Adaptive LED for BMW iX1 & BMW X1 2023 - are they good or not?

After several hostile and aggressive comments and messages I took down the first video and made some more testing and a new video to better try to show the function of the adaptive LED:s. You make your own judgement based on the video which represents the real driving experience as close as possible.
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[@barrydoherty636]

Let’s us know BMW response.

[@swede-365]

If someone who have the brilliant Adaptive LED could share a movie it should be helpful to compare. Hopefully something is wrong with my car so it can be fixed.

[@herwigvercauteren2899]

Thanks very much for the well made and informative video. I have also ordered the X1 with adaptive LED lights. So I am a little bit worried too (though I am living in Belgium and most of the roads here have sufficient lights). Anyway would like to hear about the results after contacting the workshop. Thanks in advance.

[@giorgosandy]

Thank you for the great video. I really hope it's a specific car, or release batch problem, that can be fixed. That is definitely not adaptive, but poorly working auto high beam function. As for the low beam it seems quite dim (although the wet roads are not the best to judge). If this is the case, it would be several steps backwards for the brand. Thanks again for the detailing video.

[@dondonaldson1684]

Thanks very much for the dedicated attention to detail.

[@reinhardhilgart9479]

Thank you, I hope there is something wrong, I know the BMW adaptive LED from my 4-Series Cabrio, which is brillant and will receive my iX1 on the 6th of February. I will check the Light then right away

[@Mike-td3gm]

thats absolutely horrible, have u contacted BMW about this issue? i have an "old" X1 25E from 2020 and the Adpative LED works really fine. Spreading around vehicles, very good high beam range, the switch between lo and high beam happens instantly. So i hope what u have is a defect that can be fixed and not serial standard..

[@swede-365]

I have sent the video to BMW and wait for a reply.

[@haveaseatplease]

Can you somewhere on the headlights see which OEM manufacturer made these light clusters? Maybe it is Hella, but I'm not sure.

[@mertercan1696]

I have just ordered bmw x1 and your videos are perfect for learning features of the car. Thank you.

[@swede-365]

Glad you like them!

[@S_Paoli]

Thank you so much for the video! :) I was in my friend's X5 and it had really bad problems with the adaptive headlight.(the car also had the laser light option) It would not dim in time to prevent blinding driver in the opposite direction until the very last second. It was especially bad when driving on totally-dark roads in Pennsylvania with a lot of mountain roads. However, I just realized that I don't need to worry about adaptive headlight in the BMW X1 that I ordered. BMW does not offer adaptive headlight for the US/Canada market... it's only regular LED headlight.

[@Andrei-kh6kr]

you do know that you can set the reaction speed, right? it can be set to react much faster. and if you are worried about a bmw doing this......I would really like to see you driving other car brands.

[@thomas3767]

I have also ordered the ix1 with adaptive LED lights. So now I am a little bit afraid about this. I keep my fingers crossed that you can fix the problem. Please keep us informed. And last but not least: thank you very much for your videos!

[@swede-365]

I will keep you updated

[@tuandao1564]

Thanks for your videos. There is not much content on iX1. I also have one on order and now worried as I really value good headlights. I have adaptive led on my 2016 M4 and it is fantastic. I didn't think that it would be worse. Also sorry to hear that you got some rude comments.

[@s.neumann9271]

Thank you for taking the time and effort.

[@swede-365]

My pleasure!

[@hawaiiguy1]

good follow up ! hope this is not on all x1 vehicles ! Waiting on my suv to finally about late February. My car had been sitting at the Zubregge port in Belgium from 11/7 (when it arrived at the port from Germany) and finally went onto a vessel carrier 14 days ago headed to the USA.

[@ryanohara8103]

Unfortunately in the US we do not get the adaptive lights, just automatic high beam assist. I've been enjoying mine, the low beam performance seems better than my f32 4 series, but I still prefer HID's over LED's for the better color and beam throw.

[@cp4512]

No issue with the lights on my RHD XDrive23i X1 in the UK; best headlights I’ve had on a car in over 30 years of driving! Hope the lights get fixed soon on swedes car, they’re definitely not working the same as mine do.

