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To be honest I noticed this on my test drive with the 450 as well. The low beams perform well but only within a very limited range in front of the vehicle as I drove around hilly terrain at dusk. Take this with a grain of salt since it was the only time I drove the vehicle (still waiting on my April delivery) but it was disconcerting when trying to view oncoming objects on the road. I'm also unsure if the vehicle had the exterior lighting package or not - figured it wouldn't be too difficult to troubleshoot or worst case scenario use adaptive high beams (although that could be potentially annoying for oncoming traffic if it doesn't react quick enough).
I'm also unsure if the vehicle had the exterior lighting package or not - figured it wouldn't be too difficult to troubleshoot or worst case scenario use adaptive high beams (although that could be potentially annoying for oncoming traffic if it doesn't react quick enough).
The adaptive high beams react pretty quickly, but there are situations (curves, cars travelling at right angles at intersections) where it is best to manually switch off the highs.
I do feels that the low beam on our car is aimed a bit too low. When I have the car parked side by side with another car, their light are going almost horizontal (with slight downward angle), where the GLE is going down at a very noticeable angle.
The road is "hilly". I think where I stopped to take the picture, the car was pretty much level but the road must slope upward a little from there, then it drops down just beyond the tree on the right side. When I'm driving at night the illumination essentially disappears when I go through a dip.
I could be going 50 mph and have less than 100 feet of visibility!
The top of the low beam is essentially parallel to the horizontal axis of the car. I just now put the car in a fairly flat section of our driveway and at top of the low beam illumination was at my waist when 60 feet away.
Good thought about having the lights checked for mechanical alignment. If I can find information, I could probably do a rough check here at the house.
"The top of the low beam is essentially parallel to the horizontal axis of the car. I just now put the car in a fairly flat section of our driveway and at top of the low beam illumination was at my waist when 60 feet away."
I would say that was correct for low beam, any higher it would be dazzling oncoming traffic.
The top of the low beam is essentially parallel to the horizontal axis of the car. I just now put the car in a fairly flat section of our driveway and at top of the low beam illumination was at my waist when 60 feet away.
Good thought about having the lights checked for mechanical alignment. If I can find information, I could probably do a rough check here at the house.
The old rule of thumb is the cutoff for the low beams should be 2-4" below the center of headlight height at a distance of 25' (angling very slightly down). If you are waist high at 60' that does not sound too low.
It's a balancing act between the distance you are projecting and the conditions where you will dazzle oncoming drivers. I think the super sharp cutoff on these headlights compared to many older ones exacerbates issue of seeing above the cutoff line but is better for glare.
I like the adaptive high beams as far as dimming for oncoming traffic. Haven't flashed one during about 100 miles at night on country roads.
I'll experiment more tonight. I thought that low beams meant lowered intensity and beams directed more toward the right side of the road, away from oncoming traffic.
The way these are set up, if I'm approaching a 6% grade I can only see about 50 ft in front of the car (actually a little further to allow for the transition into the grade). At 50 mph that's about 1.5 seconds of visibility. Once I enter the grade the visibility goes back to normal. However, even on a level road I can't see more than 3 ft above the road surface. So if there's a bank or overhanging object (limbs?) or ........ I'm blind to anything 3 ft above the road surface. That's what happened with the deer along our lane. It was on a bank along side the road and we could only see its feet and maybe a foot up its legs. If it had been trotting across the road I think our GLE450 would be in the shop today.
On another, related topic, has anyone turned on their rear fog lights to see what happens? I thought that should change the front low beam to deal with fog better - as described in the manual. But, we noticed nothing.
On another, related topic, has anyone turned on their rear fog lights to see what happens? I thought that should change the front low beam to deal with fog better - as described in the manual. But, we noticed nothing.
I don't find anything about this in the US manual?
On another, related topic, has anyone turned on their rear fog lights to see what happens? I thought that should change the front low beam to deal with fog better - as described in the manual. But, we noticed nothing.
I looked and the rear fog lamp only lights up one side of the rear lights, and does not affect the fronts at all.
You can actually adjust the aim yourself. The circular white "thingie" in the picture is the adjustment screw. You will need a 6mm hex key to turn it. I believe its clockwise to aim up, counter clockwise to aim down. But if you do decided to do it yourself, please make sure its aimed correctly so it won't blind oncoming traffic. And, before and during adjustment, mark down the starting point and # of turns you made in case if you want to return to the original setting. Correction: Clockwise to aim down, counter clockwise to aim up
Last edited by zengshengliu; 01-23-2020 at 07:47 PM.
The front lights adapt to fog automatically, hence no seperate front fog lights.
I suspect its another "danger! not available in US" thing.
Yea, you're right, Greg I can't find it in the manual either. Must have seen it somewhere else, describing driving in fog. Had an image of driving in foggy conditions and, I'm pretty certain, a reference to turning on rear fog lights to enable it. Could be wrong.
I'd like to try it out but, of course, we seldom have fog here in Oregon.
I don't find anything about this in the US manual?
There's only a small blurb in the latest manual that was sent out on page 138 showing how to turn it on. There's only one fog light in the rear that gets turned on with this switch. It's more of a European requirement.
