Auto Headlights Sensitivity

[Lonesparrow67]

Good evening,

I've had my new Mach-E for about 1 month now, and overall am very happy with it...

That being said, one area that I have found that leaves a lot to be desired is the sensitivty of the auto headlights.

I often cut through the City on my way to work and drive through multiple tunnels, which can be qutie dark at times, even though some have limited lighting....dark enough that you should definitely have your lights on when driving through them. With the Mach-E, I've noticed it's almost as though the sensitivty of the auto headlights is set too low...

On my previous 3 vehicles (2 Toyotas and 1 Lexus) the auto lights would come on within about 3 seconds of entering a dark tunnel, which they should definitely be doing.

With my new Mach-E Iv'e noticed that if they even turn on (I'd estimate about 70% of the time), it takes well over 35-50 seconds, which in many cases means I am actually exiting or just about to exit the tunnel on the other side before they even come on, which is pointless.

Has anyone noticed this on their vehicles?

I should also caveat this and say that the auto headlamps DO seem to work just fine at night, and the auto high-beams work fantastically well, for what it's worth...

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[Mach-Lee]

Toyota doesn’t do any kind of filtering in their light sensor, so they turn on and off all the time just going under an overpass or through shadows (frequent on/off is hard on bulbs/drivers). Ford does filter/average their light sensor input so that doesn’t happen, which I believe is a better strategy. As a result you may need to manually turn them on entering a tunnel if you find they take too long. There may be enough light in the tunnel to delay them coming on (a brighter tunnel will take longer to trigger them).

 

[GreaseMonkey]

@Lonesparrow67 , you have a 2024. Ford changed the headlight design on our vehicles and made them less sensitive than before. I had a 2022 and recently switched to 2024, so have a clean basis for comparison. In daytime when I enter my very dark parking garage, my new car takes way longer up the ramp to turn its lights on than the old one did and it is very annoying. Even borderline dangerous.

For the Ford people on the forum: pls fix it. You know what to do. Just revert to what you did in the past. It’s not rocket science.

 

[Lonesparrow67]

@Lonesparrow67 , you have a 2024. Ford changed the headlight design on our vehicles and made them less sensitive than before. I had a 2022 and recently switched to 2024, so have a clean basis for comparison. In daytime when I enter my very dark parking garage, my new car takes way longer up the ramp to turn its lights on than the old one did and it is very annoying. Even borderline dangerous.

For the Ford people on the forum: pls fix it. You know what to do. Just revert to what you did in the past. It’s not rocket science.

Glad to know I'm not going crazy, lol....And yes, I would agree, in certain circumstances in my case I would agree that it can be borderline dangerous (particularly dusk/dawn when the tunnels are particularly dark...)

 

[Jeff-NoVA]

On some Ford/Lincoln models you could change the delay setting in FORScan but I've never found that setting for the MME. I enjoyed having the lights come on right away instead of requiring ~5 seconds+ of darkness (at least, on my '22), as I also drive under some long overpass tunnels on a regular basis.

 

[JeffGo]

My 2021 constantly switched the headlights on and off of high beam (I live in a suburban area which is fairly dark). I get a lot less of that arbitrary switching with my '24, but haven't timed how long it takes for them to go to high beam.

 

[glenthompson]

I know Toyotas can have different settings for the automatic lights. Requires updating via the OBD2 port with appropriate software.

Lights are recommended in long tunnels in the event of a power failure. You don't want to have the tunnels lights go off and not be able to see. This was mentioned in the book "Are Your Lights On?" where they had a sign on a long tunnel in Europe (think miles) to turn your lights on. Problem was that people would forget that they were on and stop and end up with a dead battery. Solution was to have a sign at exit saying "Are your lights on?" to remind them. Old book - 1990 - so car lighting tech is much different now.

 

[eafuw]

@Lonesparrow67 , you have a 2024. Ford changed the headlight design on our vehicles and made them less sensitive than before. I had a 2022 and recently switched to 2024, so have a clean basis for comparison. In daytime when I enter my very dark parking garage, my new car takes way longer up the ramp to turn its lights on than the old one did and it is very annoying. Even borderline dangerous.

For the Ford people on the forum: pls fix it. You know what to do. Just revert to what you did in the past. It’s not rocket science.

I actually prefer the sensitivity to be low because i got my windshield tinted and now my light sensor thinks its daark and turn the headlights on in broad daylight when i just want to day time lights running. How do i adjust the sensitivity in forescan??

 

[eafuw]

On some Ford/Lincoln models you could change the delay setting in FORScan but I've never found that setting for the MME. I enjoyed having the lights come on right away instead of requiring ~5 seconds+ of darkness (at least, on my '22), as I also drive under some long overpass tunnels on a regular basis.

Have you found the option to adjust the sensitivity in forescan yet?

 

[markboris]

Have you found the option to adjust the sensitivity in forescan yet?

There isn't a sensitivity adjustment for the light sensor in FORScan. This was discussed several years ago. Nothing has changed as far as I know.

 

[Jeff-NoVA]

Have you found the option to adjust the sensitivity in forescan yet?

As Mark said, no. Too bad!

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