[@BM-ho3js]

That is going to be a very interesting Testdrive with the ix1 for me. I had the 23i for a Testdrive last week and it was just as good if not better than the Adaptive LEDs in my i3. I just hope it is a Problem with this specific car (if it is i hope it can be fixed fast for you) because i have considered as a replacement for my current i3. Thanks for the Video! Now will have a closer look at the lights before i order the car.

[@swede-365]

Really appreciate your feedback after your test drive! I had an i3 before this one and the lights were better on that one despite a more simple technical solution there. I hope it’s a fault that can be corrected but will be interesting to see how you experience it especially on dark country roads without other lights.

[@BM-ho3js]

The i3 only has three (?) segments of light but I really like how it works and looks even tough it is quite simple. Good to read about your experience with the i3! I can compare better that way :) The X1 23i had more of those segments so there was not so much darkness around the cars in front/oncoming cars. I will definitely take the test iX1 to the darkest road I know an to some roads with more traffic… I don’t want to buy bad lights 😅 Hopefully they will have one available in the near future.

[@cp4512]

I’ve had my XDrive23i X1 for a month now and the lights are brilliant and nothing like in this video. I think it may be this specific car, maybe just with the iX1, or maybe just for LHD cars as I have a RHD car in the UK.

[@LucaFTube]

So worried now 😅😅. I hope they can fix it, giving a full bright light beam. May be this sort of energy saving mode only for "i" version? In May I will check by myself, when my X1 will be delivered

[@cp4512]

I wondered that too. I’ve got an XDrive23i and the adaptive lights work brilliantly - definitely recommend speccing them as an option.

[@timotopaasia6382]

Honor and praise once again for a very good video! Even though the camera doesn't give a very accurate view of the situation, I agree that the visibility is relatively poor. Haven't you thought about installing additional lights? This would be very helpful in our northern living environment. My own car should arrive in June, then darkness will not be the biggest problem (I live in Estonia). But in the fall and winter, it's really hard to drive a car without good lights. After watching your video, I am definitely planning to think about installing additional lights.

[@swede-365]

It’s hard to integrate in a good way as for design but might have to do it. But it doesn’t solve the also poor low beam.

[@timotopaasia6382]

@@swede-365 A license plate mounting frame is provided. With this, the appearance remains practically the same and the additional light is relatively unnoticeable. But yes, it only solves the high beam problem.

[@swede-365]

It’s a matter of personal taste. I also want the adaptive function so it can be on high beam most of the time and adjust the light around the other cars like on other cars I have had. You loose that with a led bar.

[@lipcsaiify]

I recently drove a mercedes with multibeam led lights, I have to say it has more precise control and what area to light or shut off the lights, it was amazing, also it was mostly high beam on after 60km\h and than it just shut it off when it sensed some oncoming traffic or behind cars

[@swede-365]

Actually all other cars with adaptive led that I have driven have been better than the iX1

[@yoker84]

Will be interesting to see what BMW respond with. All the non EV X1 night driving I have seen show reasonably good lighting … I’m wondering if this issue is in iX1 only to save battery (this should not be an excuse, off cause).

[@swede-365]

It seams that the adaptive functions don’t works at all on the iX1 but it seams to do so on X1 so hopefully something that can be fixed by software

[@cp4512]

Agreed. No problems with my XDrive23i adaptive headlights.

[@SteveLoughran]

i'd wonder about software issues here -particularly the time to go back to high beam after a passing car, and, given it it some kind of matrix lighting, why not just turn off those LEDs which are pointing towards the detected vehicles.

[@swede-365]

The adaptive functions don’t work at all so hopefully software problems.

[@ahbs]

You are absolutely correct, the lights are shockingly poor! I’m currently driving an 8 year old X4 with far superior lighting! I do have an iX1 on order and now I must take a further test drive at night to test the lights! It’s a worrying development!

[@victorngcm]

yeah, the X4 is Xenon light which is much better then LED

[@gabrielg1001]

@@victorngcm i am driving G30 LCI with adaptive LED and comparing to my old F25 LCI X3 they are not that good ...i guess the X1 will have similar to the G30 which is a dissapointment

[@far_tech5555]

I haven't noticed this because I have driven my ix1 only in the city or high way, which are lit and I can't tell how the brightness and adaptiveness are. I noticed occasionally the high beam was activated on the dash, but because the road was bright due to the road lights, I didn't notice the difference. If I take it to a dark road, I will update if I have the same issue.

