Auto High Beams not working

[Mrob1]

Long time lurker, first time posting! I have a 2020 Continental Reserve. The auto high beam function isn't working, although it did work when I first got the car new in July, 2020. The function is enabled in the menu settings and auto lamp is on. The system never turns on the high beams when the ambient light is low and there's no oncoming traffic or traffic in front of me and speed is above 32. If I turn them on manually, it doesn't dim them for oncoming or traffic in front of me, if the speed falls below 27 or if the ambient light gets too bright. The system indicator as shown on page 104 of the owner's manual never comes on and I've never seen it light up.

The dealer verified the system was not functioning and found stored codes. It was diagnosed it as a failed sensor located in the rear view mirror and they replaced it. They say it worked for them during a test drive late at night when the shop foreman took it home to test it.

I've put over 100 miles testing this for myself at night and it hasn't worked for me. The dealer took it back and this time the service manager came in very early and test drove it twice. The first day it didn't work for him but he said it was too light out so he came in earlier the second morning around 5:30AM and said it worked fine. I got up this morning at 4:30AM and drove for about 25 minutes on dark, back country roads and the high beams never once came on or dimmed if I turned them on manually.

I have a 2018 Mustang GT with auto high beams and it works fine, so I understand how the system is supposed to work. The system indicator comes on in the Mustang. The service manager said he thinks the Continental owners manual is wrong about the system indicator as he checked some other Continentals on the lot and they didn't have it either.

Has anyone else had this issue and if so, what did your dealer do to correct the problem? I've never had good luck with my dealer's service department, but the next closest Lincoln dealers are 50 miles away, so I'm stuck with them.

 

[No_WaY]

Are you using auto mode on lights knob?
It only work on auto mode

 

[Mrob1]

Are you using auto mode on lights knob?
It only work on auto mode

Yes, auto mode is selected on the lighting knob.

 

[No_WaY]

Need to check for dtc code and sensor gel

______________________________

 

[Mrob1]

The dealer checked for codes the first time they looked at it and said the light sensor in the rearview mirror was bad. They replaced it and said the system now worked fine. It didn't work for me and I took it back. This time the dealer said there were no codes and the system still worked for them.

It may work for them, but it doesn't work for me. I drove about 90 minutes in the dark coming home Tuesday night and the system is just totally dead, the high beams never come on automatically and won't dim if I turn them on manually.

 

[jradford6387]

My suggestion to you would be why don’t you try to take the service guy with you to show him the issue rather than trusting it solely up to him to come in at 530am and test them. If you’re certain there is an issue and you think they are blowing you off that might seem to be the best resolution I would think at least

 

[Mrob1]

My suggestion to you would be why don’t you try to take the service guy with you to show him the issue rather than trusting it solely up to him to come in at 530am and test them. If you’re certain there is an issue and you think they are blowing you off that might seem to be the best resolution I would think at least

That might be an option once DST ends, but they weren't open to the idea since darkness is so far outside their normal service hours right now.

 

[CARR142]

Leave the vehicle with service department, let someone there drive it overnight to/from dealer to home. Best Wishes

______________________________

 

[Mrob1]

Leave the vehicle with service department, let someone there drive it overnight to/from dealer to home. Best Wishes

That's what they've done so far. The problem is they say they fixed the issue and the auto high beams work fine for them. Unfortunately, they don't work for me.

 

[Jeyaar456]

My system was very poor or non-existent in half-light or dusk, in june it don't get really pitch dark in Scotland.
I also found it poor with approaching traffic, it wouldn't dip, especially with traffic that had low output xenons or halogens, it really only worked perfectly when the oncoming car had LEDs.
However via forscan the system's sensitivity can be adjusted upwards , mine was at 1 [ default ] I readjusted the sensitivity to max 3 and now the car headlights dip when you enter a town with street lights, like my old Genesis G80 used to do.

 

[Mrob1]

That's what they've done so far. The problem is they say they fixed the issue and the auto high beams work fine for them. Unfortunately, they don't work for me.

