Headlights

Hi Everyone, Just a quick question regarding the headlights of the HS Phev. I have had my car for a few months now and only drove it in the dark last night. While the lights are nice bright white, they are somewhat lacking on actually lighting the road ahead. What I mean is this if on a perfectly flat road they are just about adequate. If you go down then slightest dip the visible light is probably only 20 foot in front of the car. I initially thought the level adjuster was the wrong way sadly it was correct and shifting it made the situation far worse. I had to use main beam nearly all the time. I was just wondering if anyone else has had this issue? I am going to look at having them adjusted as they are dangerous as they are on unlit roads. I am slowly starting to regret ever buying this car if truth be told.

I do not under stand your problem have you set the car up some distance from a wall and checked that you have a lower right side to the left side which goes up a bit so you do not blind on coming traffic which is the correct setting.
it is obvious if you go down a dip that the light will point down and shorter if you go up hill will lose some light, sometimes the road surface does not reflect the light as some others do, but road with new cat eyes stand out well. one road between Duxford and the A1 new cat eyes have been installed and the middle of the road set of eye where bright near and far but in the middle of the beam they gave off a blue light.
I drove home from Norfolk last night with no problem and most of the way was on dipped lights. I also followed a car back to where I was saying and had to keep some distance back from them so not to blind them in the rear view mirror and going down a hill letting them go on a bit the distance seems shorter but is more than twenty feet and used main beam as needed.
one other thing you have take into account is age i am in my sixties and your eye sight is not as good as if you where in your twenties so have to drive accordingly.

All I was asking was if any fellow HS owners had found this an issue, trying to ascertain if my car was a Monday morning or Friday afternoon vehicle where the lights may not have been adjusted correctly. I have owned dozens of vehicles over the years without having issues with the headlights. In my personal opinion I feel the lights do not project very far ahead of the car. If your lights are fine then I am pleased for you move on there is nothing to see here. I am a time served mechanic so know how to set up the headlights for an MOT and not to blind people.

my dad was a car mechanic and had a wall that he would check the lights on so give that a go it will give you some idea if set properly, I do believe LED light spread is different.
I do not know if you had LED lights before but I looked up this, they could move out of alignment

Pros of LED Headlights

• They are small and compact. LED lights take up a very small space within the vehicle. They are so small that they don’t even need a headlight house. But, of course, that would change the entire look of the vehicle.
• LED headlights can be turned on and off instantly.
• They do not blind other drivers.
• These headlights don’t only focus on what’s directly ahead but also offer a wider area of vision as well.
• LED lights can use any color spectrum. They aren’t limited to the bright, white-blue spectrum.

Cons of LED Headlights

• They are more expensive as compared to HID headlights.

would be interesting if they have moved.

I think the actual light from the units is stunning way superior to the old halogen lights. I have a number of motorbikes that I converted to led and also had HID lights on both car and bikes. On high beam there is a good spread of light and more of what I expected. But still low compared to other vehicles I have had. I will pop it along to the local MOT center and ask kindly if they will check them with their beam alignment tool.
It just be me, I asked the question as I got a bit of a shock and felt there was maybe something wrong. I will update this when I have had them checked out.

I totally agree with this complaint the dipped head lights are rubbish on the mg hs phev..2023 main beam is good we have 3 cars in the family..2022 grandland ..2024 crossland the dipped on the vauxhall are as you would expect none of the family want to drive the hs at night especially out in the countryside..we totally agree dipped are ok upto about 2 car lengths then it just goes black you can't see a thing ..and yes we are the same so many problems with this car we will never buy another mg..all this stuff on here about led head lights don't change a thing I think the car is dangerous at night on dipped beam ps there is nothing wrong with our eyes ..lol...good luck

My cars headlights were miles out of adjustment. 9 turns on each adjuster out. It looks like they were set up with the car being on high beam instead of dipped. I tend to agree with Paul above the lights are not the best yes they are very bright but as Paul says they don't go so far down the road. High beam covers a large area dimly. I was in a friend's tesla and the lights on that are absolutely stunning complete opposite to the MG. I live in the country and without any ambient light the lights on the Phev are servely lacking.

Have you tried the headlamp levelling adjustment setting as on pages 51 and 52 of the manual? I have mine set on level 0 and I find the headlights perfectly fine.

ronmaz said:

Have you tried the headlamp levelling adjustment setting as on pages 51 and 52 of the manual? I have mine set on level 0 and I find the headlights perfectly fine.

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Hi yes of course in its lowest position I would not want to go over 20mph ..iam going to try take some pics of hs headlights vs crossland and post on here if something was in the road at more than 10 metres you would not see it the dip has no spred whatsoever I have never in my life driven car car with head lights like these ..it's nothing to do with the fact they are led..I've driven many cars with led head lights and never come across this problem before..all this does is encourage you to use high beam as much as possible..that's not good for others but what choice did you have ? If you can't see anything beyond 10 metres.. oh yes sorry of course you can drive everywhere at 25 mph ..lol..as for not blinding the car in front my hs would not even blind a rabbit at 10 metres....safe driving to all of you ..especially at night lol

Paul the ham said:

Hi yes of course in its lowest position I would not want to go over 20mph ..iam going to try take some pics of hs headlights vs crossland and post on here if something was in the road at more than 10 metres you would not see it the dip has no spred whatsoever I have never in my life driven car car with head lights like these ..it's nothing to do with the fact they are led..I've driven many cars with led head lights and never come across this problem before..all this does is encourage you to use high beam as much as possible..that's not good for others but what choice did you have ? If you can't see anything beyond 10 metres.. oh yes sorry of course you can drive everywhere at 25 mph ..lol..as for not blinding the car in front my hs would not even blind a rabbit at 10 metres....safe driving to all of you ..especially at night lol

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Ps guys I will have the car in to see if it is just adjustment of the head light units thanks for that tip..