[@vaddoc]

Thanks. How do you find the range?

[@far_tech5555]

​@@vaddoc It is hard to judge the range. I have mostly driven in the city with a lot of start and stop. It is also the winter time now, which the temp is around 0 C. As the car is heavy, it requires a lot power to start driving. So for short distances in the cold with start and stop in between, the consumption is higher than normal. In such situations, the consumption is about 25 kW/100km so under 300 km with a full charge. It can go down between 20 to 22 kWh/100km, in the case of lesser start stop, which means about 300 - 330 km range with a full charge. In the summer time, I expect around 400 km, in the similar situation My car has extra options (it is heavier), and its wltp is 25 km less than the standard varient, which is 440 km. I need to drive the car more to get a better average consumption, but up until now, I can say it is 21 kW/100 km with the combination of the city (regular start and stop in the city included) and high way (average 110 km/h) in the temperature around 0 C. So I would say 300+ km range. To be able to compare with other cars, there should be a standard way of testing. They normally test the car in a high way , with a constant speed.

[@vaddoc]

@@far_tech5555 Many thanks. I have the ix1 on order for the wife but I am a bit unhappy with BMW sticking a 65kwh battery, when everyone else goes with 85. I d expect more for this kind of money.

[@far_tech5555]

@vaddoc the range only matters on long journeys as you know. The battery is a bit small I agree but this is the limitation of ix1 to be a cross-platform and not a ground-up EV platform. The range is not great but it is not bad either

[@FredericBlondieau]

There's indeed an issue... Thanks for this video ; let's hope BMW will apply some fix to it.

[@swede-365]

I hope so too

[@Aizman87]

So these lights dont have the matrix function that the laser lights have? The lights on my 2022 ix3 is the best I have seen on any car but these on ix1 dont look very good😮

[@swede-365]

It should have but it seams that it’s not working on the iX1 as it should, got several reports about this. But it seams to work on the X1 so hopefully they can fix it. But it does not have the laser light with extra reach which are brilliant, had them on my 330e.

[@cp4512]

Really sorry to hear your lights aren’t great, I’d definitely get them looked at as they are far worse than mine. I’ve had my XDrive23i X1 for a month now and the headlights are brilliant. Superbly bright and I don’t get flashed by other road users so I assume it isn’t blinding them. I’m in the UK so maybe it’s just LHD cars that are affected with your issue?

[@swede-365]

The car was at the workshop yesterday. I made a video update about that.

[@cp4512]

@@swede-365 just seen your latest video. Sorry to hear that software not yet fixed it, I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you that next weeks software update works better 🤞

[@swede-365]

Thank you 🙏 Let’s hope so 😊

[@victorngcm]

I am a BMW X1 2017 owner and I got the LED headlight on my car. That headlight is disappointing too. The projection range and the spread is poor and the colour of the light was ugly. It wasn't white or yellow. It just make me feel sleepy. I started to look more headlights on different cars and I found that BMW's headlights, I mean ALL LED MODELS, include their laser light are rubbish. HID in projectors in older BMW are better then the LED. BMW seems not want us to drive at night and their LED headlight is just installed on cars to "pass the law". I checked the LED prjector has 3 LED chips for low beam and 2 for high beam. They feed 9V for each chip and it took 0.5A current. I tried to feed 10V to the chip by a bench supply and the result was totally different. Colour and brightness is much better. I think that problem could be fixed by coding the car so make the headlight controllor feeding higher voltage and current to the light.

[@Tobias-gt3cv]

I own a iX1 in Germany and I can confirm your experience. Low to high beam very slow and barely better. It should follow curves but doesn't. It should be matrix technology, but instead of hiding other vehicles in high beam, it only switches from high to low without providing any "matrix" technology.

[@swede-365]

Exactly my experience. I thought I was crazy because no one else seams to experience this problem, only some complaints about bad reach on high beam.

[@DammSeb]

The missing road-following is one thing I noticed with my iX1 (Germany) as well. I haven't had too many night drives so far, but I already thought i switched down to low beam instead of just sparing out other vehicles in high beam. My ID.3 is a lot better regarding the lights. Thanks for the video.

