High Beam Assist

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drtav13

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My 8V Sportback is equipped with High Beam Assist , however I haven't managed to get the damn thing working , not even once!
after visiting the dealer to check all the related sensors , they said that every sensor is working fine and probably the problem is related to driving conditions. They gave me a list with all the driving conditions that should be met in order for the system to work
1) the road should have no lights (makes sense)
2)should not be near a populated area (almost makes sense, cause of lights from houses etc)
3)should not have traffic signs (makes no sense , im speculating maybe it refers to reflections from the high beam ???)
4)the minimum speed of the car should be at 56mph / 90kmh (way to fast for a dark road with low visibility if you ask me)
5)the road should be almost straight with no turns or big curves
6)no other car should proceed or follow for at least 1 km / 0.6miles range , same or opposite direction.

I find most of the above excessive and I would like to know other owners experience with High Beam Assist. (hopefully someone else has optioned it :) )
 
Seems rather extreme to me Drtav13 for High Beam assist to function properly given those conditions required.

I am pleased I did not spec this if these conditions are required for it to work.
 
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SJW said:
Seems rather extreme to me Drtav13 for High Beam assist to function properly given those conditions required.

I am pleased I did not spec this if these conditions are required for it to work.
Click to expand...

I am sure there are a few posts on here or on the 8P forum stating that the system is way to senstive and dips the headlights way to early at the slightest indication of any sign of brightness in the distance
 
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I've got the variable range control instead, will be interested to see how that works
 
Daveotto said:
I am sure there are a few posts on here or on the 9P forum stating that the system is way to senstive and dips the headlights way to early at the slightest indication of any sign of brightness in the distance
Click to expand...

well mine haven't turned on not even once! I activate the system the High Beam icon with the letter A appears on the dash , but the high beam light stays off....
 
Not sure if this will be useful or not!

On the 8P3 you can adjust some of the sensitivity parameters using VCDS! I haven't done it personally because I don't have that option fitted to mine, but I remember seeing the option when browsing just yesterday & thought you might like to take the info back to the dealer to see if there's anything they can fine tune.

HTH.
 
as far as i know vcds compatibility for 8v is limited at the moment , however thanks for the tip!

Artimus said:
Not sure if this will be useful or not!

On the 8P3 you can adjust some of the sensitivity parameters using VCDS! I haven't done it personally because I don't have that option fitted to mine, but I remember seeing the option when browsing just yesterday & thought you might like to take the info back to the dealer to see if there's anything they can fine tune.

HTH.
Click to expand...
 
2, 3, 4, 5, 6 are wrong

Totally wrong! I have assist in my 8v and only first option is ± true. With public ilumination high beam goes on... when a car enters in high beam range... car automatically turn off that.

Cars that come in opposite direction neved blinked me with high beam. So should work well.

Sorry for my bad english.
 
junkbuddy said:
2, 3, 4, 5, 6 are wrong

Totally wrong! I have assist in my 8v and only first option is ± true. With public ilumination high beam goes on... when a car enters in high beam range... car automatically turn off that.

Cars that come in opposite direction neved blinked me with high beam. So should work well.

Sorry for my bad english.
Click to expand...

thanks for the info , could you please confirm at what speed the high beam assist starts working?

please also let me know if you have high beam assist as part of the driver assistance package ( Adaptive Cruise Control , Lane Assist , High Beam Assist , Parking Assist , Light Rain Sensor , tinted front window line)
 
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audi upgrades
After Further testing on completely dark roads. I've reached the following conclusion:
1) the road should have no lights (makes sense)
2)should not be near a populated area (almost makes sense, cause of lights from houses etc)
3)The speed required for the system to start working is 65km / 40mph . High beam then activates and stays on until a light source appear in front of the car. In case you slow down below 65km/40mph it still remains activated.

So on all occasions when I'm on a dark road I have to momentarily reach at least65km/40mph so that the system can be activated.

STILL MAKES NO SENSE TO ME!!! :banghead:
 
If that's the case then it seems very limited :think:

And if so I'd expect more explanation in the brochure so that customers can decide whether it's worth the extra money, as it just implies in the brochure it works under most conditions.
 
I'm pretty sure I've read that before somewhere. I wonder how the variable range version differs, as that's what I'll get.
 
Strikes me as one of the most pointless options ever. So touchy/unpredictable as to be virtually useless.
 
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Sounds fine to me - when would you ever be driving below 40 outside of a built up area?
 
