New Prius owner - my first question - High beams not much better than low beams

So I'm in my second week of driving my "new to me" 2005 Prius. I'm enjoying it so far. I'm trying to put together a few issues to bring back to the dealer to look at. I thought I would post here to see if they are a problem, or just something I need to get used to with the Prius.

I am not happy with the illumination of my high beams. When I switch from my lows to the high ones, there is very little if any additional illumination outside the area that the low beams already shine in. The high beams simple fill in the "gaps" where the low beam do not fully illuminate. Perhaps the "shift up" in the lights is under a foot. No new area is illuminated, just the existing area is more brightly illuminated.

I am used to high beams making both lanes of a road visible, perhaps even the edges of the road. When I am coming home from work, I need this visibility because deer frequent my road. As it stands now, I'll either have to crawl down my road or risk smashing into a deer.

Does my description of the high beams sound normal for a Prius? Could they need some sort of adjustment? Any suggestions, comments, ideas would be greatly appreciated. Does this sound like something I should have the dealer look at and try to fix?

Thanks in advance for the assistance.

Jai

 

Any quick way to determine this via the VIN # or something? I know the dealer printed out the original sheet of options selected and gave it to me. The person at the time mentioned something about the package but I can't remember. I'll see if I can find this piece of paper.

Otherwise I have all the owners manuals etc, but I don't know if they were specific to the package number.

 

Ok, I found the vehicle inquiry report the dealer gave me. On the second page it says the car had package # 6. This included the Headlamps w/Auto Leveling Feature.

It also has the front fog lamps.

Just googling the HID Prius head lights brings up a bunch of things, such as $1k fixes for the replacement of the system.

So, what should I be looking for to determine if something is defective?

I have a 2004 Lexus RX330 which I believe has the auto leveling feature. I see the head lights shift slightly each time I brake. I do not notice this in the Prius.

Thanks again for the assistance.

Jai

 

Thanks for the explaination on what the auto leveling is.

And yes, it does appear, and make more sense now that I understand how the HID lights work, that I will have to be very careful coming down my road.

Any Prius owners found some sort of alternative?