LOL....no, but that's a novel explanation. the HID system runs at a lower power
draw than halogen. whereas halogen is about 55 watts, HID is 35 watts. the
system simply sees the lower power consumption as bulb malfunction, as if the
bulb is out. since the key component is the ballast, given the variations in
manufacturing some ballasts are viewed by the on board light circuitry as normal
where other ballasts trigger the malfunction code. when the setting is toggled
to "HID PRESENT" et al, the circuitry looks for a lighting device load which is
lower....or views the higher resistance as the readjusted degree of "normal".
result is no triggering of the infamous 'bulb malfunction' error msg.

note that I installed E55 bixenon into my 99 E320 and used Hella gen3 ballasts.
it does *not* trigger the error msg, though about 4-5x year, it does. I swap
out the ballasts for another brand and the flickering and error msg lights up.
my car still is set for halogen lighting system

__________________
-- raymond~
47º 34'N 122º 18'W