I know my car has the vision package (or whatever it was called) because it says so on the original equipment list, and because the headlights turn when I turn the wheel. However, it seems the automatic high-beams never work - I always end up manually turning on the high beams even when it is pitch black around with no traffic to be seen. Is this something I should have the dealer look at? Or am I missing something? I just have the headlights switched on to auto.

 

You can tell if the auto full beam system is enabled but the full beams are not yet on as a green version of the blue full beam indicator lamp will appear on the instrument cluster with the word "auto" underneath it, as well as the normal green dipped beam indicator lamp.

If that auto indicator is showing but they never activate then you may have a fault with the camera or somewhere else in the system.

If that indicator is not showing then auto full beam may be disabled in the vehicle settings menu on the instrument cluster accessible via the steering wheel controls. There are three settings - Off (never active), Drive on the left (camera monitors for oncoming vehicles on the RH side of the road), and Drive on the right (the opposite).

Having said that, there are a few things that can trick the system into not working as you'd expect. Reflections from white road signs, wet roads, street lights or other conditions that cause bright reflections can turn them off even though the ambient road light may be poor. Very heavy rain also disables them (presumably via the rain sensor and/or windscreen wiper speed) to avoid lighting the rain rather than the road.

You can trick them into activating on your drive by placing a blanket/coat over the top centre of the windscreen where the rear view mirror attaches. After a few seconds it should think it is night time. (Turn off the auto wipers in case they activate and catch on the cover.)

 

I'm not certain you can trick it with a blanket unless you find a good way of gluing the blanket down. My AHB does not turn on the high beams at low speed.

 

I haven’t got this feature and never have had it, but my understanding is it’s not designed to switch the main beam on automatically, it’s designed to turn them off if it detects oncoming traffic? As I have said, couldn’t say that’s for certain, but makes sense, I’m not sure you’d want it putting main beam on just because it knows it’s dark and doesn’t see oncoming traffic.

 

The high beams do go on automatically and revert to low when the camera sees something indicating direct traffic headlights/etc coming your way.

Never had the feature before and I love them. I typically never use high beams in other vehicles for fear of having a brain fart and blinding oncoming cars.

If there was one small complaint it is that the high beams, when detecting oncoming headlights/etc, take about 1.5 seconds longer than they should to go back to lows. No one has flashed their lights at me or given me the finger so I believe I am OK.

 

It may be that you need to read the Owners Manual again. Early Base V6 might not have had it as standard, but it seems unlikely to be missing on anything else.

Also, it switches both ways depending on the camera detecting - or not - headlights and taillights.

It can occasionally be confused by reflections.

It is quicker to switch to high beam than it is to switch the other way.

All of the above depends on having the column stalk set correctly.

HTH

 

I have the adaptive lights that turns when you turn the wheel, but not the automatic high beams (on a MY 15 R made in 14). I don't think the automatic high beam was part of the vision pack on the earliest models, but came as a separate option.

Most options was "ticked off" on my car (I bought it second hand). When I read the "built sheet" it does say vision pack, but also "cc brakes and auto high beam not included".

 

Arne, you probably do have the feature, but AHB needs to be enabled under settings on the display panel.

 

Ï would really like it if you were correct on this, but I have looked at the settings and can't find anything regarding AHB there.

In the brochure for the MY 15 Version, this is what it says:

The optionalAdaptive Front Lighting system measures the speed of the car and angle of the steering wheel, swivelling the lamps by upto 14 degrees out, and up to 7 degrees in, for improved visibility during cornering.

The optional Intelligent High Beam system automatically switches between low and high beam when necessary, using a sensor mounted at the front of the rear view mirror.

I do have the Adaptive Front Lighting option, but not the Intelligent High Beam option - as they were two different options that time - at least in Europe.

Also from TOPIx Vehicle Summary for my car regarding Features, it says:

ADAPTIVE-XENON HEADLAMPS
LESS AUTO HIGH BEAM

For the full feature list, see below:

 

Yep, my MY2015 Oz S has AFL but not IHB.
I reckon it's a RHD vs LHD thing on the earlier F-Types.

Edit - I just checked my tOPIX build sheet and it lists "AUTO DIP FRT/RR HIGH BEAM AST" and it doesn't say "less auto high beam", so it looks like I do have IHB.
Thing is I have never wanted to use it, I don't think I have used High Beam for more than 20 seconds in total in the last 15 months (I rarely do any night driving in the country) and I have the headlight setting on "manual" not "auto" coz the auto light sensing on/off of the lights is fairly dumb and I much prefer to decide myself if and when I should turn the lights on.

 

That pretty much clears it up. My apologies for not reading your previous post more thoroughly.

 

Thank you for the detailed response xdave. I didn't know where the vehicle settings were but finally found it by clicking the OK button on the wheel. After that, it was a breeze to find the appropriate settings. Turns out my car was set to Drive on Left and AHB was off. The previous owner may not have even known about the feature! Toggled those two settings and the auto high beams work perfectly. Thanks!

 

Have this feature on my car but never used it aside from trying it once.

 

I have it on my car and do have it active, however, I find that its not quite responsive enough - I would say I'm generally blinding someone for a fraction of a second too long before it dips
and
if you're coming to a brow of a hill and have a trucker coming towards you ........... he gets full beam for quite a while (I usually try and overide it when this happens)

 

No needs for apologies Unhingd

 

On my XJL, which has this feature, it never worked when I first got the car.

Upon inspection, it was obvious Jaguar had messed up the build and actually installed the wrong rear view mirror at the factory - it did not have the hardware my F Type had.

The dealer had to order the right mirror, fit it and reprogram the car. Worked perfectly once the right part was fitted.