Go Navy

It was irritating me greatly that I could not flip the high beams on at night using the stalk on the left side of the steering wheel. Then I discovered that if I switch the lights from "Auto" to "On", I can flip the high beams on or off with the stalk.

Apparently in Auto mode, the car will not allow the driver put the high beams on unless, presumably, the car itself wants them on. Yes, you can flash the high beams by pulling the lever to the rear, but you cannot put high beams on to stay in Auto mode. That's faulty logic in my opinion. I don't like it when cars make decisions for me. I accept that I am not as smart as the car, but I don't care!

Now, when I start the car in daytime, I'll have to switch the bloody thing back to Auto so the headlights will not be on; then back to "On" at night in order to take control of the high beams away from the car. So, did Mercedes make things easier for me? No, just the opposite.

vic viper

I dont see the problem, why would you need control of highbeams at daytime?

The whole purpose of the system is that you should leave it in "Auto"

shotgun_banjo

He said "at night"

Paulrid

I'm pretty sure there's a setting for intelligence lights or something like that which will only turn on high beam when there's no other cars or street lights. You can turn it off from one of the menus from the steering wheel.

Ron Jr

I can turn mine on & off with no problem in Auto.

Go Navy

Yes, I'm talking about controlling high beams at night, of course.

Thanks; I'll look for a setting in some menu somewhere. I'd be happy to leave the thing in Auto but I want to control the high beams at night myself. I don't want the car to control the high beams.

MDMercedesGuy

You have to disable highbeam assist in the menu to regain manual control if you have ILS.

Vic - in the US there are some situations where you have to use high beams manually, even during the day - if you are in a funeral precession, for instance.

katuga

I have lighting package and I agree, high beam won't turn on in daylight or if the headlight camera or sensor sees light from the oncoming traffic or street light from a distance. First I thought my HB is not working. But when I drove in the mountain in the middle of the night, I figured out how it works...gotta love the adaptive feature High beam have a mind of its own. Headlight auto switch to dim for oncoming traffic and switch back to high by itself. Yeah you can still flash the HB by pulling the lever towards you.

Not trying to hijack...what I don't understand is how the "C" light works. Sometimes it turns on with headlight at night but there times it doesn't, go figure!

Vulcaneer

I have not used the high beam assist setting yet. Don't drive that much at night, in the summer.

But what concerns me is if it will turn on high beams when there is another car ahead. Even if not all that close, I really don't like it when someone is behind me with high beams on. I don't ever want to be that guy.

vic viper

The high beams turn off when catching up to another car, the MFK recognizes the tail lights.

MDMercedesGuy

For the most part, it does a very good job of not blinding other drivers. I keep mine in auto all of the time - they probably kick up once or twice per drive. I've only had it not see another car once that I can remember, and I don't blame my car. The tool had installed some crappy LEDs that were really dim in the taillights of his Civic .

Go Navy

MBMercedes Guy is right. Based on his prompt, I went looking and there's a setting in the various menus that appear in the instrument cluster (not on the big Nav display screen) that allows you to chose control over the high beams while in Auto mode. (and other lighting choices as well)

I tested it in the garage during daylight hours today (the car thinking it was night) and now I can control the high beams manually in Auto mode.

There are other lighting options available in that same menu area. Whether the car's brain will hold the settings after a restart remains to be seen....I hope so.

By the way, what's an ILS? I thought it was an Instrument Landing System.

MDMercedesGuy

They will stick - no worries there.

ILS is Intelligent Lighting System - Mercedes speak for the lighting system we have.