NHTSA Complaint #11503456 — 2023 BMW IX

The Icon Adaptive Led headlights w/Laserlight are designed so that the high beam tracks (aims) to steering wheel inputs, and possibly camera inputs, in order to illuminate the road ahead. The center of the beam is focused more tightly than is generally done with headlights which have illumination fixed to the centerline of the car. This feature is described on page 160 of the operating manual, and is the same as the exactly comparable headlights on my 2020 BMW M340i, which I also own. The car has been at the dealership for the past 11 days due to a separate safety recall, and the car has received all current software updates. Despite this, the "adaptive" headlights illumination is still fixed to the centerline of the car. I am informed by the dealership that other iX models with the same lighting option behave similarly, this is not a defect affecting only my particular vehicle. The vehicle's diagnostics have not indicated any headlight fault. This is a significant safety matter, because the brighter focused portion high beam light output is only quite rarely actually aimed at the road surface. A broader beam pattern would be appropriate, were these intended to be fixed rather than adaptive headlights. And this is completely at odds with all other recent BMW models with the Icon Adaptive LED headlights w/Laserlight.