How is the HID / Xenon on genesis @Nite

[jamesstock]

Just wondering how the HID on the Genesis is @nite. Does it cover more areas on the road and bright enough? The reason is Xenons / HIDs on other brands, such as say the Lexus GS and the MB E-class...and the BMW 5s, seems to me the BMW's Xenons are brighter at night (on the road) than the Lexus or the MB despite same output on all bulbs. Just want to see what you guys think.

 

[PINGGOLF]

I think it is incredible. The adaptive lighting is not only cool as he!! but very efficient as well. Consider this...your at a stop sign, there is either a large ditch or a curb to your right. As soon as you get a little speed to make the turn the lights immediately go to the right...well in advance of your front tires.

I think it is great. Driving down a dark country road you can just bump the wheel to the left and right and you will see the cutoff of the lights go the same way.

It is also cool! I took my parents on a ride and when I started the car the lights automatically go into a self check. They go down, wiggle left and right (to find center), and then come back up. My mom couldnt believe it. She was in awe!

They are plenty bright. The high beams SUCK though!

 

[Stormy]

Yeah high beams are halogen, not Xenon, so they don't look very nice.

The auto-focusing/leveling lights are very nice. They track the steering wheel left to right, and the road vertically as well so when you go up and down hills, they will adjust up and down so they're never aiming up in the trees or down too low at the pavement.

This is a great feature and I can imagine it's also much safer. Imagine driving on a 2-lane country road and being confident that no matter whether you're going up or down a hill, you're not going to blind the oncoming driver.

 

[musher51]

I can't answer James' question about comparative brightness, as I haven't driven a Lexus or MB recently, at least not HID-equipped and at night. I do have eight years of driving experience with BMW HID lights, though (two on an '00 and six on a '02), and the illumination of the Genesis HIDs seem comparable. Personally, I hope that HID lights become the de facto standard on all cars as mfg costs drop, as they're clearly a superior lighting system and as such, they gotta be a safety enhancement -- particularly given all the aging baby boomers out there with 50- to 60-year-old eyes!

Stormy -- I'm don't think your headlights are making vertical adjustments as you traverse hilly roads. What would prompt them to adjust up or down so rapidly? To my knowledge, self-leveling comes into play only if you alter the orientation of your car, mostly outside the axles (e.g. placing 200 lbs of rock salt in the trunk) to prevent the HIDs from pointing up too far and blinding oncoming traffic.

Interestingly, I've never had anyone flash their brights at me despite using HIDs for 8+ years, which I can only attribute to the self-leveling feature. By contrast, a friend of mine that installed aftermarket HIDs complains that he's frequently "flashed" by oncoming traffic, implying that his lights are not aimed properly (or won't stay aimed, at any rate).

 

[Stormy]

Stormy -- I'm don't think your headlights are making vertical adjustments as you traverse hilly roads. What would prompt them to adjust up or down so rapidly? To my knowledge, self-leveling comes into play only if you alter the orientation of your car, mostly outside the axles (e.g. placing 200 lbs of rock salt in the trunk) to prevent the HIDs from pointing up too far and blinding oncoming traffic.

I could be mistaken, but as I crest a hill at night, I believe at the very top of the hill, my headlight beams aim down further to keep them pointed at the road, instead of blasting out into the air. Likewise, at the bottom of a valley, they seem to move up a bit.

I believe there is some type of radar system in play that does this, perhaps using the same sensors that sense objects when parking.

Please correct me if I'm wrong. It's entirely possible I've completely imagined this feature.

 

[EdVoylesHyundai]

Interestingly, I've never had anyone flash their brights at me despite using HIDs for 8+ years, which I can only attribute to the self-leveling feature. By contrast, a friend of mine that installed aftermarket HIDs complains that he's frequently "flashed" by oncoming traffic, implying that his lights are not aimed properly (or won't stay aimed, at any rate).

Because of the intensity of the light produced by the HID bulbs, manufacturers often design the lenses/reflectors with a very well defined cut-off which reduces the glare to oncoming drivers. The light pattern on older cars with halogen lights can be particularly sloppy. I shudder to think what kind of nightmare HID's in my early-90's Civic would yield. I think a lamp shade does a better job distributing light!

 

[BaywayRic]

I could be mistaken, but as I crest a hill at night, I believe at the very top of the hill, my headlight beams aim down further to keep them pointed at the road, instead of blasting out into the air. Likewise, at the bottom of a valley, they seem to move up a bit.

I believe there is some type of radar system in play that does this, perhaps using the same sensors that sense objects when parking.

Please correct me if I'm wrong. It's entirely possible I've completely imagined this feature.

From the Service website: http://www.hmaservice.com/

General Description
AFLS(Adaptive Front-Lighting System) provides driver with the best visibility by adjusting vertical direction of the headlamp. It consists of AFLS ECU, Leveling Actuator-Intelligent Stepper Motor, Swivel Actuator, Head lamp switch, Height sensor(not applied to ECS). For efficient operation of system, AFLS ECU check Battery voltage. Battery function is supply power to AFLS ECU and Actuators. AFLS OFF switch is determined signal that system operation by driver's intention.

 

[musher51]

From the Service website: http://www.hmaservice.com/

General Description
AFLS(Adaptive Front-Lighting System) provides driver with the best visibility by adjusting vertical direction of the headlamp. It consists of AFLS ECU, Leveling Actuator-Intelligent Stepper Motor, Swivel Actuator, Head lamp switch, Height sensor(not applied to ECS). For efficient operation of system, AFLS ECU check Battery voltage. Battery function is supply power to AFLS ECU and Actuators. AFLS OFF switch is determined signal that system operation by driver's intention.

