I have laserlights and have noticed this.

I parked the car facing a wall to observe (in the rain). Long and short - where the 2 sides of the bonnet meets the wings, in rain, there is a flow of water down over the front of the headlights. This run of water creates a rippling / flickering effect in the lights. I stemmed the flow over the lights using kitchen towel and the flickering, as expected, stopped.
It really is (or was for me) nothing more than that. - i could not believe it was that simple.
Kind Regards

 

I have laserlights and have noticed this.

I parked the car facing a wall to observe (in the rain). Long and short - where the 2 sides of the bonnet meets the wings, in rain, there is a flow of water down over the front of the headlights. This run of water creates a rippling / flickering effect in the lights. I stemmed the flow over the lights using kitchen towel and the flickering, as expected, stopped.
It really is (or was for me) nothing more than that. - i could not believe it was that simple.
Kind Regards

I tried this exact method. It was driving me crazy and living on the West coast of Scotland we have no shortage of rain to test this.

 

HI Robert,
Thanks for the response. Water running over the headlights was the first reason they gave me (which seemed reasonable for 'rippling' lights), which after the second visit (because it looked to be more than just a rippling effect) became the water running over the window sensor causing the lights to flash.
When reflected on the back of a clean van (not many of those on the road 🙄) it was possible to see the inner headlights apparently switch off and back on - I just need to catch that properly on video. I will try the kitchen towel thing facing a wall to see if that changes my perception of it though.
Hopefully it is just water running over the lights causing distortion - I just need that 'perfect storm' of rain, sitting behind a clean van in stationary traffic and no cops around to catch me using my phone so I can record what's happening and prove myself right or wrong.
Thanks,
Kevin

 

Yes, i first noticed it when sat behind a police car believe it or not. I had 2 thoughts, first was thet all the reflectors on the back of the poice car were confusing the laserlights somehow and secondly i was waiting for them to get out and tell me my lights were faulty. (thankfully that did not happen), the rain was heavy at the time and it was that noticable a flickering that as soon as i got home i investigated. Perhaps it is only noticable with laser lights becuase of the 'focus' they have. I did initially look to see if BMW could have avoided the 'trickle' of water by design but i dont really see a way.
I hope this is your issue and you get some resolution.

 

secondly i was waiting for them to get out and tell me my lights were faulty. (thankfully that did not happen), the rain was heavy at the time

The cynic in me would suggest that the reason they didn't stop you is in the second sentence 😉

 

I noticed it too, and it has been discussed on a Facebook group yesterday ("BMW i4 M50 Official Owners Club")
A lot of owners (with laser lights) have noticed this flickering when raining. Looks like a "normal" behavior.

When I noticed it the first time, I was a bit worried but finally I can only see it when I'm close to another vehicle, and it doesn't seem to bother other drivers.

 

Steve - great minds and all that .....

Max, yes, i have never had any indication that drivers of other vehicles see this, as i say, it could only be noticable within a very short focal range - of the lights (ie a foot or two from the lights) - this could explain that.

 

I read on another forum that BMW is phasing out the laserlight headlights on new model releases, supposedly for ecological reasons. I wonder if problems with the lights is also part of the reason.

 

Now this isn't quite what it sounds like.

At intermittent times my Headlights start to flash/flicker. I've only noticed this in the rain.

I've tried to attach a short video below But the site doesnt seem to allow mp4 files.

Here is a link to the clip

Has anyone experienced this?

 

Now this isn't quite what it sounds like.



At intermittent times my Headlights start to flash/flicker. I've only noticed this in the rain.

I've tried to attach a short video below But the site doesnt seem to allow mp4 files.



Has anyone experienced this?

Nope, I’ve done nearly 5k miles in mine now and had no issues.

 

caused by water running down the head lights

Headlight Flickering Issue - i4 M50 Laserlights

Hi Folks, I've been following this forum since before I received my i4 mid-May 2022 in Aberdeen, Scotland (i4 M50, Aventura Red III with Cognac interior, & 20" 868 M-Sport wheels, now with 6.7K miles), and have been really pleased with the car since then. In general I've few complaints, but from...

www.i4talk.com

 

Thanks for the link. I can confirm it's not rain on the Headlights.

Neither does it happen on the dealership i4 with laser lights. So if it's not on 100% of cars its a fault.

 

Headlight Flickering Issue - i4 M50 Laserlights

Hi Folks, I've been following this forum since before I received my i4 mid-May 2022 in Aberdeen, Scotland (i4 M50, Aventura Red III with Cognac interior, & 20" 868 M-Sport wheels, now with 6.7K miles), and have been really pleased with the car since then. In general I've few complaints, but from...

www.i4talk.com

Here's a link to the thread I just started as my search didn't find this post

As you can see from my video clip my flashing is very noticeable and as far as I'm concerned if it doesn't happen on 100% of cars its a fault.

BTW, my dealership first tried to tell me it was light being refracted of rain on the Headlights. Until I told them to get up close and look at the lights cos they are clearly flashing.

