High Beam Assist function

I felt kind of dumb not being able to turn on my headlights to high beam. Finally figured it out. Sharing here in case it's helpful.

 

First thing to know -- The High Beam Assist Function (owners manual p. 244) kicks in when headlights are in the AUTO position, and when you try to turn on the high beams. This is actually pretty cool and works pretty well, as I could see my headlights changing from high to low to high again as oncoming cars passed. Except one thing I was frustrated by till I read more -- the high beams will TURN OFF unless you are going AT LEAST 20 MPH. (or, they will turn back off when you drop below 10 MPH)

 

I was coming up our driveway and trying to turn on the high beams, to watch for deer. They would NOT turn on -- just stayed on low beams. Couldn't figure this out. Now I know -- it's because I was going less than 20 MPH.

 

OPTION -- If you turn your headlights to the ON position instead of the AUTO position, then the high beam selector is fully manual and the above constraints are not applied.

All that "magic" stuff that intends to make things simpler for the users are actually making things harder and we lose focus from driving to get locked into trying to figure out wtf that's going on this time.

 

 

The adaptive wipers that is an improvement over interval wipers is one thing that I can accept, but other things are more and more starting to get the WTF - why fix things that aren't broken.

 

 

Earlier we had the steering column switch for position lights, but back in history on the Brat there were a special parking position on the selector instead. The Auto position is in my opinion superfluous when you have LED headlights.

Thanks for posting this, the hi beam assist was something that irritated the hell out of me on the wife's car. I never bothered to get out the manual, just figured it was a quirk of the system. This helps.

We love the high beam assist on our '19 Forester. I had to look it up how to activate them also as it's not easy to figure out. But once they are on it's awesome. Especially on curvy back roads.

There's a few more functions like that that puzzled me at first. For instance, if the parking brake is set and you press the gas in D or R, the parking brake automatically disengages. UNLESS you don't have your seat belt on.

 

Dan

Mach V

FastWRX.com

Mach V Dan, thanks for the heads up regarding the parking break and seatbelt. I always wear my seat belt, but just hypothetically, if someone is not wearing the seatbelt with the parking break on, will the car be able to move? And if it does, would it wear down the parking break? Or is there no such thing as wearing down the parking break anymore, and the car won't move based on the electrical system?

Mach V Dan, thanks for the heads up regarding the parking break and seatbelt. I always wear my seat belt, but just hypothetically, if someone is not wearing the seatbelt with the parking break on, will the car be able to move? And if it does, would it wear down the parking break?

The car will move, but with the brake on there's obviously a huge drag, so it's not likely you're going to just drive off at full speed with the parking brake still engaged. Plus if you start driving without wearing your seat belt, the car begins to complain quite stridently.

 

You can always disengage the parking brake using the button...

 

Dan

Mach V

FastWRX.com