Cornering Lights...

[whitenemesis]

Just a little info I've found regarding this useful function.

I recently had this enabled on my car although I don't have Xenons (contrary to what the dealers say) and although it's an improvement it's not as illuminating as I had hoped!

I had a check through EPC and confirmed my suspicions, the part numbers are different for the fog lights on cars with Xenon headlights (and therefore the "official" cornering function) also the bulbs are different, 55w H7 as opposed to 51w HB4.

My guess is that the lenses are designed to throw more light to the sides than on the "normal" fogs.

A quick check and it's a £178 parts cost for the swap, not sure how easy they are to change.


Maybe you guys already knew this but it was news to me!

 

[R2D2]

I didn't realise that and thankyou for finding out. I'm still glad I deactivated mine though!

 

[television]

I think that his car is sinking under the weight of all of the mods, and that the lights are almost on the ground

 

[crockers]

Can't see the point of one light on.....to me true cornering lights are those that swivel slightly.....aka the old citreon style....but then everyone has their own opinions..

 

[television]

Can't see the point of one light on.....to me true cornering lights are those that swivel slightly.....aka the old citreon style....but then everyone has their own opinions..

Am i daft if I thought that the 221 lights swivel like the DS23

 

[marcos]

My headlights swivel and the fogs come on when you turn. It does illuminate the side quite well but I am fed up with people telling me I only have one fog light working

 

[Diesel Benz]

An interesting finding, had a look at the W211 and couldn't see the same.

 

[rf065]

My headlights swivel and the fogs come on when you turn. It does illuminate the side quite well but I am fed up with people telling me I only have one fog light working

I'm beginning to see more MB's with this feature on the road now. First impressions on noticing only 1 fog on, is that a bulb has blown. Even though I've known for some time it is supposed to do that, I always think a bulb has blown when I see one. After a second, I then think what is the point? Do we really need lights like this? How many people will tell you that a bulb has blown or you should not have your fog(s) on before it becomes a pain in the a**e for everyone.

Russ

 

[R2D2]

My headlights swivel and the fogs come on when you turn. It does illuminate the side quite well but I am fed up with people telling me I only have one fog light working

"Oi mate, your foglights broken" to be added to "Oi mate, you've left your lights on!"

 

[BTB 500]

Problem is, it seems to activate in quite bright daylight (along with the auto lights I guess) ... which looks even more daft.

 

[PJH]

Rule 236
You MUST NOT use front or rear fog lights unless visibility is seriously reduced (see Rule 226) as they dazzle other road users and can obscure your brake lights. You MUST switch them off when visibility improves.


[Law RVLR regs 25 & 27]

Personally I think they look daft.
Also it is just a way of breaching the law. Why should activating ONE fog light make it legal ?

 

[Diesel Benz]

Personally I think they look daft.
Also it is just a way of breaching the law. Why should activating ONE fog light make it legal ?

This should not be confused with using fog lights when those are not allowed. The cornering light only activates at very restricted conditions, below certain speed and when turning (wheels turned or blinker on).

 

[PJH]

This should not be confused with using fog lights when those are not allowed. The cornering light only activates at very restricted conditions, below certain speed and when turning (wheels turned or blinker on).

Yes, but it is still a fog light that is being activated.

 

[robert.saunders]

I find it difficult to accept MB would develop this and it so obviously contravene lighting regulations for the UK market.

 

[BTB 500]

The law on foglights is simple - it's an offence to have them on unless visibility is serious impaired ... generally taken to be below 100 metres.

I believe that legally, front lights are considered to be foglights if they are operated by a switch separate to the normal light switch and have a warning light. So auxiliary lights which come on and off with main beam are 'driving lights' and not fog lights.

It's possible that because M-B 'cornering lights' are being activated automatically they are - legally - no longer fog lights when used in this way. Presumably the front foglight warning light in the car doesn't come on in this situation.

 

[glojo]

My headlights swivel and the fogs come on when you turn. It does illuminate the side quite well but I am fed up with people telling me I only have one fog light working

We have the older active headlights as fitted to the 211, but being perfectly honest, the bi-xeon lights are so good the driver needs to concentrate so hard to actually notice the slight movement of the lights. It is certainly not an option that would be on the top of my 'Must have' list and these new single fog-light gizmo's appear to cause more inconvenience than they are worth??

