Low beams blinding traffic and auto high beams not working at all

[smarty39]

This may be long winded but please bear with me... Truck is a 502A Lariat as per my signature (so full LED lights)

Had my truck for about 2 months now and everything so far (knock on wood) has been perfect...outside of the headlights. I had a 2" level installed by the dealership at delivery and they re-aimed the headlights. Immediately that night I noticed they certainly did not as they were pointing to the sky. Went back again and they assured me they were correct now. Lights seems much better but I am constantly being flashed by oncoming drivers, so they must be out of whack still.

I did the self-aim process and the lights 'seem' to be pointing where they should be (measure from ground to headlight dot, put tape on wall 30' away at same height, re-aim).

On top of this issue, my auto high beams have NEVER turned on for me. I live in the country and do a lot of highway and back road driving with zero traffic. Yes the switch is set to 'Auto' and I have glare-free turned on in the settings. I can manually turn them on no problem with the stalk but that isn't the point...aren't they supposed to turn on by themselves if nobody is around?

I'm kind of at all loss here as taking it to the dealer again doesn't seem like it will get me anywhere.

Any thoughts or suggestions on either of these issues would be greatly appreciated!

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[SILVERBULLET69]

I thought these were controlled back at the rear axel with some kind of auto adj switch based on loads put on truck?
I meant the aim.

 

[HSV_MIkeJ]

Not sure, but I think the Auto function for the High Beams is not to turn them on, but to turn them off when another car is coming at you.

 

[smarty39]

Not sure, but I think the Auto function for the High Beams is not to turn them on, but to turn them off when another car is coming at you.

Okay if that is true then that part makes sense. So if I turn them on to start they should turn off when someone gets close and then turn back on automatically? To me 'auto' should mean 'auto' as in they use max lighting whenever available and switch back and forth as needed...

 

[CBGray]

Okay if that is true then that part makes sense. So if I turn them on to start they should turn off when someone gets close and then turn back on automatically? To me 'auto' should mean 'auto' as in they use max lighting whenever available and switch back and forth as needed...

Yes, that is how mine seem to work for me. I've literally set them on auto and not touched them since in over 10k miles. They sense oncoming traffic and auto-dim if they are on bright. When it's "dark enough" they'll kick on to bright again. I don't know that they favor bright setting all the time that it's possible, but seem to have decent logic to balance it out well - at least for me living in suburbs. I suspect if you lived in the country with less street lighting and more rural roads, you'd be on high beams much more frequently. I will say, when working properly (as they seem to be for me) they work great. Whenever I've thought it'd be nice to have a little more light, they seem to kick on about that time. I've never felt they were slow to give me more light, and when dimming down with approaching traffic, they're plenty aggressive in that they dim early.

I don't have a lift on my truck, so I suspect yours isn't fully dialed back in yet. With fully stock setup, I do occasionally get flashed when they're already on low, but that's usually by people in cars with lower to the ground clearance, and it's just a fact that I'm in a larger vehicle and up higher. It's certainly not often enough that I worry about it.

 

[gtotco]

Okay if that is true then that part makes sense. So if I turn them on to start they should turn off when someone gets close and then turn back on automatically? To me 'auto' should mean 'auto' as in they use max lighting whenever available and switch back and forth as needed...

It is fully auto. If it is set up correctly they will actually be on low by default, and then turn off if there is no oncoming traffic and you are going over a certain speed (I think it is about 35-40mph). I'm not 100% on the speed requirement, but mine definitely don't turn on at low speeds, only at higher speeds.

I feel like people flashing their lights is just a general LED thing, particularly on bigger vehicles. The color temperature is so high that even when they aren't directly in someone's eyes they look extremely bright. Bigger vehicles I feel may accentuate this effect since they tend to be higher up in the field of view of oncoming traffic, even if not directly in their eyes.

I really actually sort of hate the high color temperature every automaker has gone with for LED's. I get that they illuminate better (or at least closer to daylight temperature), but I have always found warmer temperatures to be preferable at night because they are less straining on the eye, feel less of a sharp drop off at the edges (because it's less of an adjustment to dark areas) and it is way less obnoxious to oncoming traffic. Every automaker uses these bright white LED's though so it's really an industry problem. It would be nice if automakers just used variable temperature LED's so you could select in a range.