My auto high beams still aren't working, so I decided to bite the bullet and made an appointment at the next closest Lincoln dealer, which is 50 miles away. It's too far for valet service but they will provide a loaner. It's not until Jan 11th, so I have to wait a bit. They asked me to drop it off the night before around 5:30-6 since it's dark then and they will have someone ride with me to verify the problem. That's already better service than I got from my local dealer who basically said there's nothing they can do since they insist it works fine for them.

I'll update the thread after the appointment with the results.

 

[jeffcarl]

On my '19 Nautilus the auto dip feature takes 5 or 10 minutes before it will work. It might be the software observing current conditions before coming on line. After that is works really well. Try manual mode for the first few minutes

On our '19 Conti the system does work but no where near as well as the Nautilus. Consequently we don't use auto mode in the Conti. Different software maybe? I may try the FORSCAN change that Jeyaar mentioned.

______________________________

 

[Mrob1]

My auto high beams still aren't working, so I decided to bite the bullet and made an appointment at the next closest Lincoln dealer, which is 50 miles away. It's too far for valet service but they will provide a loaner. It's not until Jan 11th, so I have to wait a bit. They asked me to drop it off the night before around 5:30-6 since it's dark then and they will have someone ride with me to verify the problem. That's already better service than I got from my local dealer who basically said there's nothing they can do since they insist it works fine for them.

I'll update the thread after the appointment with the results.

Update - I dropped off the car at the dealership 50 miles away on Jan 10th, around 5:30PM because they wanted to drive it in the dark to verify the auto high beams were not working.

When I arrived, there was no one available to drive it, so I stepped the service advisor through verifying the auto high beams were enabled in the menu settings, the headlight switch was set to automatic, but the indicator light was not on but should be. She verified all this was correct. I also took her to the loaner (22 Corsair Reserve) and showed her the indicator light was on (and the auto high beams worked fine on the long drive home).

She told me they were very backed up and gave priority to customers that bought cars from them, so it would be a while before they got to it. I waited 2 weeks with absolutely no contact and then called several times and finally received a call back after 2 days of trying.

The service advisor was very vague and said they ran tests but didn't find anything wrong and asked for permission to have someone test drive it. I agreed (I'd already told them it was okay when I dropped it off) and she said she'd call me back in a day or two with an update. Again, absolutely no contact until I decided to call today. I was trying to be patient and give them time, but I should have followed up sooner.

I was told today the service advisor no longer worked there and they would have someone call me back. I did get a call back from a different advisor, who said my car was still assigned to the one that was gone, so it's just been sitting there with no one taking responsibility for it. She said it had been driven by 2 different techs and everything is fine, no issues. I asked if the indicator light was on and did the auto high beams actually work for them. She deferred and said she'd have to actually speak to the techs, since she was just now assigned to my car and wasn't familiar with the situation. She also said she got almost all the old advisor's cases and was very backed up and would try to call me tomorrow with an update

Sigh - I think my next call is going to be the Lincoln Concierge.

 

[Jeyaar456]

If the headlight switch is set to automatic, above the little green sidelight icon in the bottom left of the instrument cluster there should be the white headlight icon that indicates you are on the Auto High Beam option. This white icon will disappear when you move the headlight switch anti-clockwise one click and disengage the auto high beam option.
Does the blue light come on when you manually move to high beam ?
What is baffling is that the Lincoln technicians swear it is working, yet you say it isn’t working. This is something that can be simply proved or disproved, it’s not an intermittent fault.
My advice is to get someone who is Proficient on Forscan and go in to the BCM and see if AHBC has been disabled or enabled.
Good luck, it’s a pity you’re missing it, it’s a great system, I’d be lost without the AHBC.

 

[Mrob1]

You exactly described how the white headlight icon is supposed to work, too bad you don't work at a dealership! Yes, the blue light does come on when manually engaging the high beams.

