Automatic High Beams

[Newton]

The Chevy website is very slow and annoying to use and I wanted to know what features my Bolt has and I found an Autotrader article that says it has automatic high beams. Recently, I briefly drove at night in an area with no street lights, few artificial light sources, and no other vehicles in front of me. The high beams did not automatically come on but I was able to turn them on manually and they seem brighter than any car I have owned before. I wish the IIHS had tested them so I would have an idea how they compare to modern cars. Autotrader could be wrong. Is my Bolt (see signature) supposed to have automatic high beams? Do they take some time to come on?

 

[Newton]

OK, I'm going to answer my question in case somebody else has this question in the future: Yes. My car has the feature but getting it to work is difficult. Apparently, the feature is called Intellibeam and the instructions start on page 103 of the owner's manual. When I tried pushing the button in my driveway when the headlight control was in Auto or low beam position, nothing happened. I tried several times in both positions and I did not get the Intellibeam light on the instrument cluster. I thought maybe 1LTs don't have Intellibeam but then why would the button be there? I started driving out of town at night with the light control set to Automatic and I kept pushing the button and nothing happened. The roads kept getting darker and at one point, I pushed the button and the Intellibeam light came on in the instrument cluster and, as the streets got darker, the high beams came on. I still don't know what conditions have to be met to enable Intellibeam but I must have pushed that button 30 times on that short trip before it was enabled. I have determined that the first sentence on page 104 is false or, at least, usually false. If anybody knows what conditions must be met in order to enable Intellibeam, let us know. If the answer is in the manual, it's not on page 103 or 104 where it should be.