# Headlights and auto high beam - how well do they work?



## r-e-l (Dec 19, 2018)

Almost 100% of the time when I drive the car (for months now) - the auto headlight shows the lights are on (green light icon) - sometimes turning the lights off and immediately on from the lights control panel (on screen) will result in lights turning off but soon after on again. This happens on any weather condition. Others see issue with this? 

Auto head beam light - I know it worked for me when I first got the car (Dec 18) but its not been operating for many months. I thought I might have turned it off but as I was looking at my other issue I realized its turned on just simply not working anymore. Did they change the feature?

I am starting to wonder maybe the light sensor in my car had gone bad …. do you know where the senror is? is it possible something happened to it when they changed wind shield?


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## Bigriver (Jan 26, 2018)

r-e-l said:


> Auto head beam light - I know it worked for me when I first got the car (Dec 18) but its not been operating for many months. I thought I might have turned it off but as I was looking at my other issue I realized its turned on just simply not working anymore. Did they change the feature?


So you have it set to auto high beams in the menu, and also high beams turned on via the stalk? I know I've sometimes found that I inadvertently have flicked the stalk and turned off the high beams which overrides the auto setting.


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## FogNoggin (Mar 19, 2019)

They work flawlessly for me. Very impressive and one of my favorite features.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

r-e-l said:


> Almost 100% of the time when I drive the car (for months now) - the auto headlight shows the lights are on (green light icon) - sometimes turning the lights off and immediately on from the lights control panel (on screen) will result in lights turning off but soon after on again. This happens on any weather condition. Others see issue with this?


Lights will come on sometimes when overcast.


> I am starting to wonder maybe the light sensor in my car had gone bad …. do you know where the senror is? is it possible something happened to it when they changed wind shield?


If they come on when it's sunny and you aren't driving in shadows, then that's a possibility. Have it looked at.


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## MNScott (Mar 16, 2019)

Mine work perfectly - better than my other vehicles that have the feature.


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## Frully (Aug 30, 2018)

My understanding is auto-high-beam is based on the autopilot camera...

I find it works well but it's often tricked to turn off ahb when it _sees_ its own reflection on center median signs or other specular reflections thinking that there are oncoming headlights.

_Edit_


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## BluestarE3 (Oct 12, 2017)

Auto-headlights work pretty well for me. It's nice not having to remember to manually turn the lights on or off. They do come on during the day if I pull into a dimly lit area, such as my garage.

The auto-highbeams sorta works, but depending on the ambient light, they may flicker on and off in quick succession, leading other drivers to think you are signaling them regarding their own headlights. It gets annoying even if there's no one else around when it keeps flickering unnecessarily. It's easy enough to manually control high beams via the stalk, so I've turned off this feature to avoid the nuisance factor.


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## r-e-l (Dec 19, 2018)

Thanks folks. In my case they are always on even though they are on "Auto" - the auto high beam lights don't work. Based on your feedback, I will check it with the service folks., thanks again


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## airj1012 (Jan 29, 2019)

Mine don't see to work as designed. My setting is turn on. However the auto high has never turned on based on that one action. I'll also need to press the stalk the first time to turn them on for that session. Then they work by switching between high and low beams based on oncoming vehicles, but it always requires me to flick the stalk, although the setting on is on.

This is NOT what y'all are experiencing is it? I had this issue last night and thought about creating a thread for it. Looks like I wasn't alone!


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

airj1012 said:


> Mine don't see to work as designed. My setting is turn on. However the auto high has never turned on based on that one action. I'll also need to press the stalk the first time to turn them on for that session. Then they work by switching between high and low beams based on oncoming vehicles, but it always requires me to flick the stalk, although the setting on is on.
> 
> This is NOT what y'all are experiencing is it? I had this issue last night and thought about creating a thread for it. Looks like I wasn't alone!


I'm not exactly sure what you're describing - it sounds like it might be working as intended.

You need to have the setting turned on, but then you still need to use the stalk to turn auto high beams on or off (instead of turning regular high beams on or off).
When turned off, the high beams will never turn on.
When turned on, the high beams will turn on or off themselves as light is detected, and the indicator will switch between the blue and gray symbols shown below.


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## airj1012 (Jan 29, 2019)

So the setting only enables the ability for high beam to turn off when it detects another vehicle, and then goes back. But to actually turn on the high beams for the first time in the session, you have to use the stalk. Is that correct?

