Hi All,

 

Has anyone on here got issues with the matrix lights dazzling oncoming drivers? My car had this issue and went into the dealer about it. They identified the system as being setup for a left hand drive car, and told me they had rectified the issue. I really had to take their word for it, as I’d rarely used the car at night during the summer months.

 

Now the clocks have gone back, and it getting dark earlier I had the chance to try them in full auto mode. On the first country lane I got to where the matrix lights activated I had about 4 oncoming drivers flashing me within a few minutes. My wife also asked why other cars were constantly flashing me. At that point I turned them off.

 

I know there were posts on the forum a while ago about the issue, so wasn’t sure if the issues had been resolved, or people had given up and stopped using them.

 

I’m not sure I can cope with another round of visits to my local Skoda dealer… 

 

 

You should be able to see them working according to this user review.

 

His appear to work perfectly

 

 

Is the  area of screen where the camera is clear?

 

Have you tried adjusting the settings mentioned?

 

 

 

 

That’s a good video, many thanks. My lights work exactly like the video shows. You can see it activating when I come out of a 30mph lit town area onto the unlit country roads around where I live. I can also see it actively dimming sections of road for oncoming traffic, and any cars that I’m following. It is really clever to watch how the dimming tracks the cars as they approach.

 

The problem I have is that when I last used them there was just too many oncoming drivers flashing me. When I deactivated them there was no issue with oncoming traffic.

 

I’ll try them again later this week and download the video footage from my dashcam. But I’m also not entirely comfortable using them again if the car really is dazzling other drivers. 

It is possible that they just see the bright lights and don't realise that they are not actually being blinded by them?

 

 

I did wonder that as I know LED lights are much brighter, so it could be assumed I’m driving around with a standard full beam on. The concern for me was the number of oncoming drivers in quick succession flashing me.

When looking how they work, do you see that incoming car is exactly in the middle of dimmed area?

Asking, cause matrix headlights require proper calibration. Usually factory calibration is good, but it might be that someone has meddled with lights adjustment or you were unlucky to get car with wrongly calibrated from factory.

I'm using matrix headlights quite often and was maybe once or twice flashed during last ~1,5 years.

12 hours ago, Stonekeeper said:

It is possible that they just see the bright lights and don't realise that they are not actually being blinded by them?

 

 

Unlikely:

17 minutes ago, Felix2021 said:

I'm using matrix headlights quite often and was maybe once or twice flashed during last ~1,5 years.

 

13 hours ago, JamesK said:

I had about 4 oncoming drivers flashing me within a few minutes.

 

Of course they are not being blinded by them, but if they are so dazzling that they have to shade their eyes or look away then it puts them in danger and when they can look forward again their nigh vision is pretty hopeless for a long time after.

Edited 7 November, 20232 yr by J.R.

1 hour ago, Felix2021 said:

When looking how they work, do you see that incoming car is exactly in the middle of dimmed area?

Asking, cause matrix headlights require proper calibration. Usually factory calibration is good, but it might be that someone has meddled with lights adjustment or you were unlucky to get car with wrongly calibrated from factory.

I'm using matrix headlights quite often and was maybe once or twice flashed during last ~1,5 years.

 

I would say the incoming car is in the middle of the dimmed area.

However your comment about calibration does give me cause for concern, as the dealer commented last year when the applied the software fix to the lights, they took it to the local MOT testing station to double check the lights. I'm not sure an MOT testing would be equipped to calibrate these lights.

No, MOT will not calibrate matrix headlights. They can do a simple adjustment of low beam.

Dealership should have special tools from VW to calibrate matrix. It doesn't sound good if they are taking car to the MOT to check.

Thing is, that MOT can adjust headlights physical position of the beam, however calibration is needed to allign camera with LED segments, so they match. Basically system has to disable segment, that is lighting exact spot where camera sees other car's lights.

And this is done both horizontally and vertically, as each horizontal segment consists of two (i think) vertical segments. So might be, that other car is in the middle, but lower segment is not disabled, as according to computer it doesn't have to be, where in fact it has to...

Hope you understand my twisted and strange explanation

1 minute ago, Felix2021 said:

Hope you understand my twisted and strange explanation

 

Yes, I completely understand. I've sent an e-mail to another dealer to ask them about the issue, and see if they can offer some guidance about how the calibration should be done.

