Smart Light Assist - Experiences?

[Sagalout]

I agree with you about the time it takes for full, full beam to reappear but I haven't found any issues with the blanking. It works as quickly as standard auto high/low beam. (My first S3 had the light assist, the second has dynamic light assist)

It is more difficult to see the which parts are blanked when a car is coming towards you but I am sure that the system is quick and pretty much as good as either the light assist or completely manual high/low switching in terms of not blinding oncoming traffic.

I live and drive in the West Country with plenty of winding and hilly roads and have never been flashed by oncoming traffic or thought I might be blinding them. I do get a little concerned when following traffic and the left hand verge is lit up to and beyond the side of the vehicle in front but I can clearly see the central area blanked off so that I am not in the rear view or side mirrors of that vehicle. It must be a bit strange for them though to see the edge lit up (that is if they work out what is going on!).

All I have to do is stop myself becoming mesmerised by the ever changing light patterns .

Ironically I have been flashed when out of dynamic lighting on low beam; go figure that one. Probably as the lights are so good and the car coming the other way hasn't seen any reduction and so thinks I haven't dipped.    

And finally, there are now plenty of cars on the road with these systems. If they were problematic I would expect to have been 'blinded' more than once in the past year or two. I cannot recall one example where I thought it could have been dynamic lighting. Those I remember are older cars with faulty lights; usually just one working on full beam all the time. 

[YTT]

I totally accept what you say. In all likelihood, it probably works fine most of the time. But it puts enough doubt in my mind to steer away from it. And the darkness around right hand bends as described is a very real problem that I've had many times. But here's the rub. Do I actually see any better with SLA? No, not that I've noticed. In fact, the mesmerising light patterns (good description) and concern as to whether I'm blinding the oncoming traffic are actually a bit distracting. One thing I've really wanted to do since I got the car is to go out with the missus on a dark road (!), me in her car and her in the Superb and do a few SLA passes. Just so I can experience what it's like to be on the receiving end of it. That might change my mind.

[IanJD]

On 12/23/2017 at 23:08, GeorgeB said:

 

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!

Are you sure that's what the "switch on time" option does? I though it set how dark it got before the auto headlights switched on -- early meaning when it's lighter, late meaning when it's darker?

[GeorgeB]

2 hours ago, IanJD said:

Are you sure that's what the "switch on time" option does? I though it set how dark it got before the auto headlights switched on -- early meaning when it's lighter, late meaning when it's darker?

 

Absolutely sure! see page 83 of the owners manual (the infotainment one NOT the main owners manual) & it clearly states that switch on time is how quickly or slowly the automatic dip reacts! Early = fastest reaction time, Late = slowest reaction time & Medium = somewhere between the 2?

 

And strangely, the info on how the dynamic headlight control works is described in the main owners manual on pages 69/70 & 72/73

[Auswede]

Mine is set to early and people are still flashing me.

I think it's partly that I'm driving in snow covered forests and people don't expect all the trees to be lit up around them. They may not actually be getting dazzled but they think they are.

[Bud]

I do not appear to have any problems with.  I mine always flick the stalk forwards to put into Auto mode.  Travelling through a forest road yesterday evening and they were so good that i would say the lights were providing a benefit for the car in front.

 

Only ever had one flash and that was when I newly had the car and had selected full beam rather than auto, I hadn't recognised the light symbol as not having an "A" and just saw the blue full beam indicator.  

 

I would be interested to hear the outcome of any experiment that someone might undertake but you would needs comms between the cars and you should ask the other driver what they see not what you tell.  Settings should also include fixed full beam, opposing, early/late switch on, following , lh and rh bends as well as differing levels of ambient light and speeds.  Even after that the results are likely to be subjective as there are massive number of variables that can be altered. 

 

I am very happy with the system and unless people regularly and persistently flash, as the only indicator I have that someone objects, I will continue to use them.  

 

To me it should be just party of the auto lights system, i.e. lights are on and they are always optimising for best illumination. 

 

I mean who has a  manual choke nowadays?

 

[cs.rogers]

I have HBA and its good enough. I'm going to enable TSR with OBDEleven. Sounds like SLA can be a bit of a hindrance, however, is it possible to enable the lashes in the lights? The are a nice aesthetic touch.

[JR RS]

22 minutes ago, cs.rogers said:

I have HBA and its good enough. I'm going to enable TSR with OBDEleven. Sounds like SLA can be a bit of a hindrance, however, is it possible to enable the lashes in the lights? The are a nice aesthetic touch.

 

Sadly, only SLA capable headlights have eyelashes. 

The SLA headlights are a different set of headlights altogether.

 

If u've got the "B" version (ur headlight part number ends in B), then u have SLA.

 

There is coding available to enable the eyelashes with/as the DRLs.