[@swede-365]

They are definitely not working as they should.

[@cp4512]

Mine is a RHD X1 in the UK and the adaptive headlights are working brilliantly. I definitely recommend you tick that box on the option list! Recommend getting it back to BMW to fix. Or maybe it’s the headlamp interface with the iX1 as my car is an XDrive23i X1?

[@gpcmlin]

It would be interesting to see what other drivers see compared to other cars that have their lights on. But I agree on your video they are quite poor

[@swede-365]

At least no one flashes at me because they don’t dim enough that can be the problem with other cars 😂

[@marekgret]

Hello, I noticed that there is no headlight cleaning device (washer) in the new X1. The regulations say that in this situation the light must not exceed 2000 lumens. So maybe in this car the lights are weaker than in others? I've had the xDrive23i for a month now and haven't noticed the lack of light, but I'll have to look into it.

[@swede-365]

Please watch my other videos about this. My lights are not working as they should.

[@swede-365]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/e6XCkoN-lMyVjM0

[@zx6guy]

2023 NA X1 owner here. I admit the automatic highbeams or adaptive headlights or whatever we’re calling them now do not work very well. With that said I’ve yet to experience a good application of this tech and that spans from Mercedes, Honda and even Tesla so I continue to control them manually. I also think the low beams are pretty good and the high beams are great in my model. Something that jumps out from your video is the fact the roads are wet. This of course is the worse conditions for headlights as moisture makes the roads darker (at night) and swallows up the light. I think the lack of a comparison of conditions makes this feel a little biased but that should be expected as you seem pretty unhappy regardless.

[@swede-365]

Please watch my latest video from today when the car has been to the workshop all day, they are not working as they should.

[@mladenpavlenic1273]

Just quick question, how can I "convince" BMW workshop about the issue with adaptive LED not working as they should. What is the buzz word 😊?When I drive and turn long-light on, cars that are coming towards me, they are blitzing me. My BMW iX1 does not turn long-light automatically down.

[@swede-365]

I filmed a sequence and showed to them.

[@Kelv1nS]

I’ve got an iX1 on order in the UK and have been enjoying your videos. This is definitely concerning - I’m hoping it’s a fluke and quickly put right for you 🤞

[@swede-365]

I hope so too!

[@colla555]

What really is bothering me, is that the headlight itself doesn't say "adaptive LED" on it. Even in the configurator, there is on "BMW LED" shown on the headlight itself. On the other hand, the description in the German configurator very well describes all the amazing features that usually make up the excellent BMW adaptive Headlights (including turning into curves "Adaptives Kurvenlicht" and leaving out oncoming traffic with the matrix function.).

[@swede-365]

The design on the headlights are different on the adaptive LED so it is the core lights. Seams that the problem is only on iX1 and not in the X1 so hopefully only software problems.

[@colla555]

@@swede-365 ok, if it's only on the ix1 I could imagine it's a design decision. This means, on the i1X compared to the petrol/diesel X1 you get dim lights for energy-saving reasons. I hope they fix that. {I know for sure that the eco driving mode is designed to reduce the headlight brightness. But then they shouldn't do this in the normal/comfort mode).

[@eddiearmaos8827]

I propose to do the same test in highway with high speed running (ie @120Km), instead of local roads with low speed? Just an idea to see the difference... Anyway I hope it is an isolated problem of this particular car and that it will be solved soon by the local bmw. Otherwise what is the point of paying for something that doesn't do what it promises ? In local BMW's site the description for led lights extra package is: "Pedestrians or cyclists - you need to pay extra attention on the side of the road, especially in the city. Your BMW understands this too. Adaptive LED Headlights with matrix technology illuminate the side areas more. On the motorway, by contrast, your gaze is mainly directed to the front. So the headlamps automatically adjust the lighting distance - the beam becomes narrower and illuminates at a greater distance. Other modes with variable light dispersion: bad weather, intersections, roundabouts and country roads. Activation of headlights, deactivation of headlights - at night you should pay special attention to vehicles ahead or vehicles in the opposite direction of traffic. The solution: BMW Selective Beam. It detects vehicles in oncoming traffic as well as vehicles ahead and automatically switches off the headlights. The advantage: maximum field of vision. Maximum safety by preventing disturbance to other drivers. Daytime running lights and turn signals stand out visually - they are integrated in separate components of the Electronic Front Light Module. Adaptive LED headlights are also involved in the welcome and departure lighting: the BMW welcomes you when you get on and says goodbye when you get off. The Adaptive Headlights, intersection lights, cornering lights, daytime running lights and side lights complete the equipment." Please keep us updated and good luck !

