Strike one on HID headlights pointing too low

I rather doubt you can properly aim HID headlights by measuring up on the wall and sticking masking tape.

About the only good thing about the Provincially-owned Manitoba Public Insurance Corporation - AKA "AutoPac" - is the requirement for digital headlight aiming in all AutoPac-approved collision centres (Note metric spelling of "center").

This equipment is very expensive, but when I had my halogen headlights aimed on my Prius (They were WAY too high as delivered, dangerous to other drivers) it was a day and night difference.

The technician claimed the digital aiming equipment is so superior to the old fashioned aimers, especially to the wall-and-tape method, that the other aiming methods should be illegal.

 

Just that if it is aimed wrong, it would be illegal, and if someone was to be blinded by you and cause an accident, you would have them liable for not checking as you requested.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rlcarr\";p=\"104399)</div>

I'm happy to hear you no longer need a flashlight while driving at night.

I'm starting to have a lot of concern over modern vehicles with advanced headlight optics (Very sharp cutoff) and especially gas discharge lighting, and the dealer will still use the archaic Tape On Wall Aiming Method.

Most dealers already have tens of thousands of dollars invested in electronic diagnostic equipment, possibly +$40,000 in a digital wheel alignment rack, and they stick tape on the wall to aim sophisticated headlights.

I checked with my local AutoPac certified collision shop, where they adjusted my headlights after they were WAY too high upon delivery, and this is the machine they have:

http://www.let.be/sam1000.html

The technician who adjusted my headlights claims it's virtually impossible to properly aim modern optics with sharp cutoff and especially HID with the Tape On Wall method.

Either the headlights will be too low or off center and provide poor illumination, or they will easily blind oncoming drivers. While adjusting the vertical, he showed me just how sensitive the aiming was, a very minute turn of the screw resulted in major pattern changes.

The Tape On Wall Aiming Method is an illegal repair/modification under Manitoba Public Insurance regulations.

 

Not to mention there isn't a shop in the world with a level floor. They all slope one direction or another for drainage.

Nate

 

It actually doesn't need to be level, just flat. Since the tape line is made on the same flat-but-not-necessarily-level surface as the 9-meter-removed car, it is the RELATIVE position of the light pattern, not the ABSOLUTE position.

Don't forget to check your tire pressure first! That will have a much greater effect than a non-level surface.

Those automated gizmos are fancy, but no more accurate than the tape-on-wall method. In fact, since they are so close to the car, the angular error they must cope with is far larger than that with the tape-on-wall method.

The only advantage is for a shop, since they need neither night nor a large are to dedicate to a rare adjustment. For the owner, the tape-on-wall is much much better. After all, the only meaningful test is whether they have the correct down-angle, which you can easily see with your plain eyes against the wall at night.

It is also much easier with these Euro pattern lamps than with the old "fuzzy ball of light" sealed beam pattern American cars used for 50 years. The razor cutoff is far easier to locate then some murky "pretty light but not too light" edge on sealed beams.

It's low tech but it's foolproof, cheap, and accurate.

 

Last time I drove at night my headlights were aimed much to low.
I have never had anything heavier than two dogs in the back of the car and they have not been in the car for a while.
I found what I am guessing is a manual adjustment screw (sort of a screw, maybe a wheel) behind each headlight.
Has anyone tried adjusting lights by turning this?
Right now lights are aimed so low that I have been using highbeams and so far, nobody has flashed there highbeams back at me.

 

Devo11182,

I have a similar situation with my HID lights. My 2005 Prius headlights were fine before my wreck but when they ordered new HID Lights at the Toyota Dealership and installed them, they were too low and I had to use my brights to see at a normal(low beam) setting. I took them back and this time the collision specialist at the dealership got another Prius and compared them. As a result, mine were too low and they again adjusted. Currently, the driver's side is too high and the passenger is too low. Yet again I have to go back and have another adjustment. I have not tried messing with the assembly for fear I would break something and then end up paying more in the end. Let me know how the dealer adjusts your lights. Thanks!

