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Automatic High Beams? No, Thanks - 2014 Jeep Cherokee Limited Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.comEdmunds.com Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 10,315
edited July 2015 in Jeep
imageAutomatic High Beams? No, Thanks - 2014 Jeep Cherokee Limited Long-Term Road Test

The Edmunds.com long-term 2014 Jeep Cherokee includes the ability to activate automatic high beam headlamps. We promptly disabled them.

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Comments

  • sharpendsharpend Member Posts: 177
    Man, that's some mighty stupid "logic" on the part of Jeep, Fiat, Chrysler or whoever the hell is making decisions over there nowadays.
  • seppoboyseppoboy Member Posts: 93
    My pet peeve about most cars over the last several years is the disgracefully bad headlights most vehicles have. I do a lot of rural road driving in areas with big deer populations, good headlights are essential, and so few vehicles have them these days. Even with xenons or LEDs, the light pattern and brightness is inadequate. Couple that poor performance with the sort of intrusive automated help-the-driver features like automatic high beams (these driver assistance pieces of junk are my OTHER pet peeve), and it is a total turn-off.
  • zimtheinvaderzimtheinvader Member Posts: 580
    edited July 2015
    " Their reach is minimal and there's a hard cut off to accommodate oncoming drivers. Sure, it's all done in the name of safety, which I can appreciate."

    I think it is somewhat ironic that as they make headlights brighter the hard cutoffs become more necessary and the overall reach/coverage of many of the lights suffers. The quest for brighter bluer light leads to patterns that leave you feeling isolated in what you can see. A little light bleeding higher or off to the left more wasn't as bad when it wasn't so overpowering and wouldn't disorient oncoming drivers.

    And that, unfortunately, leads a growing number of drivers to alter their headlights making them completely terrible for drivers coming towards them. HID kits in standard headlights that turn them into super bright flood lights that send a wall of light up in front of them. Even HID lights in standard projector housings allow a lot more bleed past the cutoff because the position of the bulb actually changes, which kills other drivers night vision. Then there is the ever popular LED or HID conversion in fog lights which also makes them into flood lights.
  • schen72schen72 Member Posts: 433
    I never felt the HID lights in my Acuras were inadequate. They felt very bright to me. If I wanted a little more side vision, the foglights lit up the sides nicely, although I rarely use those in the city.
  • darexdarex Member Posts: 187
    Some car companies do auto lamps very well; that is, intelligently and appropriately. BMW's are perfect. These? Best left in manual mode.
  • thecardoc3thecardoc3 Member Posts: 5,799
    So one has to wonder exactly what is an oncoming driver encountering when these stay on high beam longer than the electronics would allow.
  • agentorangeagentorange Member Posts: 893
    darex said:

    Some car companies do auto lamps very well; that is, intelligently and appropriately. BMW's are perfect. These? Best left in manual mode.

    Agreed 100 %. Some manufacturers give you candles in jam jars and some actually provide lights. As for auto-high beams, I am reminded of the jokes about screen doors on submarines.
  • quadricyclequadricycle Member Posts: 827
    edited July 2015
    Josh Jacquot said: "Regardless, the trend toward short-reach low beams is a common one among newer cars."

    That's actually not correct, though it is entirely true that many cars come out of the factory with badly aimed headlights.

    Also, low beam headlights become quite useless to you at a surprisingly low speed. At 45mph, you're actually starting to overdrive them. This has been the case for decades, though a "sharper" cut-off can make you more aware of this than a "softer" one. You've always been going too fast for low beams, you only now realize it. Fun exercise: drive down the road with your low beams at various speeds and measure the time it takes an object that enters your headlight range to reach your car. Now think about how much time it takes for you to come to a complete stop or safely avoid an obstacle at those speeds. Yeah...

    Josh Jacquot said: "I wasn't surprised to find myself reaching for the stalk to click on the high beams when navigating my neighborhood."

    You shouldn't ever be surprised about that. Using different terminology, your "high" beam is your "main" beam while the "lows" are your "dipped" beams for when traffic is present. Most people don't use their high beams enough.
  • fordson1fordson1 Unconfirmed Posts: 1,512

    Josh Jacquot said: "Regardless, the trend toward short-reach low beams is a common one among newer cars."

    That's actually not correct, though it is entirely true that many cars come out of the factory with badly aimed headlights.

    Also, low beam headlights become quite useless to you at a surprisingly low speed. At 45mph, you're actually starting to overdrive them. This has been the case for decades, though a "sharper" cut-off can make you more aware of this than a "softer" one. You've always been going too fast for low beams, you only now realize it. Fun exercise: drive down the road with your low beams at various speeds and measure the time it takes an object that enters your headlight range to reach your car. Now think about how much time it takes for you to come to a complete stop or safely avoid an obstacle at those speeds. Yeah...

    Josh Jacquot said: "I wasn't surprised to find myself reaching for the stalk to click on the high beams when navigating my neighborhood."

    You shouldn't ever be surprised about that. Using different terminology, your "high" beam is your "main" beam while the "lows" are your "dipped" beams for when traffic is present. Most people don't use their high beams enough.

    Absolutely - I view the brights as my main beams, and the lows as dipped...I don't drive with dipped beams any more than I can help it. My lights are adaptive HIDs, so they do give a bit of help in directing the light where I want it. Most people overdrive their lights...but they're all screwing around with phones or the infotainment systems, so it hardly matters.
  • misterfusionmisterfusion Member Posts: 471
    edited July 2015
    I'm basically never able to use my high-beams in Southern California. For example, I was driving on Hwy 111 out of Palm Springs one night, and it was pitch black -- the city lights are blocked by the mountain. My low-beams were inadequate, but I could never use the high-beams because there was a constant stream of oncoming traffic. I hope those prissy b@stards realize I was sacrificing my own safety for their benefit! :P
  • sviseksvisek Member Posts: 35
    Oh cry me a river! Between the OP and many of the responses, I have never heard such whining! How many of you folks actually have a 2014- Cherokee and have experience with this system? We got our 2015 Cherokee Limited in February and I find the automatic high beams to be excellent. It keeps me on high most of the the time, too. The Cherokee isn't perfect by any means, but the lights are just fine thank you. The OP is cracked IMHO.
  • quadricyclequadricycle Member Posts: 827

    I'm basically never able to use my high-beams in Southern California. For example, I was driving on Hwy 111 out of Palm Springs one night, and it was pitch black -- the city lights are blocked by the mountain. My low-beams were inadequate, but I could never use the high-beams because there was a constant stream of oncoming traffic.

    I really can't wait until more cars have fully adaptive high beams. That's the kind that stay on high but dims the light only where other cars are. Yes, the costs of such systems are going to be high (and that will probably stop widespread implementation over the long term), but the safety benefits and ease of use will be significant.

    I hope those prissy b@stards realize I was sacrificing my own safety for their benefit! :P

    Look at it this way: if they're not blinded, they're less likely to run into you!

    P.S. Thanks for not being the car runs high beams regardless of other drivers. :)

  • nic69nic69 Member Posts: 2
    My 2014 Cherokee is almost identical to the one being tested and I find the headlights and the auto-dimming system to be just fine. On some occasions, it will dim the high beams earlier than I would manually, but not by much.
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