[@swede-365]

I have done tests on both local roads and highways. Speeds from 50 - 120+. The result is the same in all speeds and on all kind of roads.

[@eddiearmaos8827]

@@swede-365 so... the Adaptive Leds package, does not wok in your iX1 🤨😐😔

[@swede-365]

It seams so and not only on my iX1. Several others have confirmed this but it seams to work on X1 so can probably be fixed. Will talk to workshop today.

[@S_Paoli]

another issue with the U11 X1/iX1 headlight is the condensation inside the headlight housing. I have seen pretty bad condensation when I was test driving the X1 at the BMW dealer. The salesman said that it would go away after a while. However, I have seen many online X1 reviews(UK and US) that said the condensation never went away after almost 2 months.

[@swede-365]

Not good at all 😳

[@doughelsby886]

I have x1 25e and according to the BMW garage, the diagnostic test suggests the lights are working correctly. They are not!! I get flashed all the time, the high beam assist is so slow to respond and finally the so called cornering lights do not work. I paid for the track plus pack and am not overly happy.

[@swede-365]

Same problem as I had but they managed to fix them by calibrating the camera and some software updates. But even after that not impressed by them, much better on my i4.

[@MikeH-wm5zh]

is it not matrix as Mercedes?

[@swede-365]

It should be

[@achimguhr1576]

But the EQA has no Matrix light

[@MyBzKEE]

Is it fixed now?

[@swede-365]

Yes, but still not impressed by them.

[@szabolcs8349]

This is a LED Matrix? It looks like a cheap LED with High beam assistent…

[@swede-365]

Please watch my other video. They are not functioning as they should.

[@Flatseas]

If these lights are OK it is really disappointing. I thought my previous Tesla was bad....and hoped that a german brand had better lights. They seem to be far worse :(

[@Andrei-kh6kr]

sorry, but this is definitely NOT what your eyes can see. it's much darker than with some poor halogen lights judging by the video. it is impossible. I think your exposure is way too low (probably in order not to have too much light). I have never read bad things about matrix lights regardless of the brand. yes, they are not perfect, nothing ever is. matrix lights no longer bend the light, that mechanism from previous adaptive lights is more expensive. and the parts that move the bulb get broken in time so it is cheaper to have another light added by turning it on and simulating a lights that bends. so yeah, some cost cutting here, but the owner is the one that pays defective parts in the end :)

[@swede-365]

The exposure is unfortunately correct. See todays update video.

[@Andrei-kh6kr]

@@swede-365 maybe according to the device. But your eyes see better in low light. So it is not what your eyes saw.

[@swede-365]

As I tell in the film, it represents what I actually see. It is that bad but if you watch the update today you will see that they are not ok.

[@Andrei-kh6kr]

@@swede-365 then the lights are defective and a visit to the service is mandatory.

[@RahManxbox]

ouch.. disappointing. my current bmw s4 gran coupe 420d works a bit better (*i think*), but still, it is from 2017. I was expecting to a much better response between ON vs OFF vs dark vs cars traffic on a 2022 model. My X1 will arrive in a couple of weeks, I will let you know @swede365

[@andrei450]

So, the so-called adaptative light is not fully adaptative - I mean, it doesn't "control" the high beam, it just switch it off and on? Not like in Volvo C40 with pixel headlights, for example? Cheers for the video. PS: BTW, I once had a Golf GTI with dynamic light assist. If the car was on an "eco" mode, the high beams would only turn on and off, not doing the shadowying or diverting from other cars. But I suppose it's not the problem here.

[@swede-365]

They are adaptive but my car and a lot of others iX1 had software problems and they didn’t work because of that but fixed now.