 

[HawkeyeOD]

If the high beams are set to auto, then they will automatically come on if the truck senses that things are dark enough. I live more out in the country (but not super rural by any means) and mine flip on and off like they are supposed to when I’m moving in and out of very dark areas/roads. Something must still be off with the calibration or settings.

 

[ryanc111]

It is fully auto. If it is set up correctly they will actually be on low by default, and then turn off if there is no oncoming traffic and you are going over a certain speed (I think it is about 35-40mph). I'm not 100% on the speed requirement, but mine definitely don't turn on at low speeds, only at higher speeds.

32 mph is the magic number for the auto high beams to go on for my truck. I wish it was configurable though - there have been a number of times this winter where I wasn't able (or willing) to go that fast due to road conditions and would have loved for the auto high beam function to work. Heaven forbid I have to actually remember to dim the lights myself.

I will say that the auto dim function on my F150 is light years better than it was on my 2019 1500.

 

[Zyvin]

This may be long winded but please bear with me... Truck is a 502A Lariat as per my signature (so full LED lights)

Had my truck for about 2 months now and everything so far (knock on wood) has been perfect...outside of the headlights. I had a 2" level installed by the dealership at delivery and they re-aimed the headlights. Immediately that night I noticed they certainly did not as they were pointing to the sky. Went back again and they assured me they were correct now. Lights seems much better but I am constantly being flashed by oncoming drivers, so they must be out of whack still.

I did the self-aim process and the lights 'seem' to be pointing where they should be (measure from ground to headlight dot, put tape on wall 30' away at same height, re-aim).

On top of this issue, my auto high beams have NEVER turned on for me. I live in the country and do a lot of highway and back road driving with zero traffic. Yes the switch is set to 'Auto' and I have glare-free turned on in the settings. I can manually turn them on no problem with the stalk but that isn't the point...aren't they supposed to turn on by themselves if nobody is around?

I'm kind of at all loss here as taking it to the dealer again doesn't seem like it will get me anywhere.

Any thoughts or suggestions on either of these issues would be greatly appreciated!

I believe the measure and transfer to the wall assumes a factory height. You took your “lifted” height and used that as a reference. Maybe get a measurement from someone that doesn’t have a level or subtract the height you added and go from there.

The auto high beams do not have an “auto” mode. They are either on or off. “Auto high beam” and “glare free” are different things.

 

[smarty39]

I just went out and checked…under vehicle settings —> lighting, I only have the option for glare free not auto high beams? As a fully loaded 502a, should this not show up as a toggle in options?

 

[gtotco]

I just went out and checked…under vehicle settings —> lighting, I only have the option for glare free not auto high beams? As a fully loaded 502a, should this not show up as a toggle in options?

What country are you in?

 

[psambrose]

The auto-high beam feature on my 1979 Lincoln Mark V worked better than the one on my 2021 F-150. I am being totally serious. Why will it only work above 32 mph? Most of my near misses with deer happen at slower speeds where I live.

 

[gtotco]

The auto-high beam feature on my 1979 Lincoln Mark V worked better than the one on my 2021 F-150. I am being totally serious. Why will it only work above 32 mph? Most of my near misses with deer happen at slower speeds where I live.

My guess is because it’s designed for the vast majority of users. In most places in the US sun 30mph are residential streets where people do not typically use high beams. You can manually change them on your road.

Edit: also at lower speeds you need to see less far in front of you because of the speed you are traveling

 

[smarty39]

What country are you in?

Canada

 

[psambrose]

My guess is because it’s designed for the vast majority of users. In most places in the US sun 30mph are residential streets where people do not typically use high beams. You can manually change them on your road.

Well, I guess that is my point exactly. There are many residential areas without street lights and a speed limit of 25 mph. At dusk and after dark it is common to need high beams to see deer wandering out from between houses or kids. But it is also common to encounter other traffic, so you are constantly having to manually switch the high beams on and off. My old 1979 Lincoln would handle this automatically. My brand new computerized high-tech truck will not.

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