I just drove my car at night and it seems the lights are pointed down on the ground too far. Infact they are not even. The drivers side is up higher than the passengers side. Aren't these lights supposed to level out? Mine do not move up or down at all. I know the adaptive lights are not on the 2004's, but they should move up and down...

Thanks,
ROB

 

There might be a small knob that adjust how high or low they aim right behind the headlamp fixture, I might be wrong though, I do rememeber reading about something like this on the W220 forums, but it might've been for a Euro-spec car.

 

if you have a xenon system it suppose to auto adjust...

but, in either case, the passenger side light should be the one that is aimed higher than the driver side...

most lights have the ability to be adjusted manually... flip through the manual for more info

 

OK the first and hopefully only gremlin in the car.

After turning the switch on and off about 15 times the headlights finally go up and down and auto adjust. I have no idea what the hell is going on, but it works.

Thanks,
ROB

 

I thought all the new e's came with the active headlight system.... At least thats what it says in the 04 catolog......Can anyone confirm this???? How do you like the system????













Still waiting for my 500

 

Mine has it (I believe), they adjust on startup (when cold) vertically I can't see any left-right adjustment (can anyone). I do think that they "hug" the road. I tried them out the 2nd noght I had the car on a very dark winding parkway (Saw Mill from 684 down to the Taconic {for the NY area folks}) and they definitely held the road.

 

Hmmmmm.... The 04 catalog states there is up to a 90% improvement in the lighting around the corners.... Seems this should be very noticable. They say when you first turn on your lights they will "dance" adjust up and down and side to side.... Do you see this when you turn on your lights????







Still waiting for my 500.......

 

There is adjusting knobs under the hood. You'll need a philips screwdriver. I raised mine a few turns as it was set to low. If you use the knobs to adjust them, they will stay and auto adjust to the settings. The knob is tricky, there are two knobs in one, its the inside of the knob that adjusts the height, the outter knob adjusts the horizontal, I didin't mess with that one.

Mine is an early 04 and didn't come with active lights.

 

Yes, mine do go left-right after the top-bottom adjust. Mind you, it's a Canadian model.

 

Okay, now I admit to being totally confused about the lights. LOL But my passenger side does cast farther than the drivers side.

 

My lights just go up and down NOT left to right. I thought I read that the adaptive headlights are NOT on the 04 E55's. A friend of mine has a 04 E500 and he has the adaptive lights .

You would think $80K for a car you would get the adaptive lights...

ROB

 

The E500's and E320's got them first.
The E55's will get them soon (according to the MBUSA site).

I agree with you, though--you'd think the E55 would get them first. Go figure.

 

The build your own page for the E55 in the mbusa site has something called `curve sensing headlights.'

 

The E500 4Matic that I ordered in August, 2003 from Flagship Motors in Lynnfield, Massachusetts arrived at the dealership on December 26,2003. Inasmuch as several W211 form members could not discern whether or not their vehicles had the "cornering feature" specified being a part of the Lighting Package option, I decided to do some research to try and ascertain whether the "cornering feature" was actually included in the E500 that was delivered to Flagship for me. My research on Kelly Blue Book (www.kbb.com) indicated that there were differences in the Lighting Package included in W211 vehicles produced before Novemeber 10, 2003, the W211 vehcoles produced between Novemeber 10, 2003 and November 24, 2003, and the W211 vehicles manufactured after November 24, 2003. Thus, I immediatley contacted the General Sales Manager at Flagship Motors to determine whether the Lighting Package on "my" E500 had the cornering feature. The General Sales Manager did not know the answer, but he subsequently contacted me and told me that the "cornering feature" was delayed in production and was only being included in W211s produced after November 23, 2003. Upon inquiry, the General Sales Manager advised that he did not think that the "cornering feature" could be added to the vehicle which had been delivered. The General Sales Manager did allow me to reorder the car and I am now expecting to take delivery around March 10, 2004.

 

This is HORSE ***** !!!! I am contacting MBUSA on Monday and ask what the hell is going on. I am also going to see if they can be retrofitted to the "older" cars.

That is false advertising. I had fully anticipated that these lights were the adaptive front lights like mentioned on the MB web page.

If you raise enough noise something will happen. In 1999 I had them buy back my 99 ML430 and give me a brand new 00 ML430 at no charge. It took some time, but I got it done. I will keep you all posted on the progress.

