Driving in France. Headlight deflectors

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Trebor62

New Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2020
Messages
13
Location
Kent
Car
A180d amg line
Hi. I’m very much a novice as only just purchased an A180d amg line and am driving in France in May and wondered if anyone could explain if there is a way of adjusting the lights so I don’t have to use the stick on deflectors?
Any help or guidance would be appreciated.

Rob
 
What lights do you have?

Halogen? HID/Xenon? LED?
 
Have you looked in your handbook?

It may well have your answer there as to how to adjust the lights.
 
Hi OP, welcome along.
How long are you going to be in France ?
Will you be driving at night ?

It has been a while since I drove a RH drive car over there but I seem to remember if you are there for less than 72 hours you do not need them, quite how that would stop you dazzling other road users during that time is a question I have never heard answered.

I have come off the Chunnel train many times and seen only a very small number of UK cars sporting any kind of headlamp deflector, maybe they are taking a chance ?? But my guess is if you were found to have caused an accident by dazzling on coming road users the French police would likely want to have a 'word' with you.

IF you do buy deflectors get them from a reputable source. I was 'to ing and 'fro ing to France a while back for work and got fed up of having to buy expensive deflectors from Halfords every few weeks so I got some much cheaper but 'identical' RING beambenders on line , only to find on my arrival at the Chunnel that they had fallen off forcing me to buy overpriced ones at the services !

P.S How many foreign cars do you see on UK roads sporting beambenders....not many

P.P.S Do you still have to carry 2 breath test devices over there ..?

Hopefully your car will have a simpler solution via the owners handbook , good luck :thumb:
 
Apologies! LED
Assuming it's the current model A-Class (the W177), then it has a symmetrical dipped beam pattern and the manual states:
Notes on changing the lights when driving abroad

It is not necessary to change the headlamps. The legal requirements are also met in countries in which traffic drives on the other side of the road.
Regarding the breathalyser, don't bother. The law still requires you to carry two, but there's no sanction if you don't.

Of greater importance is to note that the French have very tight tolerances on exceeding the posted speed limit and lots of difficult-to-spot cameras, so if you think you can get away with up to 10% + 2kph over the limit (a bit like in the UK) you'll be in for a nasty surprise when you get home.

Final point is that if you're planning on driving in certain cities (including Paris, Grenoble and Strasbourg), you need a Crit'Air emissions sticker. Make sure you purchase it from the official site here, as there are a multitude of other sites that scam you into paying them an additional fee. Including postage, it costs €4.21 if you're in an EU country, or €4.41 if outside the EU.
 
Have you looked in your handbook?

It may well have your answer there as to how to adjust the lights.
As above.

With LED headlamps, most likely there will be a setting for RH and LH traffic, so you want need stick-on deflectors. The setting might be in the instrument cluster menu or a physical switch on top of the headlamp inside the engine bat, I do not know.

That said, I would buy a pair of stick-on deflectors and keep them the glove compartment, just on case you are stopped by an unfriendly gendarme with no English - it might prevent an argument and save time...

EDIT: Just saw st13phil's post. Makes sense that if you have ILS it will manage to avoid dazzling oncoming traffic from any side of the road. But I would still keep the stick-ons handy just in case French police are clued-in on the latest technology.....
 
As above.

With LED headlamps, most likely there will be a setting for RH and LH traffic, so you want need stick-on deflectors. The setting might be in the instrument cluster menu or a physical switch on top of the headlamp inside the engine bat, I do not know.

That said, I would buy a pair of stick-on deflectors and keep them the glove compartment, just on case you are stopped by an unfriendly gendarme with no English - it might prevent an argument and save time...

EDIT: Just saw st13phil's post. Makes sense that if you have ILS it will manage to avoid dazzling oncoming traffic from any side of the road. But I would still keep the stick-ons handy just in case French police are clued-in on the latest technology.....

On the non-LED ILS on my E Class I do it through a setting in the instrument cluster. Confusingly LHD means "drive on the left" ie where you have a RHD car and vice versa
 
On the non-LED ILS on my E Class I do it through a setting in the instrument cluster. Confusingly LHD means "drive on the left" ie where you have a RHD car and vice versa
Remember the first time I was changing it on a train to Calais I was totally confused which settings are correct and were German engineers thinking of car side of the road or drivers side. :dk:
 
Hi. A big thank you for the wealth of info, very much appreciated. I’m in France for two weeks and as I’m visiting Grenoble en route I’ve already purchased a Crit-air sticker as well as high vis, breathalyser ( I know they can’t enforce a fine but thought it best ? ) spare bulbs and as I wear glasses a spare pair. I purchased this new car w177 in June 2019 and there is no paper manual just a computer based one in the dash !! Is it possible to purchase a paper book manual ?
Big thanks again

Rob
 
I purchased this new car w177 in June 2019 and there is no paper manual just a computer based one in the dash !! Is it possible to purchase a paper book manual ?
The car should have been supplied with a paper copy of the manual - mine certainly was. Have you checked the compartment at the top of the passenger side glove-box where the manual is stored? If it's not there, go back to the supplying dealer and ask for it. Did you get a copy of the Certificate of Conformity (CoC), in a yellow cover? That would have been in the same package that contained the paper manual and is expensive to obtain a copy of.
 
