On the plus side, I don't use as much screen wash without the light washers now

 

On the plus side, I don't use as much screen wash without the light washers now

That will be the reason they are not as bright on dipped beam at least.
Ford must have reduced the light output to be able to remove the headlight washers.

 

Even so, go for a drive in a calibra or original puma and you'll see just how poor headlights can be.

 

Much as I loved my Calibra SE2 the headlamps were awful. Best bit of them that it only took 2 mins to change a bulb.

 

I agree @troyneutron

I'm not overly impressed with the lights.

I live in a very rural area and work 12 hour shifts so I'm going to work and driving home in the dark. Sometimes when it's very dark I don't feel I have much light at all.

Auto full beam is ok but I still tend to switch it off when cars are coming towards me as I'm struggling to get my head round I'm not dazzling someone however no one has ever flashed me when driving towards me and the auto full beam is on.

It's weird watching the adaptive headlights working as you are driving, seeing areas suddenly light up and other areas go dark.

I do agree the lights don't seem very bright when on standard dipped.

 

I do 12hr night shifts in a rural area so I have the same trouble.
They just seem dull with too many different moving patches of light which I find myself focusing on.
Unfortunately I think it's a real backward step from the MK4 adaptive dynamics lights which were awesome.

 

We must work at the same place 😂 😂 😂

It may just be the headlights getting really dirty with the current conditions. Sometimes I feel I have enough light but sometimes I don't. I'm also on the lookout for deer who seem to want to run out in front of you and test your brakes (and nerve) at every opportunity.
I certainly felt more confident driving in the dark in my mk3.5.

I don't mind the moving patches, it's quite entertaining to watch.

 

This is a shame - it's pretty much the same technology on my C43 and they work absolutely awesomely, the full beam will light up to 800 metres in front of me without obstruction and the shadows created around other vehicles are barely noticeable. Ford have obviously either skimped a bit or not got it quite right. If you're going to fit a premium feature like this to a car then you should at least make sure it works properly.

 

I hope they are not bad. I cant comment on them yet but I absolutely love the pre facelift adaptive lights. Very impressed by them.
Could be worth a trip to the dealer to get them checked. Not many people have responded saying they are not good and I had issues with my mk3. I know it’s different but the xenon’s on that seemed dull and didn’t light up much of the road. Turned out they needed adjusting. Was perfect after the dealer looked at them.

 

I looked at mine on the drive home yesterday - I have the same brighter rectangular patch but I don't find that it bothers me. Same with the adaptive high beam, I quite like watching it move about. I've not given it a real test yet, but I'm back in the UK for 2 weeks over Crimbo with plenty of night driving lined up, so I'll see how it works. Both my mk3.5s had adaptive xenons and I used to find on a twisty UK B-road that the lights didn't turn quick enough for the corners so I often took an early apex to get them swivelling. Colleagues tell me that the mk4.5 adaptive system is hooked into the map and camera so will start cornering before there is any steering input. Sounds like witchcraft, I'm looking forward to seeing how that works.

 

Thanks for the update and at least I know the brighter rectangular patch is meant to be there. I have manually raised the lights up myself and it's so much better and the bottom of the shadowed out section is alot nearer the cars now.
I've done a few night drives with no flashes so must be all good👍👍

 

How have you adjusted them? Just curious. Is it just an Allen key screw like the mk3?

 

Yes just with a 7mm Allen key

 

That rarest of tools! I made one, never had a hex key set with a 7mm

 

I have done a few night drives and they are odd at first but used to them now. I had the adaptive lights on the mk4 and they were fantastic. these take a little while to get used to as they make up the light with boxes it seems. When the high beam is on the black areas around other vehicles are bigger than on the previous version. That's all i have really noticed. These seem just as bright and the height lines up with the same point on my garage. Only other thing is on the adaptive lights they used to do a dance when i turn the car on. I have not noticed the matrix ones doing it even though i thought they were supposed to calibrate when you turn the car on. They are moving and dipping ok etc when driving though.

 

Thanks for the update, I think we were spoilt with the mk4 adaptive lights.