ROB

 

Thanks Rob -

Your not alone in this

 

Very nice work AHG54...... I've been all over this site asking everyone I could to verify if they have these and now it seems to make sence.....THEY DON"T

As I reported on the other 211 forum here on this site I was going to the dealer to finalize financing on my new e500 and get to the bottom on a few things including the "active cornering headlights" and this is what I found out....... ABSOLUTLY NOTHING The sales drone could'nt tell me nothing, but stated he would make a call to MB and find out what the scoop was... We went to the lot and tried various cars to see if they had this feature with no luck... I noticed all the lights in all the cars do their up and down self adjustment, but none went side to side.... I even made him turn the wheel over and over again with no results. I told him that this feature was advertised in the sales book, but never mentioned on the MB website untill last week..... Of coarse he immediatly shows me a blurb sales book and I quote...."All illustrations and specifications contained in this brochure are based on the latest information available at the time of publication. Mercedes Benz reserves the right to make changes at any time without notice, in colors, materials,equiptment, specifications and models"..... Bla, Bla, Bla you get the picture.... I told the sales drone I was in need of this feature, ordered the car thinking it was going to be included and would'nt take delivery without it.... Obviously since I have'nt got the car, he's got no choice but to re-order.



Ironically, The manufacture date of my e500 was the 24th of NOV!!!! So..... WE will find out if the date holds true or not.... Bottom line.... If the car doesn't have this feature, then I guess I'm at the back of the line again. <<<My life story>>>> For you guys and gals out there that have your cars and was under the impression you had this feature "and wanted it" don't bend over and spread em... Go back and shove that car up their *** and tell them to get it right.... W.T.F I'll find out monday what my sales drone has found out and post it here for you all...

 

I just spoke to someone on the "inside" at MBUSA. It's true that the "Curve Sensing" feature on the Bi-Xenon option will only be available on W211s which are built after November 23-24 (i.e. this does not apply to Rest of World cars, including Canadian W211s, which have the "Curve Sensing" feature as part of the Bi-Xenon option for Model Year 04).

Please note that the Option Code has now changed to 339! Previously, the Option Code for Bi-Xenon was 319. Apparently, Option Code 319 DOES NOT include the "Curve Sensing" feature, while Option Code 339 does! Therefore, anyone who ordered the Bi-Xenon option on a car that has not yet been built (and thought that by this build time, the "Curve Sensing" feature would become an automatically updated part of the Bi-Xenon option), NEEDS TO CHANGE THE OPTION CODE FROM 319 TO 339!!!!!

 

Spoke to MB today and they were useless. They did say that it was a late production option and he did not know if it would be able to be retrofitted on the "older" cars. I will keep trying. For $85K+ you would think they would put it on the damn cars...

ROB

 

The following is a reply I received from Hella - my original question is at the bottom:

Dear Edmond,

Those are mainly for up and down movement headlamps, auto-leveling system.
They wont bend around the corner like the BMW headlamps, that I am aware
of, but they will adjust up and down depending on the cars load.

Thanks!

Scott Kornhaus
Customer Service Rep.
Hella, Inc.
1-877-224-3552 (Toll Free)
1-770-631-7556 (Direct Extension)
1-770-631-7575 (Fax)
1-800-631-7575 (Toll Free Fax)
scott.kornhaus@hellausa.com

www.hellausa.com
www.hellausa.com/optilux

********PLEASE INCLUDE ALL PREVIOUS CONVERSATIONS*********




|---------+------------------------------>
| | "Knopp, Edmond" |
| | <Edmond.Knopp@msnyu|
| | health.org> |
| | |
| | 12/26/03 07:58 AM |
| | |
|---------+------------------------------>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| |

| To: <hella.faq@hellausa.com> |

| cc: |

| Subject: Hella consumer inquiry |

>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|





I wonder if you can help answer a simple question for me. I have a Mercedes
2004 E55 with the lighting package (Dynamic cornering (?) Bi-Xenons). I
wonder if there is an easy way for me to see if indeed these are the
cornering lights. On startup I can readily see and up/down adjustment, I
can't really see any lateral adjustment.



Thanks

 

After doing exhaustive research, I've come up with the following:

The first day that Option Code 339 (i.e. "Active Lighting System") showed up on the dealer ordering system was November 20, 2003.

The other Option Code is 319 ("Bi-Xenon").

Currently, BOTH 319 and 339 show up on the dealer ordering system (both $1,180).

319 consists of (a) Option Code 600 "Headlamp Washing System," and (b) Option Code 614 "Bi-Xenon."

339 consists of (a) Option Code 600 "Headlamp Washing System," and (b) Option Code 615 "Active Lighting System."

Cars ordered before November 20, 2003 with 319, have had their Bi-Xenon Option Code modified "manually" by The MBUSA Distribution Department to 339 (with one caveat). Therefore, it is erroneous to believe that some anonymous, "magical" computer system "updates" pre-November 20 orders in a way which "substitutes" the 319 Bi-Xenons with the newly-available 339 Active Lighting System as an "automatic" running change.

The caveat is the following: Don't forget that orders are "frozen" (options and color-wise) for a period of about thirty days prior to a given car's build date. I believe that the latest that someone can modify an order is when it's in "B-0" status. After that, all bets are off.