I find it baffling too, but the service manager at the first (selling) dealership told me the reason the white headlight icon doesn't light up is because it's a misprint in the manual, and the icon doesn't exist, so that gives you an idea of what I'm working with.

 

[Mrob1]

Another Update - I opened a case with the Lincoln Concierge on Friday after not getting any call back from the dealership either Thursday or Friday.

Today the new service advisor called me and said the auto high beams worked for them on test drives, but the indicator light does not come on. Per dealer management, since it's not a safety issue and the system is "functioning correctly", they will be returning my car back to me tomorrow by valet service and picking up the loaner.

Funny how they can say it worked for them when the car hasn't moved or been started in over 2 weeks per the Lincoln Way app and the car is in deep sleep mode! Also funny is that they want to be rid of it so bad, they are now willing to do the valet delivery, which wasn't an option before since they are about 50 miles away from my house.

The advisor said they would work with the Ford tech line to try and find a fix for the indicator light not coming on. Somehow, I don't think they're going to be very motivated to follow through with that, and even if they do, the car isn't there, plus they won't be giving correct information to the tech line.

So, after having my car for just over 5 weeks, they didn't do anything to fix the auto high beams, just acknowledged the indicator light doesn't come on and then basically blew me off once the concierge got involved.

The concierge is going to contact the dealer owner or GM to try and get them to keep the car and actually follow through with the tech line, but the concierge is pretty frustrated with the dealership right now too.

If I do get the car back tomorrow, you can bet I'll be taking it out after dark to see if those elusive auto high beams will work for me, since it apparently always and only works for dealership personnel, even though the indicator light is off.

______________________________

 

[Mrob1]

The dealership delivered my Continental back to me this afternoon and picked up the loaner. The paperwork says "all good" unable to verify concern with auto high beam indicator not working and auto high beams not working.

I just got back from driving about 30 minutes on dark, deserted country roads, and of course, it didn't work for me. Not once did the auto high beams come on and when I turned the high beams on manually, they never dimmed automatically. And no indicator light to show the system is enabled. No different than every other time I've gotten the car back, the system is just totally non-functional.

The concierge spoke to the service manager earlier today and she said her techs road-tested the system at night and one of them took the car home and the system worked flawlessly for them. This was about 3-4 weeks ago, so the rest of the time they had it (just over 5 weeks) was wasted sitting around because my car was assigned to a service advisor that left or was fired and no one followed up on it.

My theory is that because they don't see any codes, they don't know what to do and rather than spend time on it and open a ticket with the tech line, they just say it works to get rid of me and move on because they're so backed up. To quote Jackie Gleason from Smokey and The Bandit "We got no time for that crap!" Or to borrow the title of a thread in the Aviator forum, "Lincoln Service Sucks"

That said, the concierge did lean on them to open a ticket with the tech line and supposedly, they did and have ordered a new instrument panel. The concierge is going to check in with them every 4-5 days for a status on the tech line ticket. I just hope they were honest with the tech line and admitted that the system is dead, even though they won't admit it to me or the concierge.

Stay tuned for the next update...

 

[Jeyaar456]

Would it not be prudent to abandon your up to now fruitless engagement with dealerships and engage a decent auto technician with proven fault-finding capabilities who understands modern car systems. The car doesn't recognise that it's a fault, hence no BCM codes when scanning with a diagnostic tool, scanning for codes is the total extent of dealership investigation.

 

[Mrob1]

Would it not be prudent to abandon your up to now fruitless engagement with dealerships and engage a decent auto technician with proven fault-finding capabilities who understands modern car systems. The car doesn't recognise that it's a fault, hence no BCM codes when scanning with a diagnostic tool, scanning for codes is the total extent of dealership investigation.

Since the car is under warranty, I shouldn’t have to pay a 3rd party tech to diagnose and repair this issue. I also doubt the ability of any 3rd party tech to be able to work on today’s computerized vehicles successfully.

 

[Black Label]

I would go on the drive with the techs and have them show me when the lights are going to high beam and functioning properly.