The headlighting of the "S" is ok but an area of shortcoming, I feel, is lack of peripheral lighting during moderate speed cornering. By peripheral lighting I mean, lighting the area of the turn 1-2 seconds ahead of you. This lack of lighting is evident on city street driving, which may risk hitting the inside curb, but more problematic at open road speeds and possible quick steering corrections needed to prevent running out of the driving lane early or late in the turn. Both cases may leave most drivers feeling wary of the next time they want to enjoy moderate speed driving of this fine car at night. I come from many years of road racing and don't compete anymore, but still enjoy moderate driving speeds. I very much appreciate the great design and workmanship of the car. It's a delightful car which still speaks to me after 6000 miles. Thanks Mr. Tesla!
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Headlights - peripheral lighting
- Thread starter jaw
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- Driving Dynamics Model S
mknox
Well-Known Member
I did like the articulating headlights on my last car. They were calibrated really well in that the light would always shine in the intended direction of travel. The Model S does have modest LED cornering lights, but that is really just for close quarters.
William13
Active Member
The cornering lights and fog lights both are helpful on mine but the cornering lights only turn on after the car begins to turn. They should light up when the turn signal is actuated.
mknox
Well-Known Member
Agreed. This is how cars with cornering lights I've owned have worked in the past. Ideally it would activate both with the turn signal and with the wheel turn.
strider
Active Member
Mike Corso
New Member
I posted a lengthy message on the teslamotors.com forum about how disappointed I am with the headlights. Absolutely dreadful and the ONLY thing I don't like about the car. I was in a friend's GTI recently--amazingly great BRIGHT lights (and movable).
Mike
Mike
Mike Corso
New Member
There just isn't a consistent flood. Again, I'm comparing against the super bright GTI headlights. No reason in the world Tesla can't make an exceptional headlight. But, at the least AND for safety, the cornering lighting must be addressed by Tesla asap.
Mike
We should clarify for everyone here that you have the HALOGEN lights, not the HID lights that have been shipping as standard for almost a year now and which have no such issues. Have you checked the head light level? If they are aimed too low, that may explain your symptoms. An easy fix would be to have your service center replace your headlight assemblies with the new, HID assemblies that have been shipping for a while. I've gone through a couple of headlight replacements, they will swap out the entire unit.
Right. My HID headlights were aimed too low and it was unsafe to drive faster than 30 mph on a dark road. It did take the service centre three times to fix it because on two of those occasions they indicated the lights were perfect (or at least within spec). On the third time someone from the factory came down and showed them how to do it. Now they are perfect with the exception that they don't move during turns. (The cornering lights are 100% useless. They don't come on until you have committed to the turn and they are dim candles at best.)
Mike Corso
New Member
Amped,
You've 'gone through a couple of headlight replacements'?! And, yes, thanks for clarifying--I have the halogen lights. I have a call scheduled tomorrow from my Tesla service center to discuss my options to upgrade to the HID lights.
Mike
You've 'gone through a couple of headlight replacements'?! And, yes, thanks for clarifying--I have the halogen lights. I have a call scheduled tomorrow from my Tesla service center to discuss my options to upgrade to the HID lights.
Mike
islandbayy
Active Member
do you know if their was a charge to have the hid's installed? if so how much, I have the halogens and am anticipating myself modifying them
although, was looking more towards led headlights.
Small LED lights could be placed in the nose cone fed by powered relays with a 3 sec hold. They would shine steadily until the directional was turned off. These LEDs are quite powerful; added to the wimpy halogens they would make a big difference on turns.
Sharp turns are not something I need to do often, but it would be neat to be able to use Turn Sigs to instantly flood the shoulder with light. Or maybe the 4-ways to flood *both* shoulders.
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Sharp turns are not something I need to do often, but it would be neat to be able to use Turn Sigs to instantly flood the shoulder with light. Or maybe the 4-ways to flood *both* shoulders.
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First set that came with car - one side DRL was brighter than the other. Replacement had bad driver's side DRL and dirty interior lens. I'm on my 2nd set now.
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