Regards
John

 

[whitenemesis]

The law on foglights is simple - it's an offence to have them on unless visibility is serious impaired ... generally taken to be below 100 metres.

I believe that legally, front lights are considered to be foglights if they are operated by a switch separate to the normal light switch and have a warning light. So auxiliary lights which come on and off with main beam are 'driving lights' and not fog lights.

It's possible that because M-B 'cornering lights' are being activated automatically they are - legally - no longer fog lights when used in this way. Presumably the front foglight warning light in the car doesn't come on in this situation.

Thanks for this, finally some one has come up with a reasonable explaination (whether it's correct or not I don't know) as to why a global car manufacturer can market a car with feature that so many believe illegal.

I can't believe MB would have launched this without it's lawyers consulting the relevant authorities!

Now, whether one thinks it useful, confusing to others or just a gimmick is something completely dfferent

 

[Diesel Benz]

We have the older active headlights as fitted to the 211, but being perfectly honest, the bi-xeon lights are so good the driver needs to concentrate so hard to actually notice the slight movement of the lights. It is certainly not an option that would be on the top of my 'Must have' list and these new single fog-light gizmo's appear to cause more inconvenience than they are worth??

Regards
John

There are so many Xenon options on a W/S211 that I'm getting confused which one this comment applies to.

614 is the "basic" Bi-xenon that "only" has self levelling. The vertical movements are invisible while driving.
622 is currently the option in Germany with "aktiver Kurvenlichtfunktion", this should be the lights that move horizontally with steering. This again should be very visible when driving winding roads (my experience from the W221).

I did not expect the swivelling lights being an big improvement, if those had not been standard with Bi-Xenons on the W221, I would not have bought those as an option. But after driving (quite a lot outside city areas), I would certainly pay the small extra on cars where this is an option.

The active cornering lights system may be less important (again, the specific cornering lamps on a W221 make visibility a lot wider towards the slow turn, and no "burnt fog lamps" as those are not used, but still the least important lights feature in my opinion).

Now the UK price list talks about 618/619 for the "basic" Bi-Xenon, while the German basic Xenons are still 614, the intelligent light system is 621 instead of 622 on the German price list (perhaps this is the LHD/RHD difference). Someone could explain the difference between all the current W211 options.

I admit I haven't tried the new W211 intelligent lights at highway and cannot comment that but I agree with the Bi-Xenons as such being the major improvement but I do see the swivelling lights useful too, for out-of-city driving.

 

[glojo]

I admit I haven't tried the new W211 intelligent lights at highway and cannot comment that but I agree with the Bi-Xenons as such being the major improvement but I do see the swivelling lights useful too, for out-of-city driving.

We eventually saw our lights moving in a very quiet country lane, but it was not easy to pick up this extra movement. The thing to remember is the car moves the instant the steering wheel moves the headlights swivel, but the car also moves....... To differentiate between the small movement made by these very illuminating lights and the real movement of the car is negligible, plus when we think about it, the time taken for the car to make up any difference, is also negligible. The lights do not swivel to a 30 degree angle or anything like it.

I was convinced our active lights were not 'active' the workshops had problems finding out how to check the lights to make sure they were moving, but eventually the experts got involved and yup they work

Regards
John

 

[richard]

T
Now the UK price list talks about 618/619 for the "basic" Bi-Xenon, while the German basic Xenons are still 614, the intelligent light system is 621 instead of 622 on the German price list (perhaps this is the LHD/RHD difference).

RHD cars (left hand traffic) had an extra code when lights were normal, now that we have zenon etc, there are different codes for left hand and right hand traffic

612 headlamp xenon right hand traffic
613 lamp unit - assymetrical, left hand traffic
614 Bi-xenon headlamps for right hand traffic
615 bi-xenon headlight with aktive curvelight right drive
616 bi-xenon headlight with aktive curvelight left drive
617 xenon headlamps, left hand traffic
618 bi-xenon headlamps for left hand traffic
619 cornering illumination
621 bi-xenon headlight unit with intelligent light system
622 bi-xenon headlight unit with intelligent light system

For E class 211, all of those codes are 'valid'

The code you should specify next time you order a car is 'Y838' - blue flash lamps behind radiator grille

R