prius V auto leveling LED lights adjustable?

I adjusted mine and it makes a world of difference.

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii-2010-prius-main-forum/69497-shaded-lights-getting-me-down-2.html

 

Don't forget the possibility that the sensor may be defective, in which case you'll want to get it checked out at the dealer.

 

If the sensor is bad, then shouldn't there be an error code or idiot light going off?? I think that i read somewhere that if the autoleveling is bad, then there is a warning light coming on or something like that.

 

Yeah, I think there's a warning light, but apparently it's a part that has failed for quite a few Gen 2 owners and at least one of them reported the light not coming on and even had the dealer tell them it was functioning when in fact it wasn't.

 

Hmm...thanks. What sensor are we talking about here? The autoleveling sensor?

 

when the car is on and you turn on the headlights the headlights should dip down and then level out. you have to really look for it. the easiest way is to park in front of a wall and dark out. turn on your headlights and see if they level out. if not, then the sensor might be broken.

but, the headlights are aimed to low from the factory to start out with. i would adjust them if the senor isn't broken.

 

A lot of us with LED headlights found they were adjusted wrong by the factory, fortunately they are easy to adjust. Go to post #15 of the http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...aded-lights-getting-me-down-2.html#post966977 link provided by Exbauer. They are very good lights when aimed correctly.

For information, the auto leveling sensor is located inboard the right rear wheel. It has an arm that is connected to the axle and it measures the distance between the axle and the body of the car. It's function is to sense when you have loaded the car in the back and lower the headlights to compensate. The sensor feeds a controller under the dash board which operates the leveling motors. As stated by 32K there were failures in the gen2 HID cars but I have heard of no failures in the Gen3 so far.

 

Thanks guys!! Just a quick idiotic question by me...when you guys mention "CCW", do you mean CCW with you looking at the headlights (aka standing in front of the car & looking at the headlights) or CCW with you looking at the headlight adjustment bolt (aka standing behind the headlight & looking toward the front of the vehicle)?? Bare with me on this one!

 

CCW (or CW) is as if you are looking at the bolt, in this case toward the front of the car. Imagine you are under the hood looking toward the front. If you aim them at a wall you will see if you are going in the right direction, but you may have to go several notches to see them move much, it's a fairly fine adjustment.

 

Hehehe...sorry again...but thanks!! I will adjust it this week.

 

Don't worry it's easy, let us know how it works out for you.

You can use a flat bladed screwdriver to move the teeth or notches in the big wheel the small (8mm I think) bolt in the center should move right along with the wheel thing. If the bolt comes loose (which it probably won't) just hold the notched wheel and retighten the bolt when you finish the adjustment.

 

I suspect that whoever at the dealer told you that doesn't know how they work. Do you remember who it was, was it the technician or mechanic who did the work or a service writer?

The manual adjustment is needed or they will never be correct. The only thing the auto leveler does is compensate for differences in load by measuring the difference between the car under body and the rear axle beam. A lot of us on this site have aimed them and they do not go back to where they were, I aimed mine 20K miles ago and they haven't "gone back" yet. I have the aiming procedure from the Gen3 maintenance manual and it mentions nothing about setting a "default line" or doing anything else with a computer concerning the headlights.

The aiming procedure for the 2010 Prius is Toyota Doc ID: RM0000011MI03JX, the same procedure is used for halogen headlights and LED headlights. I also reviewed the procedures for installing and testing the auto leveler, the headlight motor, and the headlight ECU There is no mention of a headlight ECU adjustment, with or without a computer. If you are back at the dealership you might ask them for the procedure number that describes adjusting the "default line" perhaps we can discover something new.

 

when I turn my headlights on, I don't see it auto level, dip down then up. I have the prius V with LED headlights. Could there be something wrong with the leveling mechanism? I just bought the car 2 weeks ago....

 

Do your headlights auto level, dip down then up when you turn them on? Mine doesn't, or do u have to turn the car on or something? Thanx

 

Mine do the dip as they auto-level, but if you blink, you'll miss it. Literally - it happens in the blink of an eye. It's always possible that yours start the leveling slightly earlier, or the bulbs light slightly later, so it's not as visible. Or maybe you just need to watch really really closely.

If there's a problem with the system, there's a warning light for that. Absent the warning light, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

I was inside my garage last nite, and I kept on turning the headlights on and off, without turning the car on, don't see it dip down then up. Even tried weighting the car down with myself in the back but still don't see the beam adjust, and no warning lights.