20 November 2002: Opel is to introduce 'see round corners' headlight technology in the new Vectra and new Signum next year. Adaptive Forward Lighting (AFL) use swivelling bi-xenon headlights that turn at a 90 degree angle for intersections and narrow corners.

Opel is the first car manufacturer to make this new lighting technology available in midsize cars. The AFL system, developed in conjunction with Hella, will later be available in other Opel models.

The aim of the lighting specialists was to make driving in the dark and in bad weather conditions easier and above all safer. According to the latest figures from Germany’s Federal Statistics Bureau, more than 40 per cent of all automobile accidents resulting in death occur at night, despite the fact that there is up to 80 per cent less traffic on the road than during the day.

Compared to standard headlights, the new Adaptive Forward Lighting system offers the following additional functions:

Bend-light: The swivelling front headlights shine at an angle of up to +/- 15 degrees, depending on the steering angle and car speed. Bends are better illuminated by up to 90 per cent.

Turning-light: Junctions and narrow bends benefit from additional wide-angle lighting. The illumination is nearly 90 degrees to the direction of travel over a distance of around 100 ft from the car. This turning-light is designed to function only at speeds up to 30 mph so that it does not activate in situations like lane changes on the motorway. The key benefit is that dark junctions become significantly safer.

Main-beam headlight: Bi-xenon lights provide powerful lighting on main and dipped beam. With Vauxhall’s sophisticated system, dipped-headlights and main-beam can be projected on the road through one single xenon bulb per headlight. A movable aperture in the beam path allows the switching of dipped-headlights to main-beam. The advantages are an especially intensive and bright beam of light.