My car is a recently purchased 2012 Superb II 3.6 Elegance Combi. I’ve only had it a few weeks, so still getting to know it.

 

The headlights seem to point very low. They only illuminate about 8m of the road in front. That seems too low to my mind - is that normal?

 

They do “the dance” when I start the engine with the light switch on Auto. They go down extremely low (about 1 metre ahead), move about a bit, then go back up to the same level as before.

 

Do I have a problem, or does this sound about right?

 

The fact that they do the dance implies that the motorisation is working, but perhaps they’re getting duff level signals from the sensors on the suspension.

Should have said:  I have a fault code reader, and it didn’t report any codes for the headlights.

Okay, so the car went in today to have a brake fluid change (couldn’t see any evidence of it in the history since 2017).

 

I asked them to check the headlight level, and they agreed they’re too low. They’ve adjusted them, but I’m not sure exactly what they’ve done. If they’ve simply tweaked the adjusting screws, will the lights simply put themselves back again when they next do the dance?

 

I’ve read that you’re meant to put the lights into learning mode, then tweak the screws, then exit learning mode.

 

I’ll have to wait until darkness to see if their adjustment has been successful.

They must be put into learning mode yes, and then adjusted manually before putting them out of learning mode. It is done via module 55 headlights basic settings in vcds. So guess the shop did that, if not, they did not fix your issue and perhaps also f....up your lights if vcds wasn't used properly...

 

I guess they must have done it properly, because the headlights are now really good - perfect level! 🙂

Found this info on VCDS forum which maybe helpful for others here:

 

Prerequisite:
Vehicle must be parked on level ground and settled on its suspension

 

Headlight Adjustment procedure:

Select 55 - Xenon Range
Select Basic Settings
Select Basic headlamp setting
Press [Go!] to activate the Basic Setting.
Adjust the headlights using their manual adjusting screws as referenced against a suitable aiming target. Note: ignore this step if you are using these instructions for the DTC from a tweak.
Press [Stop]
Select Acknowledge basic setting
Press [Go!] to activate the Basic Setting.
The adjustment should now be learned.
Press [Stop]
Exit Basic Settings

 

Don't forget to check/clear fault codes afterwards.