Headlights aimed to high?

[stucholka]

Just picked up my Salsa Red Prius ten days ago and have noticed that when driving at night, I am getting multiple drivers flashing their brights like I have my brights on... but they are not!

Is anyone else having this problem? I have had my lights shining on my closed garage door; it does not seem that my lights are pointed high.

Thanks, Scott

[V8Cobrakid]

Do you have the HID headlamps? get used to it. hehe.. turn your fogs on. Less people will flash you with your fogs on. In almost all cars i've seen, fogs can only be on with dims. most people tend to know this around here. (San Francisco Bay area... California.. USA) where are you located anyways?

See.. location is important. This is why we made a post about putting location on your profile. Priuschat members can better assist questions this way.

truly? they are not pointed high. Since the prius doesn't use a two headlamp system for bright and dim, you get a glare in the light casing which tends to shine up ( where the bright light usually goes) when you turn your "brights on".. you are simply moving the inner lense piece to allow the light to hit the rest of the reflector. It's really cool. Test this sometime.

btw.. they get even more pist if you run around with your brights on.

You can see a prius from far away. They have this halo light glow around the front of the car because of our headlights. the only other car that gives a glow like this is the mini cooper.. it's headlights blind people too.

[Kyle Pehrson]

Just show them what the brights are like. They like that. I have turned them down and people still flash at the HID. I don't know how to fix the other drivers.

[V8Cobrakid]

lol.. i would like to fix the other drivers lol. You simply can't change these headlights. Light reflects. It's a flaw in the design of these lights. I have noticed though. With other's people headlights, it's harder to see when approaching. the prius headlights are bright.. but when approaching them, you can see everything in front of you still ( as the oncommer) and you can see the prius comming at you with it's bright headlights. you can still see because the blue disperces when it hits your eyes. It does demand attention when looking into them.. but you can see clearer with the prius's xenons pointing into your eyes, than halogens of a normal car.


*scratches head*.. i think i explained that right. If you ever see other Prius at night, you can tell from a mile away it's a prius. You can still see everything in front of you too. It's not actually blinding. It just demands attention. <== there.. better explination.


now.. as for that fix for other drivers....

[DaveinOlyWA]

i get flashes all the time... i thought it was the other driver recognizing and acknowledging superior engineering. i usually flash back to let them know i appreciate their admiration.

[jayman]

My Prius didn't come with HID, no Prius in Canada does due to daytime running lights. My headlights were aimed grossly high: the low beams would light up the tops of trees and poles. The highbeams were useless.

That level of misaim is dangerous to you and especially to other drivers.

Since the provincially-owned car insurance thing called Autopac requires digital headlight aiming, the dealer sent me to an Autopac certified bodyshop with the expensive digital aiming machine.

The technician confirmed the headlights were aimed so high they didn't even register, the machine gave many alarms over this. He really had to crank the headlights down.

The right - passenger - headlight was also aimed too far left. He had to shim the headlight to correct it. Fortunately the dealer paid for all of this.

The technician who aimed my headlights also claimed that most new cars have misaimed headlights, sometimes grossly misaimed. This is a real safety concern, and modern optics simply cannot be properly aimed with the "tape marking on the wall" method.

Now with the headlights properly aimed, I've never had such good headlights. They have by far the best beam pattern and distribution I have ever driven with. And nobody has flashed me since.

[V8Cobrakid]

I love my HID's.. but.. hmm.. a digital alignment would be nice. I know they auto level.. that seems to work well.. but a tad lower and adjusted a little more center would be perfect.

[stucholka]

Thanks everyone for the feedback, 'acknowledging superior engineering', classic!

I actually was 'flashed' again tonight by a big ol’ Expedition. I thought it to be strange that a brand new car might not have the lights aligned correctly, but I think I will stop in by the dealer to make sure. Again, thanks for all the feedback.

I have gone 820.9 miles averaging 46.03779934 MPG (give or take a bit) driving through the beautiful Holy Hill area of southeastern Wisconsin commuting to and from work for my first two tank of gas. Warm weather definitely has an impact on gas mileage since my third tank I am averaging over 50 mpg!