen) select "Set Up", Select Lights, select "Switch on time" then you're presented with 3 options, yours is probably set to late or medium, select "early" & then as soon as your car detects an oncoming vehicle it will dip almost immediately, Job done!

 

However, be aware that if you're going round a bend (right handed bend for right hand drive & left hand for left hand drive cars, then until the forward facing camera picks up the lights of the oncoming car, it won't automatically dip the headlights. Also if the main beam is on & they light up a large reflective road sign, then the camera will detect the reflected light from the sign & the onboard computer thinks that it's an oncoming car & will dip the headlights!

[ionelmc]

They might as well name the "switch on time" option something like "how you want to appear to other drivers?" - with choices "obtuse", "retarded" and "senile".

 

And people asking `how do I retrofit SLA?` might as well ask `what's the best way to hammer a nail into my forehead?`.

[YTT]

I've tried the different settings for switch on time and it didn't really help. Having used it for a while now, I don't like SLA and wish I'd never specified it. And you cannot just switch to HBA only, which IMHO is much better overall. I've got a growing list of things that I'm hoping can be re-programmed and the ability to have HBA only is one of them, however that might be achieved.

[ionelmc]

Isn't HBA technically based on same tech as SLA (incoming traffic detection via the TSR video camera)?

[YTT]

It appears the tech behind the two is the same - http://www.skoda-auto.com/en/models/new-superb/safety/. Although I've been getting my terms mixed up. By HBA I mean High Beam Assist, which is what it was called in my old Audi. On the web page quoted it's Auto Light Assist. In the manual it's Light Assist.

 

The idealised animation on the web page looks great, but I find in reality I get a bit of a light show and I'm not convinced the beam is always blocked to oncoming traffic. Problem is, it fundamentally stays on high beam, so if the the oncoming traffic gets sight of it, it's blinding. On winding, up-down roads I know there are times when cars get my full beam in their face. And the beam shaping is all a bit slow. Worst thing for me is passing a car just before a right hand bend. The beam on the right hand side is shuttered down, car passes, you're starting to turn to the right - and it's pitch black for a few seconds as the shutter lifts! If you look at the animation on the above web page, it's for driving on the right, so this issue would be for a left hand bend. Imagine the road in the diagram bends left just after the two cars pass. See the big un-illuminated area that you would be turning into? In reality, the beam doesn't restore as quickly as that animation suggests, so the area to the left is dark for longer than implied.

 

With Light Assist it's simple. Car coming the other way, switch to low beam. Car passes, high beam back on again. And it's quick. Basically what you would do manually.