Vertigo1 said:
Strikes me as one of the most pointless options ever. So touchy/unpredictable as to be virtually useless.
Click to expand...

Was thinking exactly the same - the rules and sensitivity of the sensors need to be able to be changed based upon where you drive to make it even vaguely useful
 
drtav13 said:
3)The speed required for the system to start working is 65km / 40mph . High beam then activates and stays on until a light source appear in front of the car. In case you slow down below 65km/40mph it still remains activated.

So on all occasions when I'm on a dark road I have to momentarily reach at least65km/40mph so that the system can be
Click to expand...

With VCDS you can change this, it's an adaption on the A5 controller, "Activation speed for high beam assistant". On my Australian delivered S3 it is set by default to 57 km/h. I haven't altered it, as for our local roads that is fine - I've tested it and find it to work very well for my requirements.

There is also another adaption, "Speed threshold for high beam recommendation off" which is set to 27 km/h and controls when it turns off. Also "Main_Beam_Assist_Urban_Area_Detection" which is set to "On", "Night vehicle detection activation brightness" set to "3 lx" and "Night vehicle detection deactivation brightness", set to "20 lx".

By tweaking these values, you could significantly alter the behaviour of high beam assist.
 
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Mine works perfectly with the LED headlights.

Had it on two cars now and would never not have it - bargain for the price.
 
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I also have it with LED headlights and find it perfect. Yet another thing not to have to think about when driving at night so can concentrate on the main job.
I didn't know you could adjust the thresholds with VCDS although the defaults seem to work fine for me. I would certainly recommend it and would spec it again. A bargain as Pulp84 says.
 
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Ive also had some issues with the high beam assist. What I think I've figured out is that if I manually activate the high beams, then push the lever back so that its in "auto" mode, it seems to work fairly well although I find it to be a bit too slow to come back on after Ive passed a car.
 
I use high beam assist every weekend. It works above 30ish miles an hour. Never lets me down. The only issue is that large road signs sometimes make the high beam dip. The best little extra along with hold assist.
 
pgl said:
I use high beam assist every weekend. It works above 30ish miles an hour. Never lets me down. The only issue is that large road signs sometimes make the high beam dip. The best little extra along with hold assist.
Click to expand...

+1 - I think its a fantastic option, works perfectly well around country lanes, notices cars/lights coming towards you or in front and reacts in betetr time than I would if I were doing it manually. Even better around country lanes for night sporty driving as you don't have to worry about dipping light sit does it all for you.

One of the best options on the S3, I'd spec it every time.

As for all the conditions for it works drtav13 in your first thread - dealer clearly has never used it IMO or has no idea how it operates.

What I do is push the lever away to activate it when I have started the car and am driving down the street - then forget it, it does the rest itself :)
 
Zygote said:
Ive also had some issues with the high beam assist. What I think I've figured out is that if I manually activate the high beams, then push the lever back so that its in "auto" mode, it seems to work fairly well although I find it to be a bit too slow to come back on after Ive passed a car.
Click to expand...

I don't understand what you mean... manually activate high beams? How do you do that? The only way is to push the lever back twice - once to put it in auto mode, then again for manual override / full beam on
 
My 2015 A8L drives me crazy as well, turning off with signs on the road. There must be a sensitivity adjustment somewhere. My wife's Honda Accord works flawlessly! It's as if you were doing it manually as soon as you saw headlights, and coming back on as soon as they passed.
 
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I have a FL S3 with the standard (non-matrix) LED headlights. High beam assist works very well for me. I find it slightly annoying that it has to be activated via the stalk every time. It only works if the rotary light switch is set to "Auto" AND the stalk on the left of the steering wheel is pushed so that the headlight symbol displays "A" on the dashboard.

On bendy (dark) country roads it dips the headlights in response to oncoming cars much faster than I could and it just makes driving at night much easier. Rather than negotiating a bend and having to manually dip the lights it does it for me and that is safer IMHO.

My Morris has the dipswitch on the floor near the clutch which I would occasionally confuse with the clutch. That lead to some interesting situations of frantically flashing headlights with the dipswitch whilst crashing the gearbox thinking I was pressing the clutch! Of course the headlights on such an old car are about as effective as a candle.
 
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I have HBA on my S3. It is completely worthless. It shuts off if there are street lights, road signs, or if there have been other cars recently visible.

It's totally useless. I've turned it off in the MMI, because leaving it on means that you have to double-tap the headlight stalk to turn on the high beams.
 
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