low headlights

There have been complaints in the Gen III forums, but after checking my own adjustments a few times, and living with them for a while, I've come to realize that they were pretty close to spot-on from the factory. I think that what many people are really noticing is the very sharp cut-off where there is absolutely no light at all above that point, vs. most car headlights, especially in the US, which tend to scatter more light upwards creating a smoother gradient between light and dark.

 

i find the opposite. many people flash thier lites at me when i have my low beams on. what did they mean by ' nothing they could do'? are they adjusted as far up as they can go? or are they adjusted correctly and shouldn't be changed? or do they not know how to adjust them?

 

I'm quite certain they meant they were adjusted properly.

I'm not surprised you get flashed a lot. Since I've owned my Prius I've really started taking note of Toyota projector-beam headlights. They really have worse than average glare, even when below the cut-off. I can reliably spot a newer Toyota by its headlight glare before I can see the rest of the car.

 

You have normal settings. I believe the Prius and most new vehicles have brighter low beam lights than older cars with "sealed beams". The new halogen bulbs in the low beam can temporarily blind oncoming traffic with an apparent "high" brightness as you are going up a gradient. I see this all the time in our hilly terrain, with new trucks being the biggest problem as many have oversized wheels or are loaded in the rear causing a misalignment of their low beams.

The high beams are aimed further out and do dramatically increase visibility. That is by design. It was immediately obvious that our new Prius had much brighter lights than a previous incandescent sealed beam car. Of course those high beams are always blinding to oncoming traffic regardless of road grade.

Low beams are intended to cutoff below the rear glass of the car you may be following. You can see the transition line when following someone. When you go to high beam the inside of the car ahead is flooded with light which again impairs that driver's vision.

 

I had an uncle whom worked at a car shop and when I would visit I would always hear him say to customers that owned a Toyota to repeatedly make sure the lights are level which is the only reason why I remember but the rule of thumb at most car shops he would say is to typically place a carpenter’s level between the two marked center lines to see if they are even. I know the center lines should not be any higher than 3.5 feet from the ground, and that is just what I have always been told as a rule of thumb but different dealerships and manufactures will always recommend different head light distances. I would say if you still have your car manual to check that and if you are still worried I would say maybe getting a second opinion and taking it to another auto shop might not be a bad idea.