gpfarrell Posted December 19, 2012 Report Share Posted December 19, 2012 My MKS has auto high beams. I have them turned to "on" in the menu, but they never seem to come on any more. When they did work they seemed pretty clever, though on occassions they'd get tricked into self-dimming by their own reflection. Any guesses? I've got plenty of warranty left! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedCandySHO Posted December 19, 2012 Report Share Posted December 19, 2012 I believe they are controlled by the camera looking thing on the top of the windshield. Maybe try placing something over the lens and see if they flick on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crash712us Posted December 19, 2012 Report Share Posted December 19, 2012 I would assume to be normal, mine have always auto dimmed merely from there own reflective light off of street sign and such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpfarrell Posted December 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2012 I would assume to be normal' date=' mine have always auto dimmed merely from there own reflective light off of street sign and such.[/quote'] That would be okay... But mine never switch to high beam automatically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpfarrell Posted December 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2012 I believe they are controlled by the camera looking thing on the top of the windshield. Maybe try placing something over the lens and see if they flick on. Good thought! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpfarrell Posted December 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2012 Silly me. Or maybe silly Lincoln. I think my auto high beams are working fine. But I've learned that turning the fog lights on seems to defeat the auto high beams, becuase even when they are automatically on high beam, turning on the fog lights immediately dims them. Turn the fog lights off and the auto feature comes to life again. I can understand why these two could be linked... who would want high beams coming on in foggy conditions... but I'm not a fan of it. Oh well, at least now I know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbodave Posted December 20, 2012 Report Share Posted December 20, 2012 I'm not sure they are linked. My fogs are on all the time, and my auto high beam seems to work far better than I expected them to. I must note however, for them to work as designed, you must be out in real "dark territory"! Any lighting from outside sources will keep them dimmed. When I was out late one night on the freeway out in the country away from any stray lighting, they worked fine! Better than expected. I think the coontrol software is designed to look at two specific spectrums of light, that being white and red. They always dimmed as soon as they saw oncomming headlights, and as I slowly caught up to traffic ahead, they saw the tail lights WELL in adance and dimmed before the brights would bother the people ahead. As soon as they dissapeard around bends or over hills the lights would brighten back up. I never expected them to work quite so well. But it has to be really dark out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjhpadi Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 I am surprised that the high beams are on when the fogs are on...in Pennsylvania it is illegal to have fog lights on with high beams, I know on my trucks the fog lights always turned off when high beams were on. Also, I am not a fan of the auto high beams, I don't drive with them much and they never seem to dim when approaching traffic from the rear until you are so close that you are annoying the driver in front of you. Never seen the auto highs that really work that great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bennenrkc Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 Just picked the car up tonight, and they worked great. We are having semi blizzard conditions here and they would even dim when the light would reflect off the snow blowing to much. I could see where you would have to be in a dark situation for them to work. I live in the boonies so it is always dark at night. In fact even during the day I can drive lots of miles and never see another person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjhpadi Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 I know mine never dimmed when I could see oncoming traffic, it always seemed to get too close, I dim my lights as soon as I see another vehicle, but with the auto highs turned on, they just stay on high longer then I like. But they are great at dimming at reflected light off of snow or a wall, just not as good at light from other traffic....but on the other hand they never forget to dim eventually (as I have been known to do...then I feel like a schmuck!) But I think that's also a function of age, for the first 20 years or so that I drove, the high beam indicator light was red in color, now that they have changed to blue, it just doesn't seem to stand out as well as the red did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpd1151 Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 The sensor for both the auto high beams, and the auto wipers, are both located in that larger plastic housing behind the rear view mirror. When standing in front of the car, from the outside, it is easily visible. Obstruct it with anything (tint, decals, etc.) And you'll inevitably experience issues. Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpfarrell Posted December 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 My fogs & brights don't come on at the same time. Activating the fogs seems to kill the auto brights, so I get one or the other, but not both. My '78 Mercury has a red indicator for the high-beams... it seems like a warning light compared to modern cars, so I know what you mean. My lights on the MKS do seem to dim in time, at least 95% of the time. It does seem to me like I'm getting awfully close to oncoming traffic, but nobody ever "beams" me. I think if the cars still had the old halogens that scattered light everywhere I'd be blinding people, but the new lights have such a tight light pattern that I think it's not bothersome to oncoming drivers from further distances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpd1151 Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 Most State and Local traffic laws mandate drivers dim their bright lights when other vehicular traffic is approaching from a specified distance. Whether approaching from either the opposite direction, or in the same direction. Although the beam of the HID's are "directed" in a much more efficient manner than the old school halogen's, driver's are still required to diminish them. Just food for thought. Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjhpadi Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 Most State and Local traffic laws mandate drivers dim their bright lights when other vehicular traffic is approaching from a specified distance. Whether approaching from either the opposite direction, or in the same direction. Although the beam of the HID's are "directed" in a much more efficient manner than the old school halogen's, driver's are still required to diminish them. Just food for thought. Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2 What really surprises me, is that how many driver's approach oncoming traffic with the high beams on for an inordinate amount of closing before lowering them, and also how many people leave the high beams on when approaching from the rear. What I find really amazing (now I am going to show my age) is that modern lighting is far superior to the lighting when I learned to drive, yet it seems that for some reason people seem to think they need high beams more then I've ever experienced in my driving career. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FoMoCoSho Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 Mine seem to work very well, and react quicker than I can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbodave Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 Mine seem to work very well' date=' and react quicker than I can.[/quote'] Mine are the same way. Faster to react than I am, and they dim when there's any oncoming light, they don't wait for them to get closer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrylu Posted January 8, 2013 Report Share Posted January 8, 2013 Mine seem to be influenced by speed. If I slow up beyond a preset point the lights will switch to low beam even if in a total dark environment. I guess it seems logical that greater speed demands that lights reach out further. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpfarrell Posted January 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2013 Yeah, I think the owner's manual says 27 mph or so. I have a long dark driveway and wish mine stayed on... Better to pot the deer bedded down in the yard! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjhpadi Posted January 9, 2013 Report Share Posted January 9, 2013 Mine are the same way. Faster to react than I am' date=' and they dim when there's any oncoming light, they don't wait for them to get closer.[/quote'] But what they don't react to is the light from tail lights, so that if you are followed by someone with auto high's, they stay on long past the point that they should have been lowered. If you can see someone's tailights you shouldn't be on high beams...can't count the number of times that I have been bothered by someone following with auto high beams that just don't react to the light from the rear of a vehicle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpfarrell Posted January 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2013 Mine dim for taillights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrylu Posted January 9, 2013 Report Share Posted January 9, 2013 Mine dim for tails also Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leadfoot Posted January 10, 2013 Report Share Posted January 10, 2013 Mine dim for tail lights, but not as soon as I want them to, I usually flick to low beams before the auto system kicks in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjhpadi Posted January 10, 2013 Report Share Posted January 10, 2013 Mine dim for tail lights' date=' but not as soon as I want them to, I usually flick to low beams before the auto system kicks in.[/quote'] That's how mine works and I've found that most people don't bother to lower the high beams when approaching a vehicle from the rear...allow the system to do it and by then the high's are already distracting to the vehicle in front...that's mostly the reason I choice to let the auto high's off. But then again, in the past few years I've noticed that lots of people tend to drive like they are the only car on the road and the only one that matters....:mmph: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpfarrell Posted January 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2013 Are you aware there are two settings to the sensitivity of the light sensor? Maybe that's why yours don't seem to dim like ours do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3ponies Posted January 10, 2013 Report Share Posted January 10, 2013 I am not sold on the feature. Not for any oither reason than I like the control. I am also a man who hates to read directions. Where do I find the option for this? Is it called auto dimmer? It does work as advertised for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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