Paul the ham said:

Ps guys I will have the car in to see if it is just adjustment of the head light units thanks for that tip..

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Another update ..went to local mot station..same as the other guys car on here they was well out of adjustment looked to me to be about 10 turns of the adjustment screws..just tested it in the dark and much better ...much better but not marvelous just passable...I think our cars are 4.55 pm on a Friday cars ..lol..job sorted thanks to all of you guys

Hi all,
I also live in the country in a quite hilly environment. I use my car frequently in the dark and have not found the lights to be a problem at all. I use the lights on "Auto main beam" and are excellent when it comes to visable projected light both in dipped and main beam. The reaction time to change from main to dipped when a car is coming toward you is perfectly rapid. Even when approaching a street lighted area, the lights dip instantly. The brightly lit area in front of the car is certainly much more than 10mtrs. (more like 6 HS lengths which is 28mtrs,or 90ft) Quite sufficient for travelling at legal speeds if you have 20/20 vision.

FAA Jock said:

Hi all,
I also live in the country in a quite hilly environment. I use my car frequently in the dark and have not found the lights to be a problem at all. I use the lights on "Auto main beam" and are excellent when it comes to visable projected light both in dipped and main beam. The reaction time to change from main to dipped when a car is coming toward you is perfectly rapid. Even when approaching a street lighted area, the lights dip instantly. The brightly lit area in front of the car is certainly much more than 10mtrs. (more like 6 HS lengths which is 28mtrs,or 90ft) Quite sufficient for travelling at legal speeds if you have 20/20 vision.

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Hi..well that confirms it's not all the mg hs phev that have the problem ..mine are ok now after having them adjusted..yes legal speed on a clear way is 50 or 60 that would have been impossible before the headlights were adjusted ..thanks for your input

Paul the ham said:

Another update ..went to local mot station..same as the other guys car on here they was well out of adjustment looked to me to be about 10 turns of the adjustment screws..just tested it in the dark and much better ...much better but not marvelous just passable...I think our cars are 4.55 pm on a Friday cars ..lol..job sorted thanks to all of you guys

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Makes you wonder what they actually check on the PDI, doesn't fill you with any type of confidence does it

Hi to be honest my 2023 phev exclusive has so many silly faults I got it used 1,200 on the clock 6 months old basically a new car ..first thing was the dab radio adaptor that was a big problem on this car as the rear window antenna cable plug was faulty i think he said it just come off in his hand so they couldn't do the upgrade had to wait weeks for the part it's done now but fm and dab are both rubbish..lots of software problems also like boot somtimes won't open ..all 4 rubbers on the outside of the door windows don't remove any warter ..reversing cam at night is very poor compared to our other cars ..I could go on all day about things that don't work as they should ..I payed 27,000 on 1st of Nov 23 best offer I've had on a trade in is 18,800on a brand new astra..omg 8k in 3 month..lol...good luck to all you guys

Yes there are lots of niggles with the car (character?) The whole DAB situation is shocking or the way MG have treated their customers is shocking. I looked at the trade in value and had to have a sit down looks like I will be running this car for the full term of the PCP . I do like it and it drives well with plenty of performance and often supprises people following when you put your foot down. But a lot of corners have been cut and the longer you own the car the more they tend to show.

Kerno said:

Hi Everyone, Just a quick question regarding the headlights of the HS Phev. I have had my car for a few months now and only drove it in the dark last night. While the lights are nice bright white, they are somewhat lacking on actually lighting the road ahead. What I mean is this if on a perfectly flat road they are just about adequate. If you go down then slightest dip the visible light is probably only 20 foot in front of the car. I initially thought the level adjuster was the wrong way sadly it was correct and shifting it made the situation far worse. I had to use main beam nearly all the time. I was just wondering if anyone else has had this issue? I am going to look at having them adjusted as they are dangerous as they are on unlit roads. I am slowly starting to regret ever buying this car if truth be told.

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My partner and I bought a 2nd hand MG HS last week and its the first time we have driven a vehicle with LEDs. Whether its the settings or the LEDs used/setup we dont know yet but it is dangerous to drive at night time with dipped lights on narrow country roads - particularly on downward sections after bends. Any suggestions very welcome!

Babs said:

My partner and I bought a 2nd hand MG HS last week and its the first time we have driven a vehicle with LEDs. Whether its the settings or the LEDs used/setup we dont know yet but it is dangerous to drive at night time with dipped lights on narrow country roads - particularly on downward sections after bends. Any suggestions very welcome!

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Check the alignment my car had the lights aligned while on high beam so on dipped it lit up about 10 foot in front of the car. Just for reference, my adjusters were out 9 full turns on each side.

I drive on unlit or poorly lit country roads and find the lights really poor when driving round bends. They seem ok going down the road looking straight ahead but mine don’t illuminate the near side verge at all. I will take Paul’s advice and take my car to an MOT station to see if there is anything they can do to improve the situation. Perhaps mine set up for left hand drive or something