Adaptive headlights, and warning light

Hi All,

I've been trying to research this issue, and have done so unsuccessfully. All my lights are powering on as they should, turn signals, as well as high and low beams. However, the adaptive headlights are not cycling up or down when powered on, and they are not actively turning. Would this cause a headlight warning light? Thanks in advance for the help.

Checked fuses, and pulled out the LCM to give it a visual inspection to make sure nothing was blatantly wrong. Does anyone have any suggestions on this? The warning light stays on when I don't have the adaptive lights on either. Just the standard lights being on throws the same warning. Fog lights work fine. Anyone have any experience with this?

No cream? Okay, no cream.

I'll give some cream as best as I can.


Not too familiar with the adaptive headlights, but my car has auto leveling which is controlled by two sensors on the controls arms. it's possible one or both have failed/broke on your car.

when you are doing the checks, are you switching it to auto mode? not the regular on position. the adaptive turning only works in the auto position. as for the leveling, i guess it would check to make sure it's plugged in properly and no breaks in the wiring. then check the sensors on the passenger side of the control arms. if all of those are fine, it could be the motors themselves. also, just so you know, the auto-leveling doesn't happen every time you turn on the headlights/car. it's better to drive around to see if it's functioning.

Thank you both for the input. I am aware they need to be in the auto position, as that is the setting I use 99% of the time. But I can definitely tell they are not tracking at all when I am turning. I will have to check those connections this weekend I suppose. I hope I don't need to remove the bumper to do so. Here is a pic of the warning light:

The warning light comes on whether I am in the auto setting or normal setting. Its very weird.

hmm, those warnings usually mean that a bulb is out in the headlight somewhere. either the corners, highs, or lows. the adaptive malfunction warning is a blinking green light on the LCM switch (that little dot next to the auto position)

That's what I thought. So odd. Both highs and lows work on the HID's. My halogen high beams work fine as well. All side-markers, running lights and fog lights work too.

I've never seen the green LED blink at me either.

yea that is weird. have you tried taking the ground off the battery for like 5 mins or so to see if that would "reset" the problem?

I will try that tonight or tomorrow and update you.

So I disconnected the ground. And that f*}%ing worked. I'm the silly idiot apparently.

Never mind. I drove around a bit making a few stops, and it has since come back on. When it was working, the adaptive lights were running just fine. So frustrated.

hmm, have you done anything recently to the car before this happened? any install? coding? i feel like this is a grounding issue. and those headlights are on because there are actually no lights detected at the front because of the bad ground.

No mods at all. I have a Peake R5-FCX-3 code reader that I can use to clear the fault codes. But I plugged it in to see if it detected anything, and it did not. I've had the car for about 4 years now. When I first purchased it, a headlight went out. I bought new ones, and they still did not work. Took it to the dealership 3 times with them not fixing it, after replacing the wiring harness and the whole bad headlight unit. But since then, no problems ever. So everything is fine after I disconnect the battery, and turn it on. But then after I stop it and turn it back on, the error reads again. This is odd. I am not great when it comes to electrical items for sure.

yeah electrical problems are like the hardest to fix imo. have you tried replacing the lcms at all? maybe swap with a local fanatic (no tamper dot if you don't drive anywhere). then you can do the turning on the car, test headlights, turn it off and see if the code pops up. that's the only way i know to test an LCM short of buying a new one lol

probably try looking at the wires and see if there is a break anywhere. and also clean the OEM ground points. they are located behind the headlight so you'll have to remove them.

Sorry if I didn't say it before, but thanks for all your input.