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Turning LEDs instead of swiveling headlights?

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i was driving just now and noticed that i have LED's that come on after i turn the wheel more than 10°, the LED's have a wide range and light up any curb nearby. Im assuming the headlights must be on for this feature to work.

does anyone else have this on the S85 and S60?
 
i was driving just now and noticed that i have LED's that come on after i turn the wheel more than 10°, the LED's have a wide range and light up any curb nearby. Im assuming the headlights must be on for this feature to work.

does anyone else have this on the S85 and S60?

Are you sure it is not the turning lights some of the cars have? The LEDs point straight so can't turn.
 
They are part of the tech package. In my opinion they are 95% useless because they only come on after you are committed to the turn. They need to come on before you start turning (when you engage the turn signals).

In no way do they even come close to the DS-21's or SM's turning headlights video1 video2.
 
Are you sure it is not the turning lights some of the cars have? The LEDs point straight so can't turn.

well you have your regular headlights that dont move, but where the fog lights should be i have LEDs pointed at an angle off to each side that come on.

as pointed out, this is part of the tech package apparently.

i do prefer swiveling headlights though (even cheaper sedans like the Genesis come with this feature, wonder why Tesla didnt include it)
 
They are called LED cornering lights -- see Owners Manual p. 4.13. They deactivate above 40km/h.

These used to be included with fog lights on the Tech Package; I was part of the batch where the fog lights were deleted without warning. Echoing jerry33, I'd really like my fog lights back in order to better spot deer in the dark and fog on mountain roads which comprise most of my commute. The cornering lights do aim in the right direction but don't help unless you want to see a deer you are already committed to hit.
 
They are part of the tech package. In my opinion they are 95% useless because they only come on after you are committed to the turn. They need to come on before you start turning (when you engage the turn signals).

In no way do they even come close to the DS-21's or SM's turning headlights

Agreed. The articulating Xenon headlights on my previous CTS were much better.
 
but where the fog lights should be i have LEDs pointed at an angle off to each side that come on.

Others have already described their function... but just to correct the above: The cornering lights are in a separate location from the fogs, and in addition to them (for those cars that have fogs included).

You can see them in the video of the supercharger event: http://vimeo.com/50129899 ... you'll notice they are in the position ABOVE the fog locations.

Also, if you note from about 12-14 seconds in that they come on when the driver makes a slight course correction... which matches my experience... I don't think you have to quite as "fully committed" to a turn as some have mentioned. Perhaps their not operating above a certain speed is the issue...
 
Also, if you note from about 12-14 seconds in that they come on when the driver makes a slight course correction... which matches my experience... I don't think you have to quite as "fully committed" to a turn as some have mentioned. Perhaps their not operating above a certain speed is the issue...

Even at very slow speeds (driveway exiting) I don't see them come on until I am fully committed to the turn--and it's a bit late by then. The wheel is cranked over quite a bit before they come on. Speed doesn't seem to make a difference. I don't know if they are more useless than the fog lights because I've never turned the fog lights on.
 
I find these lights useful. I've had them for many years in my German cars. But, I wish they would turn on when you activate the turn signal and not just turn the wheel. This is how my German cars did it. As others have pointed out, you're already committed to turning when they turn on. They also tend to turn off/on/off/on when you're on a freeway ramp and are course correcting, for example. They should remain illuminated for a certain period of time until the steering wheel returns to center. A graceful fade on/fade off would also be nice instead of the "instant" LED on.

BTW - both sides always turn on when you shift to Reverse with headlights on.

Lack of adaptive or "bending" xenon (or even LED) headlamps is not forgivable in a car at this price point. The 2014 Toyota Corolla can now be optioned with LED headlights for Pete's sake.
 
I should also add that the purpose of the LED lights is to illuminate corners and crosswalks for pedestrian safety. They're not a substitute for adaptive headlamps that swivel to illuminate the road when driving through curves, etc. Those typically have no threshold for deactivation except at lower speeds, whereas the corner illuminating LED lamps do.
 
Personally, I don't miss swiveling headlights on Model S one bit. We have them on our RX hybrid and they're totally useless. The only cool thing is they make it "look" from side to side when you start it up. That's a talking point but, functionally, they do nothing.
 
Personally, I don't miss swiveling headlights on Model S one bit. We have them on our RX hybrid and they're totally useless. The only cool thing is they make it "look" from side to side when you start it up. That's a talking point but, functionally, they do nothing.

Then they were poorly designed. The ones I had on my DS-21 were great. They really lit up the road when going around corners. I have yet to drive a car that had as good a lighting system as the DS-21 (and that was many years ago).
 
Personally, I don't miss swiveling headlights on Model S one bit. We have them on our RX hybrid and they're totally useless. The only cool thing is they make it "look" from side to side when you start it up. That's a talking point but, functionally, they do nothing.

The articulating headlights on my previous Cadillac CTS were excellent. I believe they were even speed sensitive because they lit the roadway curves ahead at any speed perfectly.
 
The headlights on the RX are very poor in general, though (do xenon lamps dim when they start to wear out?).

The ones I have had don't dim but the colour gets warmer. They also will go out as the arc fails to connect. When this happens turning them on and off will restore them for some period of time (weeks or months at first). You replace them when you have to turn them on and off so frequently it becomes a pain.
 
The ones I have had don't dim but the colour gets warmer. They also will go out as the arc fails to connect. When this happens turning them on and off will restore them for some period of time (weeks or months at first). You replace them when you have to turn them on and off so frequently it becomes a pain.

So, if they're just dull replacing them won't do any good?