Hi. A big thank you for the wealth of info, very much appreciated. I’m in France for two weeks and as I’m visiting Grenoble en route I’ve already purchased a Crit-air sticker as well as high vis, breathalyser ( I know they can’t enforce a fine but thought it best ? ) spare bulbs and as I wear glasses a spare pair. I purchased this new car w177 in June 2019 and there is no paper manual just a computer based one in the dash !! Is it possible to purchase a paper book manual ?
Big thanks again

Rob
Search for “Mercedes-Benz Guides” on the Apple or Android App Store and you can then download an electronic, searchable manual for your particular model and year.
 
Hi. Well I’ve checked the compartment at top of glove box and no manual? I’ve got the yellow CoC document but no manual? I’ve now contacted the dealer and they will send a copy although they did say it could take upto six weeks!!

thanks for the advice on the app that’s available, I’ve downloaded it and seems to cover everything

can’t thank you all enough for ALL the info, much appreciated

Rob
 
Search for “Mercedes-Benz Guides” on the Apple or Android App Store and you can then download an electronic, searchable manual for your particular model and year.
Good shout - I use it myself for quick reference, but find the search indexing a little”esoteric” in nature: you have to guess what terminology has been used as searches that don’t include the magic term are fruitless.
 
Yes I’ve discovered that it’s very hot and miss with regards to “search term(s) used” ?

As an example adjusting the headlights is under driving abroad ?!

Rob
 
I was not sure what to do with my 2003 S211 regarding the head light adjustment, but didn't bother when I took it to France, only when I registered it there and had to get a Control Technique, (MOT) did I look into it, I thought I was going to have to get new lights but found in the owners manual there is a red tag inside the lights which you have to turn to change for driving on the right I think it only flattens the beam (as in the USA) as opposed to deflecting it, passed the last 4 tests OK. With regard to the breathalyzer, they never got off the ground, but in the UK they are still telling you you have to carry them! When this was first mooted in France my neighbour bought 10 for 1€ each, (made in China) at E' leclerc and we tested them in the local bar, after 2 pints of lager they were showing, over the limit after 3 they were showing under the limit, what do you expect for 1€?, so when most people had bought these the transport minister decided to scrap the idea, after his son in law with the import licence from china had made a fortune!!
 
I have just remembered, a hire car I had a while back (Volvo, I think) had paper templates in the owners manual to be traced out so the driver could make his own bit of black tape to cover the offending part of the headlamp glass when going from driving on right to driving on left.

Any Volvo owners on here who can confirm ? Please don't tell me this was a dream , my dreams are weird enough already....and thats just the ones during my waking hours...:eek:
 
Does anyone know anyone who has EVER had a problem with these regs?

I've been taking the Merc to France for a third of the year for a good while now and I've never seen or heard of anyone encountering any trouble on this.

That said, yes, it makes sense to have a couple of high vis jackets in the car in the event of a breakdown anywhere (mine's a warm ex-Police jacket), and if you are away for a long time it makes sense to take a spare pair of glasses. But the spare set of bulbs, breathalyser etc ? Irrelevant.

New bulb ? Just drive to a big out of town retail park and buy whatever you need.

Breathalyser? No-longer enforced. (FYI - the French do still drive drunk - a lot)

Deflectors? Only relevant if you're driving at night: how much will you drive at night? As others have commented, no-one's adjusting LHD cars when they visit the UK.
 
..............

EDIT: Just saw st13phil's post. Makes sense that if you have ILS it will manage to avoid dazzling oncoming traffic from any side of the road. But I would still keep the stick-ons handy just in case French police are clued-in on the latest technology.....

If it has ILS I expect it will have a setting for driving on the right like mine has.
 
Does anyone know anyone who has EVER had a problem with these regs?
Yes. Getting out of a car on a motorway in France without wearing a hi-viz is pretty much a guaranteed nick, and having a radar detector caused a work colleague a whole world of pain and a good deal of cash.

Most years I’ll drive between 2k & 4K miles in continental Europe (on both two wheels and four) and I subscribe to the “don’t give someone a stick to hit you with” mantra, which means that I do all reasonable things to comply with local regulations, such as setting headlamps for right-hand traffic, carrying a warning triangle, having hi-viz vests, and not having a radar detector.

However, I don’t carry breathalysers in France as they’re a waste of time and money. I also don’t carry spare bulbs as most of the lamps on my vehicles are sealed LED units, and the headlamp bulbs on my wife's SLK and my K1600 are impossible to change at the roadside anyway.
 

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