Sorry, I can't help with this, as I never seem to drive anywhere that requires the auto-maain beam to come on. I'm just posting this so you don't feel ignored! If I ever find myself using the feature I'll definitely investigate.

 

Thanks - the control for this feature seems bizarre. We prefer to leave the lights in the auto position, so when it starts to get dark, the dipped beam lights come on.

With the way it seems to operate, you're driving along and dazzling people and you've got to fiddle about in the pitch dark, trying to turn the end of the light stalk the right way to turn off the whole auto feature, worrying that you might end up turning off the headlights!

Seems a very odd design/behaviour. We would expect just a pull of the stalk would temporarily turn off the auto dipping main beam and then the reverse would turn it back on. Can't find a way to disable just the dipping feature on its own, without turning off the whole auto lights.

 

My car (the model before yours) doesn't have an 'off' option on the lighting stalk. When the car thinks it's dark enough, the lights come on - this makes it hard to turn the lights off accidentally. Does your lighting stalk have an 'off' option?

My stalk has only 3 positions in the following order - Auto/sidelights/Autobeam. So, at one extreme it's the auto-highbeam and at the other extreme it's the manual highbeam, making it easy (and fairly foolproof) to flick from one method to the other.

 

Very useful. Thanks. Will check in the morning.

 

There seem to be a number of new cars now with no "off" position for the lights. I hope this isn't because of legislation. As one of the seemingly few people who still uses a garage, I don't want the headlights needlessly coming on/turning off for short durations when I am moving the car in/out of the garage from my driveway; I am quite capable of judging when the headlights need to be turned on, thank you very much.....

 

On the indicator stalk there’s a setting for Auto lights and the headlights automatically come on when it detects insufficient light. The main beam function operates by pushing the indicator stalk away from you which then turns the main beams on when it doesn’t detect any vehicle in front of you - mine seems to operate as expected, if an oncoming car approaches the lights dip, as they do if you approach a slower moving vehicle in front - I don’t recall instances when vehicles are waiting to turn from a side road.

 

Thanks - will study this further.

 

Thanks for the advice, but after much trying very early this morning in the dark, I've sort of given up resolving this, and will probably just have to turn off the whole auto lighting function and do what we used to do. There is also no lighting off feature on the stalk end (see photo), so I guess the worst you can do is end up driving on DRL's, if you accidentally turn the auto lights the wrong way!

It's a shame really, as the car has a good auto dipping main beam that does work as it should, but on our car, it's not temporarily controllable with any ease and this to us is a real backward step. On our previous Clio, I'm sure the stalk could be pushed forwards or pulled back to turn on/off the auto dipping feature temporarily.

On our UK facelift Captur, if left in the default auto lighting position, if you click the whole lighting stalk forward, it just then turns on the main beam permanently, rather than alternating between permanent main beam and the auto dipping feature. Pulling it doesn't change the behaviour either. There also isn't any option to turn off the auto dipping only function through the settings screens, which is a shame.

We either trust the whole system to be on all the time, but then when like this week it doesn't spot a pedestrian walking along in the dark (or cyclist with no lights showing), and is completely dazzling them, there seems no quick way to dip the beam. I'm wondering if our car has actually been configured properly at the dealer, if its behaviour is not identical
to others (like Dannie Boy). Dannie Boy is your Captur a new facelift Esprit Alpine?

In the photos below you'll see the lights in their default auto position and the icons on the screen. The second photo shows what happens when the lights are left in that auto position and you push the lighting stalk forward (the main beam comes on permanently). The third photo shows the lighting stalk itself.

 

No my car is a 2023 model, but it has the automatic main beam function and when activated shows the two light symbols same as in your first photo. As such when driving in an area with street lighting the headlights remain on dipped beam and only switch to main beam when you enter an area without street lighting, but switches back to dipped as soon as it detects an oncoming light source.
i can’t imagine the dealer has done anything to set the car up differently - not sure it would even be possible?
It would seem strange for Renault to have made it like this deliberately, so could it be a defect?

