XC70 Dipped Beam Performance - Downright Dangerous
 

I've had the 2012 XC70 for 3 months now and I can say that the dipped beam headlights are absolutely terrible, in fact I consider them dangerous.

On these dark, raining winter nights, where there are no street lights where I live in the countryside, they give out no more light than a pedestrian with a torch! Many a time when there's a car on the other side of the road, it's by pure guesswork that I actually managed to stay on the road.

The dealer says that they are setup correctly, but comparing them with our Merc, the beam is set too low. They're the active bending round corner auto height adjust type, so I'm not sure if they can be adjusted manually.

What are your thoughts on the XC70 lights? What can I do so I can see more of the road on dipped beam without buying a pair of night vision goggles?

Thanks.

Does it have Xenon Headlights? (I'm guessing it must)


The standard lights are IMHO cr*p and I wouldn't have a Volvo without Xenon light (Active Xenons).

I find (with Active Xenons) the full beam to be very good, the dipped lights aren't Great but I couldn't call them Dangerous either. I think it's more a case of the Full Beam being very good that you really notice when to go to Dipped Lights.

I live in the country so a lot of unlit roads, but I use full beam unless there is another car in view or a pedestrian.

Best take it to another dealership and ask them to double check it.

yes you can raise the lights yourself on the adjusters on the lights how far ahead do the dip headlamps point to the ground ?

Really? even with the active Bi-Xenon Headlights? It's like light to dark on the road - no gradual drop off. It's difficult to say exactly - I'll have to measure it.

yes the usual horizontal and vertical adjustment screws on each light unit ( you need a 7 mm socket i think ... I mean if you are driving at say 50 mph are the lights pointing towards the floor so that you cant see far enough ahead to go over 50 mph in the dark?

FWIW, my 59 plate 2.0D with OEM halogen bulbs had the dipped beam set way too low. Took it back to Volvo stealer within a week of getting the car, they checked it and said it was perfect.

Still not convinced, I took it to my local MOT centre who re-checked the beam pattern and found it was miles out.

My first port of call to the OP would be a MOT test centre and not to take the stealers word that all is OK.

I have an Xc70 MY10 and found the halogen dipped lights terible. I thought that volvo had traded light output for life given that the dipped beams fom the day running lights. I have now fitted Osram Nightbreaker+ bulbs which have improved the winter driving immensley. Why Volvo did not fit LED day runners is a puzzle.

Try Specsavers !!!

I have the same as you, a XC70 2012, with active bending Xenon lights. I find neither the dipped nor the full beam to be bad. Significantly better than the halogen lights I've had on older cars before.

Personally I find the dipped beam on the xenon lights to be excellent so either the OP's lights are very badly adjusted or he does need Specsavers! They do have a hard edge by design to avoid blinding oncoming drivers but give enough vision for driving at the speed limit on my MY 11 xc70. I had a MY08 V70 with halogen lights which was less good but perfectly driveable.

dips are terrible on the S40 until you upgrade them with better bulbs...

The dips on my 2012 v70 (active xenon) are fantastic. Main beam is good too. Shame the main isn't xenon as well though. That would be awesome.

would you happen to know how much to service XC 70 D5 at volvo dealer for 2 yr service?
thanks and regards

My old XC70 D5 was due it's 2nd year service (just before I sold it) and I was quoted £440....!!!!! I asked if that was there best price and he said he'd give me a 25% discount.

The 1st year service was quoted at £350, before I haggled 25% off.

dipped beam
 

i have a 2007 m/y xc70/se,i love the car but the dipped beam is awful,even with it adjusted to the high position,i always drive at night with the spot/fog lamps(or whatever you want to call them) on as well,i have been looking at some nightbreakers which are supposed to give 90% more light than the std bulbs,i also looked at some 100w bulbs but believe they are for competition use.

david ref the service costs,
i contacted my local main stealer in kent,he said it would be £450 ish!!would not haggle so stuff them,i will be using an independent(tivoli motors) in hastings,volvo specialists for over 20 years with all the kit,quoted £200 inc c/car for same service as main stealer.
cheers all
sandy

Fog lamps are for use when it's foggy and only with sidelights on. The fog lights on the XC70 are very good when used in this manner. Visibility without horrendous glare from the fog.

