Light sensitivity fixed following service

[agb]

Mine is the exact opposite, it’s got to be quite dark before the lights come on. A few weeks ago I was driving on the M27 in the middle of a major storm, mid afternoon, black sky, hammering down with rain, wipers going full tilt and the lights still didn’t come on, turned the lights on manually in the end.

Did you ever get this fixed?
This is the first car I've had with auto lights that does not have an owner adjustable light sensitivity.
I find myself having to turn on the lights manually in gloomy weather when 95% of cars around me already have lights on

 

[Rolfe]

It's possible to adjust the light sensitivity by playing around with the sensor cover. There are replacement sensor covers available but these all address the "comes on when a bird flies past the sun" complaint, so wouldn't suit you. Paste a piece of paper over the sensor, starting with tissue paper and increasing the thickness till it's behaving as you want?

 

[tsedge]

No light sensor system is perfect - you may need to put lights on for poor visibility in bright conditions, for example.

Early MG4s were set to put the lights on in anything except full sunlight. There was a software update that fixed this. It still puts them on in heavy shade (eg under a dark bridge), but then most other cars do the exact same.

I have never come across a car where the driver could adjust the sensitivity - maybe my budget has never allowed that!

 

[agb]

No light sensor system is perfect - you may need to put lights on for poor visibility in bright conditions, for example.

Early MG4s were set to put the lights on in anything except full sunlight. There was a software update that fixed this. It still puts them on in heavy shade (eg under a dark bridge), but then most other cars do the exact same.

I have never come across a car where the driver could adjust the sensitivity - maybe my budget has never allowed that!

Possibly, yes.
In my case

• Qashqai
• Tiguan
• Honda CRV

all had sensitivity adjustment

It's possible to adjust the light sensitivity by playing around with the sensor cover. There are replacement sensor covers available but these all address the "comes on when a bird flies past the sun" complaint, so wouldn't suit you. Paste a piece of paper over the sensor, starting with tissue paper and increasing the thickness till it's behaving as you want?

Yes, it does seem a DIY solution will be needed...... and I have a 3d printer + engineering interns to sort it out!

 

[tsedge]

I haven't owned those - they are not outside my budget though, so it is probably down to manufacturer and/or spec.

I can understand if you've always had this, and depended on it, you'd notice the lack.

In the old days it was patents that were the main reason for great features one make had that others didn't, but now everyone just copies everyone else, it must be down to different priorities / philosophies.

 

[dsr]

Does anyone know how sealers adjust the light sensitivity? Is it a percentage scale or, for example, one of five settings? I find my current setting too sensitive but, if I ask for a change on an upcoming service, I don’t want the setting to be insensitive - which I would regard as the greater of two evils.

 

[tsedge]

Does anyone know how sealers adjust the light sensitivity? Is it a percentage scale or, for example, one of five settings? I find my current setting too sensitive but, if I ask for a change on an upcoming service, I don’t want the setting to be insensitive - which I would regard as the greater of two evils.

I don't know if they even can adjust it. I don't recall anyone saying this was possible - other than installing a software update with a different fixed threshold.

 

[Rolfe]

I seem to remember it was adjustable in my Golf. At one point the automatic lighting got a bit temperamental and the garage owner showed me the sensitivity adjustment knob and said to twist it back and forward a few times. Fixed the problem.

 

[atariman]

Same here. They don't come on until it's too dark. Other makes of cars that I'm following all turn their lights on but not my SE SR. Like other systems, it works, but it's not clever enough.

Exactly my findings. Have to turn them on manually, but if I forget to turn them off when I park up, the parking lights stay on continuously. Why isn't there a warning of some sort?
As for the other automatic systems on the car, I agree - they all work but not well enough. Whether it's hardware and / or software that's not clever enough or powerful enough is unknown.
Other than the noisy AC compressor, I have no complaints.

 

[mikgle]

Exactly my findings. Have to turn them on manually, but if I forget to turn them off when I park up, the parking lights stay on continuously. Why isn't there a warning of some sort?
As for the other automatic systems on the car, I agree - they all work but not well enough. Whether it's hardware and / or software that's not clever enough or powerful enough is unknown.
Other than the noisy AC compressor, I have no complaints.

I quite like the noisy A/C .. it warns pedestrians when going down our lane, which is also a footpath. They wouldn't hear me otherwise.. mind you some don't until you sound the horn!

 

[ReintjeWA]

Exactly my findings. Have to turn them on manually, but if I forget to turn them off when I park up, the parking lights stay on continuously. Why isn't there a warning of some sort?
As for the other automatic systems on the car, I agree - they all work but not well enough. Whether it's hardware and / or software that's not clever enough or powerful enough is unknown.
Other than the noisy AC compressor, I have no complaints.

There is warning but it won't sound unless the car if OFF and generally the car only turns off when you get out and have locked the door, by which time you won't see/hear the warning. I believe this to be design flaw, and effectively it means there is no alarm for leaving your lights on.

 

[ReintjeWA]

I quite like the noisy A/C .. it warns pedestrians when going down our lane, which is also a footpath. They wouldn't hear me otherwise.. mind you some don't until you sound the horn!

The car also has a Pedestrian Alert System, but in my experience it is a little hit and miss in terms of warning pedestrians, often the noise from the tyres on the road is louder to me.

 

[Kithmo]

I didn't so much have a problem with the light threshold on the auto lights, just that the delay was too short, it seemed to be less than a second initially. Now that I've had various updates on the two services it's had, it's just right at about 2-3 seconds. This gives me time to go under a bridge without the lights coming on.

 

[Martinonline]

Ref the lack of lights on warning, I believe this has arisen because of the lack of a Start/Stop button and allowing the car to be powered down and locked using the door button/keyfob/Bluetooth. This means the warning will not be seen/heard.

Note when I tried to lock my car using ISmart but outside Bluetooth range the app asked me to confirm the car had been powered down because, if not, the command would not work. Was this the original lock command functionality?

 

[Rolfe]

I didn't so much have a problem with the light threshold on the auto lights, just that the delay was too short, it seemed to be less than a second initially. Now that I've had various updates on the two services it's had, it's just right at about 2-3 seconds. This gives me time to go under a bridge without the lights coming on.

We spoke about that before, and I'm not sure I want 2-3 seconds in complete darkness when I enter an unlit tunnel.

 

[ReintjeWA]

We spoke about that before, and I'm not sure I want 2-3 seconds in complete darkness when I enter an unlit tunnel.

It's strange, I find the sensor to be quick to turn on the lights under an overpass, but slow to come on when going through a tunnel.

 

[Rolfe]

I've tried it by covering and uncovering the sensor and I don't see why it would be different depending on the reason for the light intensity being cut.

 

[Kithmo]

We spoke about that before, and I'm not sure I want 2-3 seconds in complete darkness when I enter an unlit tunnel.

I don't go through any tunnels so 2-3 seconds is fine for me. Tunnels I have gone through in the past have always been lit up by daylight for a distance at each end and been in 30 or 40mph speed limits, so unless you're travelling fast, you're not plunged into total darkness within 2 or 3 seconds. I found coming out of tunnels into bright sunlight more distracting.
The different requirements for different drivers is a good case for having a driver adjustable setting in the menus.