Therefore, the earliest production E55 with 339 Curve-Sensing/Active Curve Illumination Bi-Xenon headlamps would be the third decade of December (i.e. December 20-30), due to the thirty lag time that exists from the moment in time when a car's final configuration is "locked-in/frozen in time," to the actual moment when the car is acutally built.

It's unfortunate that Mercedes-Benz has put us in this situation in the first place! The 2004 Model Year (MY) W211 E-Class brochure touts the Active Curve Illumination feature of the Bi-Xenon headlamp option, as did the MBUSA website from the very day that they began posting information about the MY 04 W211 E-Class. The fact that they print a caveat which reads "subject to change, etc.," leaves little comfort. The fact of the matter is that the ROW (Rest of World) W211s (including those destined for Canada), received the Curve-Sensing/Active Curve Illumination feature as part of the Bi-Xenon option since MY 03!!!!

Hope this helps.

 

Hey symbolic.... Where are you getting you info from???? My MB dealer just called me back on this issue and he states that all cars built AFTER Jan 2 04 will have the active headlights.... I have a car coming in a few weeks (hits the shores on the 3rd) and it had a build date of 11-28 (eroniously stated the 24th earlier in a post) so naturally I'm very interested in who is right..... This is a feature I must have or will have to reorder.... I'm totally convinced nobody really knows.... Is there a way to verify this from the vin number????

 

Call me on my Mobile No. (760) 223-9096 if you like. I'm in the exact same boat as you! I'm refusing to take delivery of my car if it isn't outfitted with the 339 Curve-Sensing/Active Curve Illumination Bi-Xenons. This issue is simply a deal-breaker for me! I had a chance to get a April-May build E55. However, I walked away from that opportunity because I was willing to wait for these Active headlamps (and COMAND), two options which are extremely important to me. My car which I'm now willing to walk away from, is really, really special. Not only does it have EVERY option, but I was able (due to months of persistence combined with some very special contacts) to convince them to built me an E55 with Designo wood (W68 Brown Poplar) and Designo Nappa leather, but in a non-Designo exterior color (i.e. 744 Brilliant Silver). Plus, my Designo Nappa leather (X22) is also a non-Designo color (i.e. basic Charcoal). The thing is that I like the softer texture and suppleness of the Designo Nappa leather, but don't care for the greenish hue that the the X14 Graphite Nappa leather and 041 Designo Graphite metallic paint both have. I was a bit tempted to get the Designo Espresso edition; however, the X10 Sand Nappa Designo leather would probably get a bit dirty with my two young children. Plus, it's not a solid/monochromatic interior color -- the beige has way, way too much contrast against all of the black carpet, black center console, black plastic seat trim and black main door panel material (with the exception of the biege/Sand door airbag cover). As far as Designo Silver edition is concerned, I hate the greenish hue of the 029 Designo Silver exterior color.

Unlike the pre-ordained limited Designo packages available in for the U.S. market, the Rest of World (ROW) markets allow consumers to combine ANY Designo paint and/or Designo leather and/or Designo wood/stone trim in ANY fashion they so choose no matter how gawdy and tasteless the end result may be! I also wish that MBUSA would let us order extended leather on our W211 cars (i.e. leather dashes, leather center consoles, leather armrests/door-pulls and leather upper and lower door trim, etc. These are items that can be ordered in ROW markets. I'd even love to order a leather rear shelf like the S600 and CL600 both have. The funny thing is that my 2000 BMW M5 has all of these surfaces (except for the Alcantara rear shelf) covered in beige/caramel leather as part of the standard Luxury Interior package (when combined with the no cost full leather option).

In terms of my information, it's very good and accurate. It comes from two people way on the inside at MBUSA. You might very well be right about the early-January first availability of the 339 Curve-Sensing/Active Curve Illumination
Bi-Xenons, considering that the factory is shut down for the Christmas break. My Third Decade December date was just a rough extrapolation (i.e. when calculating, I failed to take into account the fact that December 23-31 falls right square in the middle of the Christmas break. I'm sure that production will resume on Monday, January 5, 2004, and likely also mark the first day that U.S. version W211s ordered with Bi-Xenon headlamps will be finally be equipped with the much anticipated (for us Americans at least) Curve-Sensing/Active Curve Illumination feature.

 

Thanks for your hard work symbolic..... Actually, I did'nt get to read you latest response with your latest info before I asked you about your source .... With your info and the info from my dealer and the others on this site it's all starting to makes sense now..... I allready called the dealer and reordered I live in a very rural area with a lot of dark twisties and this is an option I will not live without.... Thanks again for all your valuable info and also to the others on this board.

 

I think you guys are going over board on the Active Light thing. Its just one little thing, it wouldn't stop me from getting an E55. Get over it. Enjoy the car, its still freaking awesome.