This could also be a symptom of a windscreen being replaced and the camera not being properly calibrated at that time, it happens...

Does anyone know of a Skoda dealer, preferably one in the South East that can definitely carry out the Matrix light calibration?

 

Marshall Skoda in Letchworth are saying that is what needs to happen, but they don't have the equipment. They *think* their VW dealership has the equipment but are not sure whether it will accept a Skoda being attached to it. I've contacted Citygate, but their Watford, Slough and West London centres do not have the equipment either. They've suggested I contact Skoda UK - which I have done, but not heard anything back from them yet.

5 hours ago, JamesK said:

Does anyone know of a Skoda dealer, preferably one in the South East that can definitely carry out the Matrix light calibration?

 

Marshall Skoda in Letchworth are saying that is what needs to happen, but they don't have the equipment. They *think* their VW dealership has the equipment but are not sure whether it will accept a Skoda being attached to it. I've contacted Citygate, but their Watford, Slough and West London centres do not have the equipment either. They've suggested I contact Skoda UK - which I have done, but not heard anything back from them yet.

 

Don't worry about it, just switch them to auto, leave there. I've only had one idiot a BMW driver so nothing out of the normal there get irate about it, I just leave my lights on the Auto switch and occasionally use the Auto function on the stalk for when I'm on a long drive like on the A303, let the car sort it. 

 

AFAIC they're setup to the required specification at the factory, I'm most certainly not paying for a diagnostic or adjustment when it should've been done correctly and the system should calibrate itself on start up anyway with the little dance that it does.

On 08/12/2023 at 12:32, JamesK said:

Does anyone know of a Skoda dealer, preferably one in the South East that can definitely carry out the Matrix light calibration?

 

Marshall Skoda in Letchworth are saying that is what needs to happen, but they don't have the equipment. They *think* their VW dealership has the equipment but are not sure whether it will accept a Skoda being attached to it. I've contacted Citygate, but their Watford, Slough and West London centres do not have the equipment either. They've suggested I contact Skoda UK - which I have done, but not heard anything back from them yet.

VW don't have a Skoda license for their diagnostic system. Nor will they have half of the installation files present for Skoda so it's a no go

 

You could enquire with an independent such as ourselves and see if VW would be willing to play along. We have a license for all of the VWAG brands but we don't have the necessary calibration equipment 🥲

Edited 9 December, 20232 yr by East_Yorkshire_Retrofits

On 07/11/2023 at 07:56, JamesK said:

Hi All,

 

Has anyone on here got issues with the matrix lights dazzling oncoming drivers? My car had this issue and went into the dealer about it. They identified the system as being setup for a left hand drive car, and told me they had rectified the issue. I really had to take their word for it, as I’d rarely used the car at night during the summer months.

 

Now the clocks have gone back, and it getting dark earlier I had the chance to try them in full auto mode. On the first country lane I got to where the matrix lights activated I had about 4 oncoming drivers flashing me within a few minutes. My wife also asked why other cars were constantly flashing me. At that point I turned them off.

 

I know there were posts on the forum a while ago about the issue, so wasn’t sure if the issues had been resolved, or people had given up and stopped using them.

 

I’m not sure I can cope with another round of visits to my local Skoda dealer… 

 

 

Not sure if these instructions and info below (see images) from the owners manual are referring to the "matrix lights" as per se' as I don't see that particular wording, but it does seem to indicate that there are moments where you may need to manually turn the adaptive high beams off to keep other drivers from being dazzled, as per the conditions, ie barriers or dirty headlights or not functioning. Apologies if these don't refer to you. It does seem though that the presenter in the youtube presentation had no issues which is great,  though if he had them on at low speeds as well  did he have any issues 🤔 .  Anyway I myself haven't had an opportunity to try this function but am looking forward to trying it. 

On 08/12/2023 at 13:32, JamesK said:

They've suggested I contact Skoda UK - which I have done, but not heard anything back from them yet.

That's quite amazing, that such a basic thing as calibrating matrix headlights (yes, these days it's basic "repair") can be such a pain. It is required in many cases, i.e. headlight removed for any reason or windscreen replaced due to chip/crack. Every dealership should be obliged to have this equipment.

You can try some company that specializes in car windows. They might have the tools. In Poland for example i can see multiple companies claiming to provide such service (i.e. probably biggest one, NordGlass).

