Ford Focus High Beams Won’t Stay On—What To Do?

Are you having problems with keeping the high beams on in your Ford Focus and you want to know what you can do to fix it? You’ve come to the right place, for we have researched this question and have the answer for you.

Verify that the low beam light on your Ford Focus is on before you try to turn the high beam on. To turn on the high beam, push the left stalk away from you. You will see the high beam indicator light on the dashboard once the high beam is on. The high beam will not light up if the low beam is not on.

Let’s talk more about the high beam in your Ford Focus in the succeeding sections. Learn about the feature of your Ford Focus that automatically turns off your high-beam headlamps.

Read on!

The New Ford Focus is a compact car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company - Ford Focus High Beams Won't Stay On—What To Do

What Is A High-Beam Headlight?

The high-beam headlights on your Ford Focus are made to provide a brighter light than the low-beam headlights. They are also made to project that light farther away compared to low-beam headlights.

High-beam headlights allow you to see up to 100 feet ahead while driving at high speed. It is projected straight ahead, while low-beam headlights are projected to the ground up to 40 feet ahead. The way high-beam headlamps project light makes it safer to drive at high speeds on dark roads.

Each state has laws that govern the use of high-beam headlights. Always check with your local DMV to know when you can use your high-beam headlights and when you shouldn’t.

What Is Ford’s Co-Pilot360 Technology?

Ford Co-Pilot360 is an assemblage of ADAS (advanced driving assistance systems).

The main components of Ford Co-Pilot360 include forward collision warning, pedestrian detection, lane-keeping assistance, automatic forward emergency braking, rear cross-traffic warning, blind-spot warning, lane departure warning, reversing camera, and automatic high-beam headlights.

The Ford Co-Pilot360 is a standard feature on most Ford vehicles and an optional feature in others. This includes Ford trucks up to the Ford F-150.

What Are Ford’s Automatic High-Beam Headlights?

New Ford Focus stationary in downtown Zagreb.

High-beam headlights are an important safety component of any car. They provide additional visibility on dark roads that makes driving safer.

However, the increase in brightness and the angle of projection can be a driving hazard for other drivers. The light from your high-beam headlights can temporarily blind drivers of oncoming vehicles and cause them to lose control of their vehicle.

Thus, it is important to turn the high-beam headlights on and off at the right moments while driving. However, manually turning them off and on at the right time can distract you from focusing on the road and driving.

Automatic high-beam headlights or automatic high-beam headlamps take away the need to turn the high-beam headlights on and off under the right situations manually.

Whenever it is active, it uses a camera mounted at the top center area of the windshield to monitor the road for vehicles on the road and the amount of ambient light. It will automatically switch to high-beam headlamps when it detects low ambient light while you’re driving at speeds above 25 miles per hour.

Switching To Low-Beam Headlamps

In addition to automatically turning on the high-beam headlamps on your Ford, the system will also automatically switch to low-beam headlamps if it detects an oncoming vehicle approaching in the opposite direction within 2,000 feet.

It will also switch to low-beam headlamps if there is a vehicle ahead of you with taillamps visible from up to 500 feet. The system makes it safer for you and other drivers by automatically switching back and forth between high-beam and low-beam headlights as needed.

If this feature is active while you’re driving, then your high-beam headlamps will not stay on. It will automatically switch to a low beam once the camera detects vehicles within the range presented above.

How To Disable Automatic High-Beam Headlamps?

You have the option to turn this feature off if you prefer to manually turn your high-beam headlamps on and off.

Moreover, disabling this feature will allow you to observe your high-beam headlamps if they are really faulty and don’t stay on and whether it is simply the system automatically switching from high-beam headlamps to low-beam headlamps.

Alternatively, you can manually override the system while it is active. Pushing the lever to the right of the steering wheel will allow you to manually override the automatic high-beam headlights and switch to a low beam from a high beam or to a high beam from a low beam.