 

Made appointment and went to local dealer. (Not dealer from whom I bought, but that is a another story.)
They knew on Friday I had a headlight problem. They did not know, until after taking car into building, that the machine they had to use was out of order.
They called after I was at home again and said that Toyota told them to use "tape on wall" method.Told me that subwoofer and other things had to be removed from car and that a person weighing 150 pounds needed to be in car.
Told them I could remove sub. etc. and be there in 30 minutes, but I could not gain 10 pounds.
They said no I can't. I need to make appointment.
Tonight I will be driving after dark. Maybe they fixed themselves.
Maybe I can use highbeams again without anybody flashing me.
To be continued in a few days.

 

One major thing to keep in mind when looking at how the headlights on the Prius illuminate the road ahead.

• 
  
  With the above in mind then it is quite possible to properly evaluate the aiming of your headlights using a visual method (pattern on the wall).
  
  However, doing this in your driveway is probably not the best place to try it because of the way driveways are sloped to provide drainage. (As long as the slope is uniform from the wall back to where you will position the car and it is flat from side-to-side it should be okay.)
  
  The numbers in the Prius shop manual for aiming appear to have about the same relationship as those towards the bottom of this page http://www.dimebank.com/Light-up.html . Keep in mind that the process described on the website is based on aiming lamps that comply to the European standards which always provided for a very sharp cutoff of vertical light. It is my understanding that U.S. standards are now being migrated towards the sharp cutoff of light. This is likely the result of the potential for higher intensity systems (HID) to blind oncoming traffic.
  
  Yeah, you're not going to see quite as far down the road when on the "dim" setting and you definitely will not be seeing those roadsigns as easily.

 

Some Prius's with HID lights need the leveling sensor replaced. It was causing my headlights to point too low sometimes and work well other times. The dealer ordered me a new sensor, which hasn't arrived yet. In the meantime, so I could drive safely, I disconnected the autoleveling sensor. Now I can manually adjust the height. I almost never have weight in the car. So I don't need autoleveling. It only lowers the lights if weight is in the car.

To disconnect the sensor, take off the back left wheel. You'll see a little black box with an adjusting arm. This is connected to a wishbone piece of metal which is connected to a mounting bracket on the axel. Just take off the wishbone metal piece by unbolting the top and bottom bolts. Now you can set the lights manually. Pushing down the arm on the sensor (black box) will raise the lights all the way, which is too high. Experiment until you get them set just below the windshieilds of cars ahead.

Also, the standard bulb in the Prius (D2R) has black shading which limits light output. You can replace it with a D2C bulb which has no shading and is supposedly 30% brighter (I haven't installed them yet so I'm can't say for sure). The bulbs are available at http://www.sigmaauto.com/jdm/prius/prius0405.php

Good luck!

 

I have noticed, in the 6 weeks I have had my Prius, that I have gotten a number of oncoming drivers flashing me their high beams, especially in "country road" situations where there is little or no street light illumination.

My wife thinks it is because my headlights are blinding them, and they think I have my high beams on, so they give me the "Go F yourself" high beam flash to let me know about my transgression. Do you think it's possible that my headlights are "aimed" too high, or is it just a matter of their car being at a lower level, therefore increasing the amount of light that they get from my headlights?

I had a similar problem in my old Wrangler... Low-sitting cars would think that I was giving them the high beams when I was behind them... Caused a number of "incidents" where they would try to "retaliate," when if was just that the Wrangler sits 2-3 feet higher than their Corolla or Taurus, putting my headlights right in their rear window. :: shrug ::

 

A lot of drivers here are just not use to the HID lighting systems yet. I get it on occasion and they back-off when I flah back in response.

BTW, I use to get the same thing when I put Lucas bulbs in a sports car I owned many years ago.