Leave it to Ric to contradict an unsubstantiated opinion with facts and documentation! Actually, it's still not clear to me from the posted excerpt that the AFLS system is capable of the nearly-instantaneous vertical adjustments it would take to make such adjustments worthwhile. HMA's vaguely-constructed verbiage re: AFLS might just refer to the vertical adjustment that's made when the headlights are turned on.

Pardon my skepticism, but it'd have to be a helluva sensor system to perceive grade/pitch changes "on the fly" and cause the headlamps to move in time to increase the amount of light that's cast in the "sweet spot". If HMA (or any other manufacturer, for that matter) has actually pulled that off, you'd think it would generate considerable buzz in various automotive forums.

I'm ready to be proven wrong (and I may even delve into the on-line HMA files that Ric so graciously reposts whenever we members embark on bouts of groundless speculation), but for now, color me skeptical on this one!

 

[zedbyers]

Pardon my skepticism, but it'd have to be a helluva sensor system to perceive grade/pitch changes "on the fly" and cause the headlamps to move in time to increase the amount of light that's cast in the "sweet spot". If HMA (or any other manufacturer, for that matter) has actually pulled that off, you'd think it would generate considerable buzz in various automotive forums.

actually they are more common in cars than you might think, it is called an accelerometer. it measures and feeds data in real time to a variety of systems....

 

[JOwest]

The HID light on the Genesis is "warmer" than those in the BMWs and Benz. The German cars use the whiter light spectrum and therefore appear to be brighter.
Aftermarket HID conversions to cars with OEM halogem headlights are nightmares to oncoming traffic! The reflectors on those cars are designed for the halogen bulb in mind when you put HID to those reflectors it is just like permanent highbeams to oncoming traffic. They should be banned.

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[ConceptVBS]

actually they are more common in cars than you might think, it is called an accelerometer. it measures and feeds data in real time to a variety of systems....

That would have to be the angelometer (device that measures the angle of an object to a reference point) for this particular application. The ECU would receive data from the angelometer that the car is at a decreased angle (going down hill) and automatically be prepared to adjust the headlight angle in real time as the car reaches the vertex (lowest point of the hill). It would do the exact opposite for up hills. Remember all this data is fed through a fiber optic network (which are way faster and much more reliable than regular copper wires) in the Genesis. There are only a handful of cars that have this network.

 

[musher51]

So do we have enough information to determine whether or not Genesis has the capability of making instantaneous vertical adjustments to the headlights as a feature of AFLS?

 

[BaywayRic]

Of course not! Proper scientific evaluation would require your wife strapping you to the hood and taking you on a hilly road, while you 'observe' the lights. Then we'll know for sure.

 

[PINGGOLF]

HA! You guys are incredible!

Here is my 2 cents.

I think they actually do manipulate themselves up and down....just a little bit. I noticed when I am braking pretty hard at a stop light and a car is in front of me you can see the lights moving at a slower motion than the car itself. Hard to explain...i know. As soon as the car stops we all know that the car will wiggle from front to back...the harder the stop...the more wiggle you will get. When I look at the light cutoff's on the tail of the car in front of me I notice that they dont wiggle as intense as the car did. It almost looks like its in slow motion. Ill do some homework and see if I can video the lights...while in motion. It may be impossible. We all know the lights will level given the load in the back seats or the trunk. My mom and dad are rather BIG people and when they sit in the back you can see the lights go down. But as far as leveling on the fly...not sure.

Anywho, one of us will figure it out...even though it will accomplish practically nothing.

HA!

Matt

 

[JOwest]

Can this be verified by the Hyundai people? Surely they must know what they have done with the lights.

 

[PINGGOLF]

Probably not...HA!

I new more about the Genesis than my salesman. I asked him if the V8 with tech had the adaptive lighting and he said "Oh...no, no, no. Hyundai does not have that yet" Well, I caught him with his pants down and giggled to myself...and then showed him as I eased up to the dealerships white wall that the lights, in fact, do adapt.

Its always a wonderful feeling when you have done your homework and studied on the things you want and the salesman is so far off that he is gasping for words. That is a good way to get deals too!!

 

[Stormy]

I think it does have it as I observed it working last night. It's not instantaneous, as the adaptive light lags about 0.5-1.0 second behind any move you make.

When I thought about engineering this solution, I believe it's much more simple than radar or accelerometers. I believe the car just has a level sensor, similar to what you would use to see if a floor or table is level. You know, those things you buy at home depot with the bubble in the water and the bubble goes up to one end if it isn't level, or stays in the middle if it is level?

Bubble goes up? Turn headlights down. Bubble goes down? Turn headlights up. No need for fancy radar, just some simple circuitry that keeps the headlight beam level vertically.

Here is how to test:

Park your car on a hill facing up the hill at night, get out, and observe headlight beam angle.
Turn the car around, face downhill, and observe the same.

 

[musher51]

Here is how to test:

Park your car on a hill facing up the hill at night, get out, and observe headlight beam angle.
Turn the car around, face downhill, and observe the same.

A bit subjective, but a reasonable proposal. Looking forward to your results!

 

[santosonly]

Excuse my simpleness all, but is it really that serious? All I know is, my front headlights are way cooler than on my wife's 2007 Lexus. She's mad.