Auto-High-Beams are Enough for “Reasonable Suspicion”

[PrepVet]

Not a rant about Law Enforcement, if that’s your thing then go elsewhere.

I was headed home this morning around 0200 from covering some OT. It is less than a 3 mile drive from work to my home.

It is all small town roads. So street lights every few miles. With one stop light and one stop sign. The auto high beams were going on and off with their normal nonsensical thresholds. A cop was behind me from almost as soon as I left work and a little over halfway home he popped and the rollers and pulled me over. He was extremely polite and nice and did the normal stick for license and insurance. Then came the pre-amble for reasonable suspicion asking if I was having trouble with the lights and such. I politely just told him they are the auto high beams and they do whatever they feel like. He was fine with that and asked how I liked the car blah blah blah. Again he was very nice but I’m sorry that’s just silly to be pulled over for that.

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[Tricky Mike]

In my experience "reasonable suspicion" at 2am is a lot more flimsy than during the day so I'm not surprised at all. I think they're naturally suspicious of every single person that is out driving at that hour.

Auto high beams are common enough now that he's had to have seen thousands of them on patrol and I'm sure there's plenty others as finicky as the Bronco's.

 

[indio22]

Not a rant about Law Enforcement, if that’s your thing then go elsewhere.

I was headed home this morning around 0200 from covering some OT. It is less than a 3 mile drive from work to my home.

It is all small town roads. So street lights every few miles. With one stop light and one stop sign. The auto high beams were going on and off with their normal nonsensical thresholds. A cop was behind me from almost as soon as I left work and a little over halfway home he popped and the rollers and pulled me over. He was extremely polite and nice and did the normal stick for license and insurance. Then came the pre-amble for reasonable suspicion asking if I was having trouble with the lights and such. I politely just told him they are the auto high beams and they do whatever they feel like. He was fine with that and asked how I liked the car blah blah blah. Again he was very nice but I’m sorry that’s just silly to be pulled over for that.

Back in the day when I had long hair and drove a beat up old '65 Mustang (profiling), I got in the habit of pulling onto a side street and parking as soon as they started tailing me. Otherwise they would follow and find some excuse to make a stop. In your case the lights were likely the excuse.

Even today I rarely let a cop tail me, little good can come of it. As our chief of police told us, if an officer wants to pull you over or give a ticket, there is always a way. He said due to that power, policing is about the officer using good judgement.

 

[Jruta]

Do all models have this feature? I’ve got a base and never noticed this. Then again, I work nights so my Bronco is normally parked at work during the dark hours.. most if not all of my driving is daytime.

 

[NC_Pinz]

My auto high beams seem to do fairly well and coming on when and where it is appropriate. I end up using more high beam because of it.

 

[Figmo]

Add to this another warning of “technology attracting unwanted attention”…

following a cop in a neighborhood with ACC set. We were coming out of a 25MPH zone into a 35MPH zone. He sped up. Bronco speeds up to match his car. He pulls over, lets me pass the gets behind and flips on the lights.

after getting my IDs he lectures me about the speed limit not changing until the “line at the sign”. Told him I had ACC set so only reason I sped up was because he did.

didn’t get a ticket or anything. Not sure what that nitpick was all about. ( this was 3 in the afternoon on a weekday)

anyway….just another thing to be aware of

 

[RallyGorgo]

The auto hi-beams is one of 3 things I turn off (parking brake, ASS (auto start/stop), and auto hi-beams) as soon as I start my Bronco, I HATE them!!!!

 

[Sparkherd]

All this Nanny State crap needs to be shoved where the sun don't shine.

 

[Lowcountry Bronco]

Around here both the county and city cops drive Explorers, I would think they have auto lights as well, not new tech anymore. Sounds like it's one of those things where they have nothing better to do at 2am and you just happen along.

 

[Alanp970]

Do all models have this feature? I’ve got a base and never noticed this. Then again, I work nights so my Bronco is normally parked at work during the dark hours.. most if not all of my driving is daytime.

My 23 Base has it

 

[Freebird32]

I like mine but they are a bit sensitive. It isn’t new tech. When I was a kid, my sister and her husband had a 1959/60 Oldsmobile station wagon (yes that was a GM car brand) that had an auto dimmer sensor on the dash. It worked pretty good.

 

[Forditude]

I turn them off as well- wonder if the feature can be deleted using Forscan?
On a separate but related note, I had 23 F-150 as a loaner while the Bronco was getting a new hardtop. Those auto high beams seemed to work a lot better and, they “fade” on and off from high to low - doesn’t look like you’re flashing high beams at people

 

[Secampbell7]

Not sure how each model works but our high beams fade on and off. Unless you see the dash light illuminate/turn off the brights turning on is pretty subtle.
I did opt for the headlight upgrade on our 23 heritage because HIDs seem to be the single best investment in any vehicle for my eyes that seem to have started aging.

 

[Zstngz]

Do all models have this feature? I’ve got a base and never noticed this. Then again, I work nights so my Bronco is normally parked at work during the dark hours.. most if not all of my driving is daytime.

My 2dr Base has it. Was pleasantly surprised when I realized it.

 

[BenderSquatch]

Not a rant about Law Enforcement, if that’s your thing then go elsewhere.

I was headed home this morning around 0200 from covering some OT. It is less than a 3 mile drive from work to my home.

It is all small town roads. So street lights every few miles. With one stop light and one stop sign. The auto high beams were going on and off with their normal nonsensical thresholds. A cop was behind me from almost as soon as I left work and a little over halfway home he popped and the rollers and pulled me over. He was extremely polite and nice and did the normal stick for license and insurance. Then came the pre-amble for reasonable suspicion asking if I was having trouble with the lights and such. I politely just told him they are the auto high beams and they do whatever they feel like. He was fine with that and asked how I liked the car blah blah blah. Again he was very nice but I’m sorry that’s just silly to be pulled over for that.

Very weird the officer hasn't experienced the auto high beams.

Don't Ford have auto high beams on the new police Explorers too? Maybe the small town hasn't bought new Explorers yet, but many jurisdictions used pandemic money to buy the newer models.

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