718 PDLS+ and flashers!

[Tony_Br]

As the auto high beam technology appears (to me) to work well and shield oncoming drivers from my car's headlights, it is a little annoying to get flashed by oncoming vehicles.

Do other users experience this?

I get the feeling that oncoming drivers flash me because they see a lot of bright/white light and assume that I must still be on full (conventional) main-beam, rather than because they are genuinely being dazzled.

My only reservation on its capabilities is that sometimes the system is a little slow to "dip"/shield and I therefore do it myself in these circumstances (which are usually crest of the hill situations).

Interested to hear other people's experiences.

 

[BrianJ]

For what it’s worth, we have similar technology on our other vehicle, a BMW X1. The few times I have tried it, I have been continually flashed too. Compared to an experienced and courteous driver operating the lights manually, it has no sense of anticipation about where the light beams from my vehicle and the oncoming vehicles are going to be in relation to each other, particularly on windy/bumpy roads, and is too slow to take action. I get on much better in 20th century mode, and have never wanted anything more than PDLS on my 981.

 

[ralphmusic]

Porsche PDLS+ is getting rather old as is the platform. Whilst I found it generally useful, it is slow to respond and nothing like as good as a modern matrix system as I have on a 2024 Mercedes.

Having said that most LED lights dazzle even on dip and frequently annoy oncoming drivers. I did however have to override the delayed PDLS+ dip on occasions when it was obvious it was not responding quickly enough.

 

[pse_SC]

It never responds quickly enough - another pointless aid.

 

[glenn duval]

On my new fully electric Hyundai Kona its just the same. even the latest technology cannot beat the driver.

 

[718Ron]

Shall i mention about the rubbish vision based automatic wipers in the Teslas as well?

 

[911hillclimber]

Most times simple is best.
The driver will always beat this kind of aid, pointless feature imho, bit like switching your wipers on when the screen get wet, so hard a car has to work it out for the driver; another silly intervention.

 

[Tony_Br]

I do certainly "get" the part about a competent/considerate driver being more responsive to the need to dip, especially the anticipation part.....but.....when manually dipping, surely there is no element then of beam shielding? So, if anything, the spread of the dipped beam is going to be fully including the oncoming traffic, rather than avoiding it. And I have had people flash me even then, when I have dipped well before they come into the spread of my headlights.

It reminds me of when Xenons were relatively rare/new, and I could not drive anywhere at night without some offend-atron angrily flashing me, including when I had just overtaken them - on dipped headlights - on motorways.

I do think there is a significant element of "how dare you have such bright/white lights"...

 

[911hillclimber]

I'm sure many have felt recent cars to have lights just too bright and high up (MPV cars) so the effect is annoying.

Any car has to be reasonable on dipped to others on a flat surface, ie motorway, maybe a check at an MoT station?

 

[Tony_Br]

I'm sure many have felt recent cars to have lights just too bright and high up (MPV cars) so the effect is annoying.

Any car has to be reasonable on dipped to others on a flat surface, ie motorway, maybe a check at an MoT station?

There was no problem with the dipped beam aim, if anything they were a bit low (from the factory).

Yes, MPVs - with lights positioned at head height for other users - are a pain.

My Xenon incidents were with an M3, so definitely not MPV height.