Their use in any other conditions is illegal, and for good reason. They dazzle oncoming traffic and quite frankly, they're a pain in the arse.

Now, apart from the illegality of using them, they're actually pointless in anything other than really foggy weather and provide absolutely no extra additional visibility - they light up the road right in front of the car, at low level to get under the fog as much as possible.

Find a dark car park, stick sidelights only on, switch front fog lights on then switch on the dipped beam and watch how the light from the front fogs disappears from the area in front of your car - you'll lose a foot of light right where the road disappears from view under the bonnet, but you'll not lose any light from the far end of the dipped beam (unless your dipped beam lights are seriously out of adjustment).

The use of 90/100 bulbs is of dubious legality - it's possibly, thanks to EU law, not illegal as 90/100s are legal in Germany and under EU law, that should make them legal in the UK but there's a whole heap of new legislation on its way to make pretty much any modification to headlights otherwise in accordance with manufacturers specifications illegal, including not having headlight wash mechanisms in combination with upgraded headlights.

The absolute downside of fitting higher powered bulbs is you run the risk of burning out the wiring by pulling additional current and generating additional heat that's capable of cracking the lens covers and making bits of the headlight mechanism (adjusters etc) more prone to cracking.

I'd go with getting the headlights aligned first at an MoT centre and then fitting the highest quality bulbs in the traditional 55/60w range.

In the summer months we spend a lot of time in North Wales and I drive down when I finnish work at 4am, I could not believe how bad the xenons are going down dark country lanes. When you flick to full beam its as if some ones switched the lights on!
Complained to the dealers and got the usual they all do that sir?

Brian.

Thank god for that . . .:thumbs_up:
compaired to my old Granada which where the frog head lights

My XC70 lights are bloody crap compaired to them and my old 1986 XR4x4 I must admitt i to find the dipped lights bloody crap and was thinking of up grading but to what ?

Standard H7

Active Xenons
 

I do a lot of night driving and I had my Active Xenons adjusted by dealer within days of geting car to give better distance illumination. Because of auto levelling I am not sure it is a user adjustment, they did mine with software adjustment on computer. I certainly have no complaints with light performance on dip or main.

I've had Volvos for years and the lights have always been poor. That was until I bought an '06 XC70 with (passive) xenons. Pretty good; got the dealer to adjust them up as far as he dare (helps to have a good relationship with the service department). Excellent.

Sadly my latest has conventional lamps - even so they are "adequate". Mains are good but dipped - poor, but usable.

My take is if you're unhappy with the dipped lights, either tweak them yourself (not an hugely good idea, unless you've got a good target area) or get the dealer / indy to adjust them to the maximum legal level.

My own opinion is that the new style (2008+) lights are much better than the older models. I guess it's a matter of adjustment. Volvo tend to be a bit "conservative".

My 2010 V70 - allegedly a 2011 model but they never listed my spec in the 2011 price list - has rubbish dipped lights, Halogen Hwhatever. Brighter bulbs, as per Nightbreakers wouldn't help as they are just set too low IMHO.
Can the dipped be raised separately to the mains? IIRC on the last V70 the whole unit was moved so dipped and mains went together. But I may be talking rubbish.....

Don't have any problem with my non-active Xenons in fact I find them very bright and certainly better than my old Merc C220 CDI dipped lights. Every time I start the car the dipped lights do a quick check up and down and settle into a good alignment position for driving in the dark depending on the load in the car. Headlights are great, can't find fault with them either.

Had this fault on our S80 SE Lux 2 years ago. The active bi-xenons required a software upgrade. In short, they were too low, so driving 200 miles south from Glasgow in the new year of 2010 was tricky. Once fixed, all is fine.

I've got Osram Nightbreaker plus in the dips and they are a big improvement over the OEM bulbs, but life is 12k miles or just over the year. Although changing them is a 20-30 minute job in total as the Xc 70 is well designed in this respect. I'd still have preferred dedicated long life day running lights like my first Volvo 245 had. Such is progress!

The wife has an 2012 XC70 with bendy xenons - never been happy with dipped beams - always found setting way too low. (mains superb).

Reported as a problem at service 2 weeks ago (was given 2013 S40 as a loan car and found it's dip far far worse!). After service, dealer reported that they had adjusted lamps to MOT standard (could not explain why lamps were not already set to Mot std.!!).

