Here's the response I received from MBUSA this morning. Pretty much a paraphrase of what zengshengliu got as mentioned in post 22. 8 degrees? Don't know how effective that is. I'm thinking it may only work during high beams. I watched the lights as my wife started the GLE450 today and, to me, it appeared like the hi beam swiveled during the start up light show. I may be able to try it on "winding mountain roads" this evening.

The active light function is included in the advanced lighting package. It swivels the headlamps by up to 8 degrees dependent on the steering angle, yaw rate and vehicle speed. This is more apparent on winding mountain roads versus normal roads.

Kind Regards,

Debbie A.
Mercedes-Benz USA
(800) 367-6372

Customer By CSS Email (Gary ) (02/03/2020 06:46 PM)Perhaps I worded my question wrong. The MBUSA site refers to "Active Curve Illumination" in the "Build Your Own" section. Is that supposed to work?

Gary

 

I’ve had mine 9 months so may be a little rusty on details. One difference (as I recall) was the extra set of matching LED lights on the outboard side. Not worth $900 but a slight plus. Better looking, IMO. The idea is better illumination of the sides of the road to illuminate animals or pedestrians better. My lights are as good as any others I’ve had but I haven’t been on many curvy roads at night to observe if they follow curves. Two other cars of mine have swiveled on curves but did it quickly full swivel rather than incremental so very noticeable. If Mercedes moves them more gradually it might be harder to detect.

 

I live in a state with many curved roads and very little street lighting. Some of the major highways have better lighting but to be honest it's mostly on entrance and exit ramps, nothing else. If you're in a big city that's another story but by that time there's so much exterior light pollution so what's the difference. My Audi has adaptive lighting which works exceptionally - it follows the direction of your steering wheel and in-turn follows the road ahead of you. It's not some sort of LED matrix science or GPS controlled lighting scheme - just mechanical (and slight computer) science at work. It's a shame that MB is stating only 8 degrees of motion in their headlamps since Audi is twice that (15 degrees in each direction), less technology dependent and very noticeable.

 

That's the type of system my '12 ML had. So much for progress! I think the US headlamp regs are restricting the capabilities of the system M-B has optimized for the ROW.

 

I agree, I have no doubt that the NHSTA is stifling progression but it's just as disappointing that there's technology out there other auto manufacturers embrace while people in this country still live in the dark ages (no pun intended).

 

You guys should check out rjautomotive.net. Raj is a UK based gent who has the ability to unlock or enable features buried within the mercedes computer systems. One of the things he offered me this morning was the ability to enable the dynamic highbeams only available in non-US markets.

He sends you a obdii wifi dongle and can remotely activate or deactivate features for you. He has tons of great reviews from people all around the world and sends the required equipment out within a few days.

Ill let you guys know how it works out for me next weeks sometime.

I am also having him enable adaptive cruise control since most cars already come with the required equipment, but there are tons of other things he can do. Contact him via the whatsapp number on his website.

hope this helps.

 

I am not sure but it seems like other automakers are enabling these features in US spec cars. Some examples are Tesla's summon and BMW's remote parking. I remember when my prior E class came out in 2016 (as a 2017 model), one of the highlighted features was that it could move itself in/out of a parking space through the Mercedes Me app. However, when the car arrived it did not have this feature and there were no plans to bring this feature to the US spec cars. Tesla has the Summon feature and BMW has something similar (but on the key fob).

For my headlights, I brought it into the dealership to see if they are working normally because they are supposed to have the cornering lights per the build sheet. However, they said they are working normally. Also the active "curve" is barely noticeable. I do like the little dancey dance the headlights do when I start the car and the auto high beams are nice when they work, but I am debating if it was worth the extra $900 for that package.

 

I was able to have Raj enable the euro headlight advanced functionality. Worked great.

 

The active curve illumination does work on my GLE 350 however it only does so with the low beams. It is also very subtle maybe only one or 2° left or right of center. It does not function with the highbeams on because the LEDs that turn on the Illuminate the swing are already on.

 

Do you know if this voids the new car limited warranty (or any of the warranties)?
Also, is this something that can be re-installed? Like if MB sends out a software update for the car and it removes the activated features?

 

My 2020 GLE450 absolutely did not have the euro lights. I paid for the upgrade through Vlad, and now I have it. The high beams stay on pretty much all the time at night on the highway, even when there is oncoming traffic. The euro system just blacks out their area and keeps the rest of the road lit with the high beams. Prior to getting this, the lights would dim as soon as it sensed car approaching. I've yet to see the turning lights, I'm told by Vlad that its very subtle and barely noticeable so I'll keep looking but so far no luck.