[JackySi]

I love the looks of eyelashes very much. But that's just something I rarely look at. SLA it self is useful and sometimes not. It really does do stuff normal headlight can't, but I would really like to see improved coding because sometimes they work really stupidly. Also I don't understand why they work at 45km/h+ in Slovenia. I mean when you drive in forest with gravel or simply bad road, you drive slower and SLA doesn't rise the headlights. It wouldn't be so annoying if they simply added different button for SLA.

 

I'd still opted for the option always anyway. 

[cs.rogers]

18 hours ago, JR RS said:

 

Sadly, only SLA capable headlights have eyelashes. 

The SLA headlights are a different set of headlights altogether.

 

If u've got the "B" version (ur headlight part number ends in B), then u have SLA.

 

There is coding available to enable the eyelashes with/as the DRLs.

I have the A lights. Such a pity. 

[Paikesejanku]

You can always switch headlights to manual and trun on high beam at any speed. 

Edited 9 November, 2018 by Paikesejanku

[miloshst]

Hello,

 

I would like to share mine experience with SLA. I have full spec. Superb with also Smart Light Assist, which in my case works really good in twisty roads where oncoming car in not so long in "light tunnel". BUT, when I'm driving at straights with normal speeds (60-90km/h), SLA works OK, BUT in few seconds raises that tunnel light to about headlight of oncoming car or just little above it and I can clearly see it bothers oncoming driver, especially when its a little bumpy road. In my opinion, they should set up that dipped beam to be just below headlight of oncoming car, not above or on that height. Also happens when I'm behind someone who has high positioned tail light. If they could update only that, system would be working all the time without my interventions at all. 

[YTT]

I made a few (negative) posts last year about SLA. Now the clocks have changed and I'm driving in the dark a lot more, I thought I'd give it another go. Within the first 5 minutes of SLA high beam I got flashed by 3 oncoming cars. So back to putting it into Eco mode at night, which just dips the beam when an oncoming car is detected.

[FelisBengalensis]

I found the same on my 2015 L & K and stopped using it.  It was too slow to react either way.

 

I now have matrix LED on my 2-series and have never been flashed.  It stays on auto all the time however as noted above, I find it a little too mesmerising watching the lights in action with the pattern being steered and dipped/raised as traffic conditions dictate.  The downside of LED lighting is that if they ever get broken, each headlight unit (non-repairable) costs more than £2k!  The matrix LED emitters are over £400 each so it’s a good thing they are supposed the last the life of the car.

 

Are Škoda ever going to add LED to the S3?

Edited 11 November, 2018 by FelisBengalensis

[rtj70]

When I have used the SLA it has worked okay and not got flashes. But I don't drive in the dark so much on faster roads so it's not used much.

 

I wanted the pack that includes SLA (SLA not a deal breaker) but it was only £100 extra I think for my SEL Executive compared to going for the other options without SLA.

[shootek]

I have the SLA and use it daily. My commute is a mix of country road and motorway. I never had anyone flash me, so for me it is a great sistem.

[kriva]

20 hours ago, FelisBengalensis said:

Are Škoda ever going to add LED to the S3?

 

Most likely with the Facelift, rumoured to come next year. (MY2020)

Whether it’ll be Matrix LED or a simpler LED system is anyone’s guess, though.

[JackySi]

3 hours ago, kriva said:

 

Most likely with the Facelift, rumoured to come next year. (MY2020)

Whether it’ll be Matrix LED or a simpler LED system is anyone’s guess, though.

Since they're delaying LED change on Superb (which is supposed to be their "top quality" car) by my logic it will most certainly be Matrix. Also the Headlights controller in Superb already is from Audi A6 with LED module (I noticed headlight fans adaptations and stuff like that - I have SLA). If they would not go for Matrix, I would be very dissapointed at the companies choices. Compared to Octavia/Karoq/Kodiak which don't have SLA.

[GrantRWilson]

My 2014 Octavia 2.0 Diesel DSG Elegance has Smart Light Assist. It worked perfectly for 5 years then failed. Unit was replaced under Warranty Direct. However it failed again and was replaced by Skoda under parts warranty (2 years). After a few months it failed again. Skoda Technical Services cannot diagnose the fault.

Skoda will not replace the unit again even though it is under 2yr warranty.

Has any one out there experienced similar problems?

[JR RS]

11 hours ago, GrantRWilson said:

My 2014 Octavia 2.0 Diesel DSG Elegance has Smart Light Assist.

 

The Octavia does not, never had, Smart Light Assist.

It's only featured on the mk3 Superb.

 

U referring to Light Assist possibly.

[GrantRWilson]

5 hours ago, JR RS said:

 

The Octavia does not, never had, Smart Light Assist.

It's only featured on the mk3 Superb.

 

U referring to Light Assist possibly.

Thanks, yes it is Light Assist. Worked fine from new for 5yrs then failed. Dealer has fitted 4 replacements, all have failed within months of each other.