On 08/12/2023 at 19:24, TheWanderer said:

AFAIC they're setup to the required specification at the factory, I'm most certainly not paying for a diagnostic or adjustment when it should've been done correctly and the system should calibrate itself on start up anyway with the little dance that it does.

That's very, very wrong way of thinking.

Should it be calibrated at the factory? Of course, but it's not always done correctly. This of course should be fixed under warranty. But if for any reason it's not, you should either pay for calibration or stop using the system, as it might be dangerous for other drivers (and actually you too).

"Little dance" is not calibration, this system does not calibrate itself. It requires calibration with special tools, to allign camera and LED segments, and it needs to be done in case of some repairs/actions (see examples above).

Edited 11 December, 20232 yr by Felix2021

It checks that the levelling is correct, and the only one's who don't like it are BMW "drivers". I select the auto full beam and I've driven from Worcestershire to Surrey via M5, M42, M40, M25 & A3 (Thanks Highways Agency) and it adjusted itself perfectly and no one flashed me.

You are mixing things.

It doesn't really check if levelling is correct, as this can only be done at MOT/service. It checks whether levelling works at all, and pre-sets level based on car load at the moment of this test, that's it. It's not any kind of calibration.

And it certianly has nothing to do with matrix headlights/high beam. It's present in all cars with self-levelling (with xenon or normal LED lights).

The fact, that you select auto full beam and no one is flashing you just means that yours are properly calibrated. And it means JUST that, not that they are autocalibrating or something like this.

On 11/12/2023 at 12:07, TheWanderer said:

the only one's who don't like it are BMW "drivers"

 

But you said there was only one and that he was an idiot.

A quick update on this. My car is going into the VW dealer to have Matrix Lights aligned. Apparently they are able to do it, so long as the Skoda dealer "sends their laptop" with the car... So I'm letting them have the car early January for a few days to do that and service it at the same time. I'll report back on how successful this is....

Would be interested to hear of the outcome. I ended up switching the matrix system off. Even with this operating as a conventional system, the kerbside illumination still floodlit any vehicle to my left and despite several visits to the dealer who denied any problem, I ended up getting out an allen key and adjusting them myself. All fine now, but just another in the catalogue of minor niggles the car has. Drives well, but my last Skoda - car under par and likewise the dealer.

I got the car back yesterday evening. I drove the car back from the dealer for around an hour with the Matrix Lights activated and so far I've not had any oncoming cars flashing me. So the re-alignment at VW seems to have worked so far. At the moment I'm still using them and half expecting to get flashed.. but I'll see what happens over the coming weeks, but hopefully after 2 years of ownership the last of the initial faults is now rectified.

On 18/12/2023 at 20:31, OverTheHill said:

Would be interested to hear of the outcome. I ended up switching the matrix system off. Even with this operating as a conventional system, the kerbside illumination still floodlit any vehicle to my left and despite several visits to the dealer who denied any problem, I ended up getting out an allen key and adjusting them myself. All fine now, but just another in the catalogue of minor niggles the car has. Drives well, but my last Skoda - car under par and likewise the dealer.

Hi @OverTheHill - I am having issues with kerbside illumination as well with the dipped headlights.  Can you elaborate on how you fixed the issue with the Allen key? Or send a link? Thanks in advance.

@Ado12345  There are some white circular adjusters at the back of the lamp units. It was nothing more scientific than finding a spot in the local car park, stopping 20 metres from a wall and twiddling the adjusters at night. The beam can be lowered and the cut-off moved to the nearside. Don't get flashed nearly so much anymore. I have no idea what I have done to the auto system, but frankly it's turd and I have not used it in 12 months! The dealership clearly know the square root of foxtrot-all about it either, so I gave up and use it old-skool dip/main.

Just a thought...

 

IF you have misaligned it through fiddling and it goes on a MOT test it'll fail. That means you'll have to take it to a dealer to have it realigned to the correct standard which costs £££'s.

 

I just don't worry about it, I used to get flashed by numpties who didn't like the headlights on the last car and they definitely didn't like it when I put it on full beam either. 

 

It seems an increasing number of drivers don't like LED headlights which are far superior to traditional filament bulbs and last longer too. So if you don't like LED headlights perhaps you shouldn't drive at night or should even consider giving up your licence. 

 

And as a lot of imbeciles these days drive around in poor weather conditions or during twilight or dusk without any lighting on at all I would strongly suggest the latter.