 

Hi @rencar . Your lighting stalk is identical to mine. I'd wager that Renault would say there's nothing 'wrong' with your car's lighting setup - even if you (and possibly I) believe it may not be entirely fit for purpose. Personally, I think that many of these new nannying 'safety' arrangements in modern cars are far from perfect - the collision avoidance system being one of them. My own view is that if the driver can't control all necessary aspects of the car in day-to-day driving, they shouldn't be behind the wheel.
As for your car not being 'configured properly at the dealer', I'd be surprised if the Dealer does anything other than tart the car up before delivery and fit a trim part or two, as needed? I'm not aware that they fiddle with the electrics at all, do they?

Being a bit old, I think I'm with @IvorETower on this one - an extra gadget is often nothing more than another thing that may fail one day and illuminate your garage unnecessarily in the meantime! By the way, Ivor, you can minimise the blinding light in the garage by having the lighting stalk set to 'sidelights' - but that kind of defeats the object of having lights that come on automatically, doesn't it, lol!!!
What we all really need is a microchip implanted in our heads that can read our minds and make the car do what we're thinking. I dare say someone's working on it. Can't wait!

I'm still intending to stop my car in a very dark place sometime soon and test the lighting stalk. I just hope the police don't think I'm in the process of dealing drugs or something

Actually, there aren't any police, are there - so what am I worried about?

 

Thanks guys - really appreciate your positive replies. On social media when you ask a similar question, we usually get some bright person who says 'read the manual' or speak to the dealer. Most dealers remain as in the dark as we do!

As our dealer have been good and we've had two new cars in the past year from them, I've emailed our supplying dealer to ask him to investigate for me. All the new facelift Captur's have the auto high/low beam, so I'm sure they or someone else with the new model will 'discover this feature'. It would be useful to borrow another new facelift Captur (in the dark), to establish if they all behave the same. If anyone buys a new Captur and can assist, please post back.

It just seems a shame to be turning off some tech that used to function quite well and have good, easy control, but as you say its quite possible its a regulation change.

You certainly wouldn't like the new regulations that cause all Renault safety systems to default on at ignition and to do things like bong at you, when you go just 1mph over the read speed from the signs. Often it misreads signs. Luckily the physical My Safety button can be tapped twice every time you get in the car, to set them all back off!

 

You certainly wouldn't like the new regulations that cause all Renault safety systems to default on at ignition and to do things like bong at you, when you go just 1mph over the read speed from the signs. Often it misreads signs. Luckily the physical My Safety button can be tapped twice every time you get in the car, to set them all back off!

I THINK you can turn that sound off permanently via the car's multimedia screen (so you don't need to do it every time you get in the car). In fact I'm sure I've done that somehow.

 

It seems as though the facelifted version has had some updates over my 23 model, because as far as I’m concerned everything works as it should/I would hope.

 

Thanks - one to bear in mind for anyone looking at the revised Captur, as they all have the auto high/low beam feature.

This is the sort of change that you wouldn't realise until you'd bought the car. Having not driven the car at night until we got it, its only then that we've spotted this change of function.

 

As expected, Symbioz owners are also now confirming they have the same issue with the auto dip function and no longer being able to temporarily turn it on or off quickly by pulling or pushing the lighting stalk.

 

I've finally done a real-world test and I can't see a problem here.
You turn the lighting stalk setting to 'AUTO', then you push it away from you to activate the Auto High Beam feature. If you want to override the feature for any reason (to dip the beam), you simply pull the stalk towards you one click. What could be simpler?
Pushing the stalk away from you again reactivates the Auto High Beam (which seems to work very well on my car).

Is it any different on the facelift 2024 cars?

 

Yes sadly this doesn’t work on the facelift Captur. Worth knowing for anyone considering.

Pulling or pushing the stalk has no effect other than to switch on main beam permanently, which is very much what you don’t want!

It as a really odd change by Renault to alter the behaviour of a feature that worked so well before.