 

Yes those lights were really impressive

 

Has anybody had any issues with auto levelling on the LED head lights? Got in 5am yesterday to do the morning commute which is mostly rural and noticed that the standard "low" beam was pointing alot "lower" and shorter than usual - almost like running foglights - they certainly were not lighting up the road ahead as far as they nornally do....pehaps a glitch but noticeable non the less ?

 

Yes, mine have done it twice now, cycled the ignition and they corrected themselves both times. I'm gunna take a picture next time to show the dealer not that anything will happen though.

 

Mine were doing the same thing soon after I got the car.

I found when they were dipped I felt like I only had about 10 feet of light in front of me. I also found in the fog I had to switch the adaptive full beam off as it was continually pointing into the fog.

However it does seem to have improved of late. I appear to be getting better distance on dipped beam.

It was also mentioned earlier in the thread about the adaptive full beam. My wife has a Puma and her adaptive lights just switch full beam on and off however with the Mk4.5 the full beam stays on with traffic coming towards you and the light unit appears to adjust the squares of light around the oncoming vehicles. It's very weird and takes time to get used to it.
Tonight the beam moved away from an oncoming vehicle and swung towards a white road sign on the left hand verge.
However the light reflected off the sign and back into my eyes.

Having spoken to a few work colleagues this seems to be the way adaptive headlights should work and it's a case of getting used to it. I still tend to switch it off with traffic coming towards me.

 

So after doing more drives at night I can say that if didn’t have the adaptive LED lights on the mk4 I would say the Matrix ones are really good but I have to admit I prefer the adaptive ones. These black out too much when on full beam if that makes sense. Best way of describing it is the adaptive ones used to light up to just below the rear window when on full beam and around the car in front and not blinding other road users. The matrix ones black out the car in front entirely and the some of the road behind it too. No idea why they are programmed like that. Even on dipped beam it lights up to just below the rear window of the car in front so when on full it shouldn’t black out more of the car than on dipped. Anyway just a small niggle. I agree now they are a step backwards. A small step back but still.

 

That's how the lights on my C43 work - they will create a dark area that starts just behind the car in front. I'm not entirely sure why you think this is a problem, why do you want the lights to go so high on the car in front? It won't take much of a bump for the lights to go higher and be in their mirror dazzling them.

 

Perfectly explained and spot on

 

My car went back to dealer yesterday, I kinda knew they would say no fault which they did, but did say two faults codes were stored on the car which they cleared, got it in this morning, exactly the same, they remotely logged into the car this morning & said the fault codes were back!, it’s booked back in again tomorrow

 

The levelling function is controlled by two (natty plastic !) transducer lever arms connected to the front suspension behind the brakes. When I first saw one I thought “that is going to give problems!” But nobody seems to have had a problem with them until your issue. Suspect it’s another mk4.5 issue related to alternate module sources and software issues. But hopefully just one of those sensors acting up as Ford rarely fix software issues or at least take two eternity’s by which time you’ve likely passed the car and its problem on.

 

Hope they find out whats wrong

 

Fault has been diagnosed as a faulty light module, new one has been ordered, two week back order from Germany

 

Hi, could you please share more detailed information on the diagnosis, repair number, part number etc.? It would be awesome as I do have the same issue for 8 (!!!!) months now and all I got from Ford is the information that there will be an update in Q1 2023 (but guess what, no update appeared). I am enough of disconnecting car battery to reset levelling system.

 

That's good, at least the fault has been diagnosed. Hopefully resolved after

 

Gets better, media screen is playing up now

 

ive been thinking of buying a mk4 or facelift version for my daily but all these posts are making me think ill be better off sticking to the prefacelift one as it seems to be the better option,my 2016 st3 has been fault free since new so all these faults that folk are having on new cars isnt inspiring me

 

I had mk4 for 3 years and didn't have one issue. The mk4.5 definitely is glitchy,has worse lights than the mk4 and have some items removed but is still a great car.

 

That issue seems to be quite common on the SYNC 4 screens.

 

I've had it but only the once so far and that was before Christmas.

 

mk4 it is then

 

how are people getting on with there headlight issues? I got this from Ford today

 

Unfortunately I can’t give you any fix, as our car is still at the main dealer, we won’t drive it now until a fix has been found