Result - dipped beam now MUCH better, and perfectly adaquate.

So if you're unhappy - moan at the dealer - they may be able to improve things.

Mollusk.

On my 2009 XC70 (standard lights) I upgraded to Philips Extrem (after hitting a deer on the A9 in the dark). It was then that i decided the lights needed improving.

I also spent a good while re-aligning them.

Now they're actually pretty good - certainly acceptable.

And thanks to this chap (AA Milne):
Switch those fogs off NOW and give us a break - you should NEVER drive with dip beam and fogs. If you want to use them as driving lights, then treat them as full beam - and switch them off when anyone else is in view.

Just drove 70 miles up the Great Glen in Scotland in pitch dark and the lights were great no problems at all with dip or main beam. Before I left the car was parked in front of a white wall and one thing I did notice when I flashed my headlights the Xenon dipped beams appeared to rise up to the same level as the headlights. I switched to main beam and the same happened, both the dip and main beam lights appeared to shine at the same level. I could be wrong but that is what it appeared to me. The dip beams always do an up and down check before they settle when I start the car so I suppose they could tip up on main beam. Has anyone else noticed this or should I take more water in my whisky? LOL. :confused-smiley-013

yes completely normal , dip assists main beam there ...

One point I'd make to anyone who manually adjusts the "computer controlled" headlights up ......

Remember to manually adjust them back down again before service else when your car is returned to you, the lights will be lower, and you will have lost the ability to raise them..


Cheers

Bob

We had a another post on this subject last sept/oct on the same lines, took me awhile to get used to the lights and it did not help with wet roads etc as in certain conditions nothing helps. I fitted philips Extreme and have them adjusted to be as high as legally possible. Overall they work fine now..

My car had good lights on dip, until the dealer MOT ed the car and they came back next to useless . Seeing as I used to take several cars to my local MOT place and would adjust the lights with them , had a good ideas where they should be so have adjusted them up a bit again .
Next time I MOT the car it will be out of the mot warranty , so will go to my normal place and be set up again.
That is if I do not sell it.

Roger

Just had a failure on an Osram Nightbreaker Plus so in three years I have had three failures and 27000 miles. So I have fitted Bosch H7 90 which might give slightly less output but should extend the life somewhat. The unfailed Nightbreaker looked pretty sick so I always change both bulbs.

I found nightbreakers to have a very short life, and the Volvo doesn't help matters by using them as drls.

Silverstars are a lot cheaper than nightbreakers, almost as bright and last longer. Better value...

Next week I'm ordering some nightbreaker xenons to upgrade our ABLs...

[QUOTE=clivea;1621971]Just had a failure on an Osram Nightbreaker Plus so in three years I have had three failures and 27000 miles.

Is £27/year really that bad to see well on the road (and to be seen too)? You could always buy cheap n cheerful bulbs for the summer n switch back to 'good 'uns' in the darker months.
IMO, like tyres, buy the best you can afford at all times.

The difference between the Bosch and Nightbreakers is marginal in light output but if you look at the statistics of lamp life versus temperature a small reduction in temperture gives a longer life. The Bosch were all that Halfords had in the extra brilliance category and faced with a 120 mile night drive with an engine in limp mode I based my purchasing decision on thr prevailing situation not on any basis of false econmomy. So based on a lengthy night drive I would say anyone would be hard pressed to notice any difference. I really think that Volvo got it wrong by making the dipped beams DRLs. My old 245 had permanent day running lights with long life bulbs which allowed the dipped beams to do the job they were designed for.
Thanks for your timely advice on tyres I was thinking of changing my Pirellis for Linglangs which are far cheaper and have a very hard, long life compound!!

Not meant to **** anyone off so my apologies.

I wonder if the op,s car has had a bulb change by previous owners and used eBay specials. Also are the headlights self levelling on start up, I've they should rise up and level out.

I have normal halogens and find dip beam fine on our rural roads. Had them reset by dealer recently as they were too high following a bulb change, standard Volvo bulbs used.

Paul.

I've recently noticed that although my dipped beam do not seem to throw much light onto the road, they do illuminate the road side signs fantastically. I wonder if it's the beam pattern, as opposed to the brightness of the bulb?

Hi,

It could also be that the height adjustment is off?
Or the control wheel has been turned down fully?

Des. . . ;)