I was hoping that high beams would go on automatically, just like the lights come on automatically at night.


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## Kizzy (Jul 25, 2016)

airj1012 said:


> So the setting only enables the ability for high beam to turn off when it detects another vehicle, and then goes back. But to actually turn on the high beams for the first time in the session, you have to use the stalk. Is that correct?
> 
> I was hoping that high beams would go on automatically, just like the lights come on automatically at night.


I believe you can leave the high beams on indefinitely and they will come on when it's dark, but I find there are times when they're on inappropriately (or flashing on off in areas with a bit more traffic) so I don't do that.


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## Frully (Aug 30, 2018)

airj1012 said:


> So the setting only enables the ability for high beam to turn off when it detects another vehicle, and then goes back. But to actually turn on the high beams for the first time in the session, you have to use the stalk. Is that correct?
> 
> I was hoping that high beams would go on automatically, just like the lights come on automatically at night.


Pulling the stalk ALWAYS momentarily flashes the high beams regardless of setting *except when the high beams are already ON. This is to alert other drivers of your presence/intent to pass, etc.


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## r-e-l (Dec 19, 2018)

garsh said:


> I'm not exactly sure what you're describing - it sounds like it might be working as intended.
> 
> You need to have the setting turned on, but then you still need to use the stalk to turn auto high beams on or off (instead of turning regular high beams on or off).
> When turned off, the high beams will never turn on.
> When turned on, the high beams will turn on or off themselves as light is detected, and the indicator will switch between the blue and gray symbols shown below.


forget the high beam for a second … its the middle of a sunny day and the lights are turned on when it "auto" mode. I see the green light icon, i think i see in the animation an indication of light on. 
on the high beam ... i didnt realize i need to manually set to high beam first. will try that but i guess it makes sense to try only after normal lights work as planned otherwise I will be going with high beam all day ...


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## NOGA$4ME (Sep 30, 2016)

My auto high beams work very well, although they do sometimes seem to flicker quite a bit driving in fairly well lit areas with signs that confuse the system into flicking back to low beam momentarily. 

Truth be told, most of my local driving is in well lit areas that I wouldn't use high beams anyway. The only time I really need high beams would be on back roads or on long trips.

That said, I do have a small gripe (small, because as I said, I probably wouldn't be using high beams anyway most of the time). Something--and I'm not sure if it's software update related or maybe it just randomly happens--keeps turning off my high beams. I only get the green low-beam light indicator, not the companion gray "A" high-beam indicator. I have to use the stalk to turn on the auto high beams again. Like I said, it's normally not a big deal since I wouldn't use high beams most of the time, but it would be nice to have the system reliably remember that my auto high beams are on.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

I'm currently renting a 2018 Toyota RAV4 with auto high beams. I think Tesla's auto high beams work better. In particular, the Toyota's high beams have refused to come on if it detected *anything* in front of you, like a hill before a bend, or a building at a T intersection. Quite annoying.


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## Dr. J (Sep 1, 2017)

garsh said:


> I'm currently renting a 2018 Toyota RAV4 with auto high beams.


Is Yolandi aware you're cheating on her?


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

Dr. J said:


> Is Yolandi aware you're cheating on her?


My 16yo is back at home alone with her.
I try not to think about what he and Yolandi are doing while we're away.


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## Dogwhistle (Jul 2, 2017)

Never had auto high beams before, but these are definitely Meh. A lot of cycling on/off with road signs. My wife just looks over at me with with the “really?” look.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

garsh said:


> I'm currently renting a 2018 Toyota RAV4 with auto high beams. I think Tesla's auto high beams work better. In particular, the Toyota's high beams have refused to come on if it detected *anything* in front of you, like a hill before a bend, or a building at a T intersection. Quite annoying.


This morning, the RAV4 refused to turn on the high beams, until another car popped over the hill in front of me. It then though that was the perfect time to turn them on, AND LEAVE THEM ON.

Seriously, Toyota makes Tesla's implementation look almost perfect.


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## Kimmo57 (Apr 10, 2019)

I tried the auto high beams again a few days ago. Mostly fine, but it's annoying that they don't react to street lights and that it's not possible to manually turn on high beams at low speeds when AHB is on.


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