 

Hi,
That’s exactly what happened on my M50 with laser lights and which I started a discussion on last year, although I haven’t managed to record it as well as you and head back to my dealer.
So far I haven’t managed to catch it doing it again.

 

I've managed to capture exactly what it looks like with the naked eye.

 

In that case you should call BMW service. Something is definitely wrong.

 

Yep, I've also seen it once in heavy rain standing behind another car at a traffic light.

 

Same here today

 

I had the same thing on my 2013 330D with Xenon’s when it rained. Noticed it more when parked up behind another vehicle in a queue - could see my lights appear to flicker on the rear of vehicle in front. Only happens in heavy rain.
Since having my i4 (LEDs with blue bits) it’s been the same occurrence, so think it’s just large droplets running over bright lights causing flicker effect

 

Thanks for your input but its not large or small droplets running over the lights causing an effect. If you get up close you can clearly see the light array flashing.

 

I don't know enough about how the lights function but I wonder if there is some sensor built into the lights that is being fooled by constant changes in reflections from the raindrops on the headlight as they run down.

 

Not sure if there is a sensor in the lights or windscreen etc.
But had a call from the dealer and this is now being passed to BMW to resolve.

As I've said previously, if it doesn't do this on every car with laser lights then it's a fault. If it did it on every car with laser lights is a design fault. Either way it's upto them to fix as it's illegal to drive in the UK with flashing Headlights.

Sent from my SM-G996B using Tapatalk

 

As I've said previously, if it doesn't do this on every car with laser lights then it's a fault. If it did it on every car with laser lights is a design fault. Either way it's upto them to fix

Very true.

I was just suggesting a reason this only occurs in the rain. I look forward to hearing the outcome.

 

Always appreciate your input bud.



Thats the reply I gave my dealer when they said it wasn't a fault lol

 

I was just waiting at the intersection behind another car in the mids of rain, and suddenly noticed the exact same issue! Only on my left headlight tho. I stopped at a gas station (almost forgot they exist) to see what's up, and I could definitely see 1 single LED in the matrix which was flickering. I took a video of it, but the light is so bright it's clipping/overexposed in the iPhone footage. You can still see the flickering tho. I called the dealership to have it checked (this is the 3rd time I'm bringing it in for repairs ffs), but I'm anxious they will be able to fix it as I read all your comments..

Does anyone have a solid solution by now?

 

I was just waiting at the intersection behind another car in the mids of rain, and suddenly noticed the exact same issue! Only on my left headlight tho. I stopped at a gas station (almost forgot they exist) to see what's wrong, and I could definitely see 1 single LED in the matrix which was flickering. I took a video of it, but the light is so bright it's clipping/overexposed in the iPhone footage. You can still see the flickering tho. I called the dealership to have it checked (this is the 3rd time I'm bringing it in for repairs ffs), but I'm anxious they will be able to fix it as I read all your comments..

Does anyone have a solid solution by now?

 

I'm in discussion with my dealership as there are 2 issues.

The first is an illusion that looks like the Headlights are flashing when rain runs over the Headlights (only the inner laserlight of the two and Nothing can be done about this).

And the second which some of us are experiencing. Which is individual leds within the array flashing.

As yet I'm unable to get a video of this actually happening, as it only happens sometimes.

I'll keep everyone upto date with what's happening and suggest everyone does the same.

 

I just received my i4 M50 a few days ago. I noticed this flickering only on the driver side headlight when I first start the car in my garage. I can see the flickering from the reflection on the wall. This only lasts about five seconds, then normalizes. There is no rain in my garage, so I can only assume this is some other fault that maybe nobody else has experienced from what I have read…

 

In my post (like above) which I've updated. I've said there are 2 different issues.

1. Water running over headlight causing a reflective illusion of flashing.

2. Actual flashing of individual led's that are part of the laser light array.

To see the actual flashing you need to look down at the light (a) so you don't get blinded and (b) so you can see the individual leds.

As far as I'm aware the reflective illusion issue isn't seen when your looking at the lights just observed as a reflection.

 

Has anyone had issues with their laserlight headlights flickering/failing?

I had a weird issue today that I cannot explain. When in traffic behind another car I noticed the right headlight had a rapid flickering(kind of had the feeling as if you had water in front of an element). Later I noticed that the right still had a severe flickering and the left hind some mild flickering. Even late I had a time where the left was flickering and not the right. And finally later in the day just the right flickering. It seems to be related to the "low beam"elements. The right headlight also seemed to have a warmer(more yellow) tint to its light.

I need to get a video of it. It was odd. Smells expensive. Occurred at 5 months of ownership and 13k miles.

 

Yes I had this, but it was only occurring in the rain. And no it wasnt water running over the Headlights.

The car spent 2 weeks in the dealership and they couldn't find any fault and it suddenly just stopped.

Here's me thread with a video

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink/to...-headlights.6464/&share_tid=6464&share_fid=2210737&share_type=t&link_source=app

[/URL]

(If I've posted the link incorrectly, would someone correct please)

Sent from my SM-G996B using Tapatalk