OK, just took another trip down our lane and back while dark (and raining). I've decided I need to switch the lights to manual (as opposed to AUTO) because as we drive slowly down our lane the AUTO mode dims the lights due to the low speed and that's downright dangerous. There's actually a point on our lane where I only had ten feet of visibility. So I'll force the lights to bright as we are on our lane.
Now if only the steered the lights around curves ............
I feel sorry for you guys in the US, in the UK the intelligent lights are superb and are much better than on any other cars I have driven, hopefully your rule makers will wake up and let you have a system that works brilliantly.
New X5 owners are complaining about the same issue:
OK, just took another trip down our lane and back while dark (and raining). I've decided I need to switch the lights to manual (as opposed to AUTO) because as we drive slowly down our lane the AUTO mode dims the lights due to the low speed and that's downright dangerous. There's actually a point on our lane where I only had ten feet of visibility. So I'll force the lights to bright as we are on our lane.
Now if only the steered the lights around curves ............
That sucks, sorry to hear. Based on your experiences I am actually happy now that I didn't configure mine with the advanced lights package, I always drive on auto. smh
Looking through the BMW site, it looks like they are able to activate the feature through custom programming. Not sure if this can be done on Mercedes
Originally Posted by Philamg
I feel sorry for you guys in the US, in the UK the intelligent lights are superb and are much better than on any other cars I have driven, hopefully your rule makers will wake up and let you have a system that works brilliantly.
New X5 owners are complaining about the same issue:
I finally located the source of my comment about the fog light mode being activated when you turn on the rear fog lights. It came from the Operators Manual in the MBUX system - Home-INFO-Operators Manual-Animations. There is a disclaimer in the manual about all the features not being available in your vehicle.
I don't know how to attach a video but here's a transcript of the dialogue:
"Meanwhile, when the rear fog lamps are activated, the blinding glare effects from your own headlamps in the fog is reduced and the edge of the road is better illuminated ,,,,"
I haven't actually driven at night in fog yet, perhaps they do work as Philamg says they do in the UK.
Seems like there are several aspects of the DA4 package could be enabled in US.
I finally located the source of my comment about the fog light mode being activated when you turn on the rear fog lights. It came from the Operators Manual in the MBUX system - Home-INFO-Operators Manual-Animations. There is a disclaimer in the manual about all the features not being available in your vehicle.
I don't know how to attach a video but here's a transcript of the dialogue:
"Meanwhile, when the rear fog lamps are activated, the blinding glare effects from your own headlamps in the fog is reduced and the edge of the road is better illuminated ,,,,"
I haven't actually driven at night in fog yet, perhaps they do work as Philamg says they do in the UK.
Seems like there are several aspects of the DA4 package could be enabled in US.
You should be able to check by shining the lights on a wall and seeing if there is any change when rear fog is activated.
It has been a few months since anyone mentioned these headlights. If you have the "LED Intelligent Lighting System" option DA4, then you can have them coded by www.rjautomotive.net. I had it done several months ago, and I am very satisfied. However, they DO NOT turn/swivel. I am not sure why MB would sell a product that they have, intentionally, disabled, unless they expect to enable it in the future. Once you enable them in MBUX, there is a 2 second animation showing them turning, but this doesn't happen. There have been many discussions on this forum about this, and some believe that it might actually be a different headlight than what is installed in Europe.
As far as having your dealership do it, I was there last month for "B" service. I wanted to make sure they didn't reset the coding. I explained what was done to the SA, and he said "Oh, don't believe what you see on the internet, that doesn't exist." He said all you can do is enable auto high-beam. Therefore, good luck speaking to them.
After coding, high-beams stay on longer and don't shine on vehicles in front of you, while still lighting up the road around them. You can actually see a "black box" around the other vehicles, where no light is being projected.
It has been a few months since anyone mentioned these headlights. If you have the "LED Intelligent Lighting System" option DA4, then you can have them coded by www.rjautomotive.net. I had it done several months ago, and I am very satisfied. However, they DO NOT turn/swivel. I am not sure why MB would sell a product that they have, intentionally, disabled, unless they expect to enable it in the future. Once you enable them in MBUX, there is a 2 second animation showing them turning, but this doesn't happen. There have been many discussions on this forum about this, and some believe that it might actually be a different headlight than what is installed in Europe.
As far as having your dealership do it, I was there last month for "B" service. I wanted to make sure they didn't reset the coding. I explained what was done to the SA, and he said "Oh, don't believe what you see on the internet, that doesn't exist." He said all you can do is enable auto high-beam. Therefore, good luck speaking to them.
After coding, high-beams stay on longer and don't shine on vehicles in front of you, while still lighting up the road around them. You can actually see a "black box" around the other vehicles, where no light is being projected.
It will show it on your original sticker, or you can get a data card from a @konigstiger on this Forum - https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...-datacard.html. Also, if you intend to use rjautomotive, they require that you send them your VIN # to verify your lights are compatible.
you can rent a system here to get everything coded that you want
and by this support the forum choosing a official sponsor https://benzninja.com/rent-the-ninja/
01-23-2020, 11:53 AM