You can turn off this feature through the headlight control dial. Turn the dial away from the “Automatic Headlight” position. This is the setting that has the icon of a bulb with an uppercase “A” inside. Turning the dial back to this icon with turn the feature back on.

You can find this dial on the lower left side of the steering wheel.

How To Turn On The High-Beam Headlights?

 Front view of a red Ford Mustang GT parked along the road of the Valley of Fire Highway in the Valley of Fire park. Ford Mustang is a sport muscle car made in US by Ford

There are different ways to turn on the high-beam headlights across different Ford Focus model years. Thus, if you’re used to one way of turning the high-beam headlamps from driving a different Ford vehicle and model year, that might not be the same for your Ford Focus.

Consult your user manual to find out the exact way to turn on the high-beam headlamps of your Ford Focus.

Temporary High Beam

All Ford vehicles have a way for you to turn on the high beam temporarily. This is a way to signal other drivers or pedestrians of your intent while you’re driving.

If your high-beam headlamps do not stay on, you may be activating the temporary high beam and not the permanent high beam.

The temporary high beam will only remain on while you’re holding the lever in that position. Once you release the lever, it will return to its original position, and the temporary high beam will turn off.

When you go through the user manual of your Ford Focus, it is important to check how to activate the temporary high beam. This will allow you to distinguish between the temporary high beam and the permanent high beam. Knowing how to activate both can help make your driving safer.

High Beam Does Not Stay On

View on the LED headlight with blinker in Ford Focus Active on a street. The Focus is one of the most popular compact cars on the European market.

Once you learn how to activate the high-beam headlamps on your Ford Focus, deactivate the automatic high-beam headlamps. Drive around with the high-beam headlamps on and check if it will stay on or not. If you’re still having the same issue, here are the possible causes that you should check.

Bad Relay

Relays are electromechanical devices inside your Ford vehicle. They serve as switches that require electrical energy to activate and deactivate. They allow a low-current circuit to control a high-current circuit.

Since relays are switches, a faulty relay can have difficulty staying on. This will directly affect your headlamps.

Check your Ford user manual for the location of the fuse blocks. Relays are normally found in the fuse blocks of your Ford. Look for the relay that controls your headlamps.

How To Test Relays?

Here is a simple way to test if your relay is still working:

  1. Set your multimeter to ohms.
  2. Familiarize yourself with the relay diagram. This is normally printed on the side of the relay, so you can use it as a reference. Identify which of the pins are connected to the electromagnetic coil inside the relay.
  3. Use the multimeter leads to test the two pins of the electromagnetic coil. A reading between 50 to 120 ohms means that the relay is okay. Any other result means that you need to replace the relay.

AstroAI Multimeter is available on Amazon through this link.

A Standard Motor Products RY116 Relay is available on Amazon through this link.

Bad Switch

A bad switch can lead to the same problem as a bad relay. The faulty switch can either be the rotary dial or the lever on the left side of the steering wheel. Determining which one is faulty can be tricky because it can be either one or both.

Bring your Ford Focus to a service center or a mechanic to check both switches for problems and replace them if necessary.

Faulty Wiring

Yellow colored, third generation Ford Focus hatchback parked in a parking lot.

The wiring is responsible for supplying the electrical energy to turn on the high-beam headlamps. If the wiring is loose or damaged, the power supply can become erratic.

The wiring is also responsible for activating or deactivating the high-beam headlights. Faulty wiring can send the wrong signal and deactivate the high-beam headlights.

Have the mechanic check the wiring too when you bring your Ford Focus to have the switches checked.

In Closing

Ford has a safety feature that can automatically turn the high-beam headlights on and off. This can be mistaken as a problem with the high beam if a user is not aware of it.

If you enjoyed reading this article, you might find the articles below equally enjoyable to read:

Ford Focus Won’t Start And No Clicking—What Could Be Wrong?

Ford Focus Says Transmission Fault Service Now? Here’s What To Do

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