Elberoth

I wonder if I have the PDLS option installed. My car is Cayenne 958.1 (2010-2014) with bi-xenon (HID) lights.

Joel 67

The easiest way is to plug your vin here and see

https://www.vindecoderz.com/

Alternately, you can tell if you see the a side light when you turn the wheel with the vehicle moving slowly. It is a very subtle system though.

deilenberger

I was playing with mine today - which can be done with an iCarScan. There are diagnostics routines for them built into the headlight controller that the iCarScan can trigger off. I was able to make them move side to side - either each alone, or both in sync. The amount of side movement end to end is actually rather large. At about a 20' distance from my back garage wall - the beams were moving about 2' to each side of center. Up/down also had a range of 18" or more at 20'. The diagnostics wasn't what I'd call subtle - but probably in practice - where it adjusts to the speed of the vehicle and the turning speed - it's likely a lot more subtle. What I can say is these are the best headlights I've ever experienced in any motor vehicle..

skiahh

Or, watch when you turn the key on (in the dark, of course). Do the lights go through some funky chicken dancing? Up, down, left, right then back to normal? If so, you have PDLS. If not, no.

But don't bi-Xenons mean PDLS, by default?

RAudi Driver

I have the bi xenons, which are different from the Porsche Dynamic Lighting System. When I turn my wheel left and or right, there is an additional light that illuminates to light up the direction I'm headed. The PDLS will actually turn a single headlight (right turn, then right headlight), in the direction you are headed. It's a great thing that I have on the other cars but my cayenne didn't come with them.

deilenberger

The PDLS also has the additional low-speed cornering light. It's used for sharp turns at low speeds. The range of motion of the PDLS system wouldn't be able to fill in at 90 degrees to the front of the vehicle. The additional light can. FWIW - SWMBO's 2011 Lexus RX has the optional dynamic lights - which use a moving lens to adjust the beam position. It seems much less effective than the Porsche design, and was actually discontinued as an option in 2012.

quickster2

Following a friend the other night......came up behind him and my PDLS adjusted the lights downward. He thought I has a loose lens. Then I showed him how it worked around a corner. Great lighting system much better than a similar one I had on a Grand Cherokee.

Elberoth

Thanks for this useful tip. Indeed, the lights on my car go up, down and then sideways. It means the car is equipped with PDLS,

I have also read, that you can check that in the vehicle menu settings. If your car has the L/R driving option under Vehicle > Settings > Light & Visibility > Exterior Lights then it means you have PDLS.

pvgolfer

Sorry if OT... My new-to-me Cayenne diesel happened to come with Premium Pkg Plus. I’ve seen that the included LED headlights, which come with the PP+, can be as much as $3k more than the bi-xenons. Does the LED package w/ PDLS provide any additional features over the xenons w/PDLS? Has anyone done a comparison between LED and the xenons?

I also noticed with my LED option that I have a feature called Headlight (or high-beam?) Assistant. This feature automatically dims the high-beam when it senses oncoming headlights or if you are following a another car. Is this a feature of the PDLS?

Elberoth

You may find Nick Murray's video comparison interesting:

skiahh

I think that's PDLS+. PDLS doesn't do any automatic beam alteration for other vehicles, coming or going. It does raise the beams at higher speeds so you can see farther down the road when going faster (75+, I think?). At least in my Boxster, it did. Pretty sure the Cayennes are the same.

And as for swiveling, both lights swivel, not just one, when turning.

I think that's again PDLS+ and LED lights. It changes their patters from left hand drive to right hand drive. PDLS/Bi-Xenon can't do that.

Elberoth

My car has Bi-Xenon with PDLS and can do that.

skiahh

Maybe just European cars? I checked mine this afternoon and there's no option for L/R driving.

Elberoth

It may be either standard on EU cars or my mum must had specified this feature when ordering the car.

Here is a short vid I took of the PDLS headlights initializing process:


Please note that this is an EU car, with EU light pattern (right side rising up on each headllight) which is different to US light pattern (flat).

skiahh

Pretty sure that right side rising up is just the high beam blade going down, then up as part of the test.

Mine does exactly the same thing.