Random headlight failure

[John H]

Hi, thinking this might be useful for other members.
This morning all the front lights failed, "started" the car and not only did the headlights fail to come on in the dark, but the side lights and running lights were all off too.
As far as the instruments were concerned the lights were working fine
Had time to have a look later today, still no front lights - rebooted the infotainment, still off. Got out, locked the car, unlocked again and the lights were back to normal!
No idea why, but it saved me a phone call and a potential dealer visit.

John H

 

[Rolfe]

It's amazing what getting out of the car and locking it will solve. Always should be the first line of attack!

 

[pjmmk]

Things were so much easier when lights were controlled by a switch rather than a computer. I'm not really sure we're going forwards here with all this automation creeping into cars.

 

[John H]

Things were so much easier when lights were controlled by a switch rather than a computer. I'm not really sure we're going forwards here with all this automation creeping into cars.

I think it's easy to forget that a modern car is really a computer with wheels

 

[DixieTGS]

It's amazing what getting out of the car and locking it will solve. Always should be the first line of attack!

It's not quite as comprehensive as getting out and locking, but switching off via the infotainment and back on with brake will work with some problems too.

 

[salty]

It's amazing what getting out of the car and locking it will solve. Always should be the first line of attack!

Agree, along with doubting its parentage.

 

[John H]

Agree, along with doubting its parentage.

Tried that first, unfortunately it didn't work, perhaps if it has been later in the morning and I could have shouted louder I might have had a better result

 

[theandrewssister]

Hi, thinking this might be useful for other members.
This morning all the front lights failed, "started" the car and not only did the headlights fail to come on in the dark, but the side lights and running lights were all off too.
As far as the instruments were concerned the lights were working fine
Had time to have a look later today, still no front lights - rebooted the infotainment, still off. Got out, locked the car, unlocked again and the lights were back to normal!
No idea why, but it saved me a phone call and a potential dealer visit.

John H

This has just happened to us, driving along Brighton seafront. The lights were working when we got on the car but failed somewhere along the way. Dash showing lights on as normal. Was scary as police everywhere and nowhere we could pull over for ages. Finally got out, turned it on and off and played around with it a bit, no joy, so had to get a very expensive Uber home. Will be up bright and early to collect it (thankfully we have a second car); really hoping it sorts itself out like yours did!

 

[MG Clive]

This has just happened to us, driving along Brighton seafront. The lights were working when we got on the car but failed somewhere along the way. Dash showing lights on as normal. Was scary as police everywhere and nowhere we could pull over for ages. Finally got out, turned it on and off and played around with it a bit, no joy, so had to get a very expensive Uber home. Will be up bright and early to collect it (thankfully we have a second car); really hoping it sorts itself out like yours did!

That's not good @theandrewssister, let's hope it's ok today after night's rest, and welcome to MGEVs.

 

[salty]

This has just happened to us, driving along Brighton seafront. The lights were working when we got on the car but failed somewhere along the way. Dash showing lights on as normal. Was scary as police everywhere and nowhere we could pull over for ages. Finally got out, turned it on and off and played around with it a bit, no joy, so had to get a very expensive Uber home. Will be up bright and early to collect it (thankfully we have a second car); really hoping it sorts itself out like yours did!

To the forum. If it's not sorted itself out.
Try the old 10mm spanner, trick. Which if you don't know about it, is disconnect the Neg battery terminal, wait a few minutes, then reconnect. This seems to solve a lot of things. Not saying it will, but might. Good Luck.

 

[tsedge]

Probably needs a few software updates, although getting them could be a challenge.

I'm daydreaming about creating an MG software updates centre where people can get all the updates for their MG at a reasonable price.

 

[theandrewssister]

That's not good @theandrewssister, let's hope it's ok today after night's rest, and welcome to MGEVs.

Thank you! All good this morning thankfully. It’s due for a service anyway so I’ll get it booked in.

 

[salty]

Thank you! All good this morning thankfully. It’s due for a service anyway so I’ll get it booked in.

Result. Wouldn't be at all surprised, if it never happens again. But worth mentioning at the service.

 

[MG Clive]

Thank you! All good this morning thankfully. It’s due for a service anyway so I’ll get it booked in.

Excellent, and like @salty said, it'll probably never happen again, and I'll bet you any amount of money the garage won't find anything wrong with it.

 

[salty]

Excellent, and like @salty said, it'll probably never happen again, and I'll bet you any amount of money the garage won't find anything wrong with it.

Yep, and you'll probably hear. Your first, "it's a Characteristic"

 

[Tight Git]

Excellent, and like @salty said, it'll probably never happen again, and I'll bet you any amount of money the garage won't find anything wrong with it.

Most likely to charge you a diagnostic fee of £170 ISH and then say they can't find anything wrong.

 

[jamakr4]

Some people say this is a bug with the welcome light setting but no idea if that's true.

 

[Pooru]

I've had the headlights go out to only daylight running lights after turning off high beam. Boxing day evening 4WD with bright bar lights approaching and I flicked off high beam, but only day running lights were on. Pushed button for manual lights and I could see again. Luckily it was still straight before the corner. I didn't put back into high beam incase another was approaching as I rounded corner. Unfortunately in low beam I hit wallaby on tight curve exit.
The disappearance of head lighting when high beam turned off has happened before when bright headlights pass, but only when on straight road luckily.
Anyone else found this happening?

 

[T1 Terry]

It's aways with those clowns with lightbars across the roof, trying to light up the highway 5 kms in the distance .... the poor MG4 sees the sun suddenly came out and turns the headlights off, much like it turns them on when going through an underpass, then back off when back in the sun, the delay turning back on is the part that leaves you driving in the dark when this sort of nonsense happens ..... mine freaks out from the reflections of the marker posts approaching a slight curve in the road, either drops to low beam or turns the light off ..... not good on a back road at night, so I select manual light operation now before turning off a major road .... just have to remember I did that when I get home ..... that courtesy think it does when you turn it off and lock the door .... stays on, forcing you to return to the car, unlock the door and turn the lights back to auto function, locking the door again ..... then remembering you didn't plug the charger in ..... this getting old sucks sometimes .... actually most of the time lately

T1 Terry

 

[unbornidentity]

Mine did this today.

Hi, thinking this might be useful for other members.
This morning all the front lights failed, "started" the car and not only did the headlights fail to come on in the dark, but the side lights and running lights were all off too.
As far as the instruments were concerned the lights were working fine
Had time to have a look later today, still no front lights - rebooted the infotainment, still off. Got out, locked the car, unlocked again and the lights were back to normal!
No idea why, but it saved me a phone call and a potential dealer visit.

John H

Same happened to mine yesterday.

I got a few hundred feet up the road and noticed everything looked too dark. Looked on the display and it said the lights were on but didn’t trust it so stopped and got out for a look. Rear lights were on but no headlights or daylight running lights!

Locked and unlocked the car, same problem, reset infotainment, same problem. Drove back home and called MG assistance (was about 6:15am). They said that someone would be with me about 8am but I had a feeling it was software related and would be fine by the time the AA arrived so asked for the guy to wait while I tried again before ending the call. Unlocked the car and the lights came on!! Been fine ever since.

Intermittent faults like this are going to be almost impossible to fix

Edit: I actually have a lot of tolerance for this sort thing. It’s a dangerous fault but it’s obviously due to a branch of code that doesn’t get triggered very often. It’s so infrequent that nobody here has said it’s happened again so a dealer service centre isn’t going to see it either.