Intelligent Lighting System

[st13phil]

Just thought I'd make comment on how darn useful this feature is.

My daily commute home at this time of year is in the dark and consists of approximately 20 miles on fast, unlit, country A- and B-roads. When I had my W204, even though I'd never driven a car fitted with the Intelligent Lighting System I always slightly regretted not specifying it as it seemed like such a good feature, but I consoled myself at having saved about £1,300 on the price of the car. When I bought my W212 it was standard equipment so there was no choice to make and I can honestly say that having lived with it I'll never buy another Mercedes-Benz without it.

As well as the slow speed cornering lights, the headlamp beam tracks steering inputs so the the lights are always pointing where you want them to. The Active Mainbeam Assist feature is the really impressive bit though. With it selected the headlight "throw" is automatically adjusted according to the distance of vehicles in front - whether that be oncoming vehicles or those you are following - and it gives you the maximum amount of lighting range possible without dazzling other vehicles. As with most really good automation, it's something that you don't really notice until you get in a car that doesn't have it, at which point you wonder why that car's lighting is so poor!

Good as it is, it's not completely perfect but I've now worked out the two primary circumstances that catch it out:

• Reflective roadside posts on a bend can trick it into thinking there's another vehicle in front and it reduces the light range;
• It seems to spot light sources rather than light itself, so it can be late to lower the beam pattern if an oncoming vehicle's lights (but not the beam itself) are obscured by road features

Other than that, it's sometimes slower than I would like to raise the beam pattern but overall on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give it a 9+

 

[ace571]

Agree Phil it is a great feature.

I second your two catch out scenarios. Reflective sign posts in particular can be an annoying one, particular on a deserted road late at night when you know pretty much you will be the only person on that road - the high beam will be cancelled. Often this happens just as you need it most, eg. approaching a bend - the warning signs for the bend ahead cause the main beam to be turned off!

In these circumastances a quick override facility would be good, but you can only bypass it by turning it off completely through the steering wheel Comand options.

 

[steve_w]

I've found the easiest way to override it quickly is switch the lights from automatic to headlamps at the rotary switch.

 

[Diesel Benz]

I've found the easiest way to override it quickly is switch the lights from automatic to headlamps at the rotary switch.

That and using high beam flash should allow an easy override when necessary.

I agree that in some cases the automatic system is a bit conservative or simply is not capable of identifying light patterns and turns unnecessarily low beams on but I cannot see how that should be really dangerous. In most cases I would keep driving with low beams anyway at the same speed when another car is approaching and I consider that a more difficult scenario than low beams without facing traffic.

 

[ace571]

I've found the easiest way to override it quickly is switch the lights from automatic to headlamps at the rotary switch.

Thanks I will try that