A couple of quick comments after my first 1,000 miles

I think Skraut mentioned that he wished he had more options, including NAV. I don't think you can get HID without NAV, can you?

As far as I know, the Canadian market Prius cannot have HID due to DRL. Of course, that means the headlights cannot autolevel either. Even with HID and autolevel, the basic aim must be properly adjusted for everything to work.

As far as illumination, even the regular halogen lights are plenty bright, thanks to the good optics and reflector design, so even a slight misalignment can blind oncoming drivers or cause poor illumination.

With my headlights now properly aimed, they appear to be about the best headlights I have ever driven with. At night you couldn't ask for better light distribution and reach.

As important as headlights are for safety, it should be a no-brainer to have the aim checked by a competent autobody shop using the proper digital equipment. Then again, folks routinely drive with bald tires.

 

I am not sure about the 2005 option packages, but in 2004 there was at least one option package (#7) which included HID but not NAV.

 

The "AM" package (2005 #4) has HID but no NAV.

 

I'm still unclear if Skraut's car has HID.

I do know my Canadian market Prius - non HID - had the headlight aim so high everybody would flash at me. I can only imagine if an HID system was aimed too high. That could cause accidents.

 

A city the size of Edmonton and not one body shop or dealer had a digital headlight aiming machine?? So what happens if they need to do a front end repair on a car with HID headlights? They guess??

There are several Autopac-approved body shops in Winnipeg that are equipped with the equipment. I did a little research and even a body shop in Steinbach and Brandon have it.

Apparently, Autopac (Provincially owned public car insurance) has a requirement for proper headlight aim after a front-end repair. I'm not normally a big fan of Socialism, but they appear to have got this one right.

Have you tried a Lexus dealer? Quite a few Canadian market Lexus cars and SUV's have HID, so I would think it mandatory to use a digital headlight aiming machine. Maybe a BMW or Mercedes dealership??

I Googled the topic and did find some URL's, the first one looks like the machine they used on my car.:

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

http://www.hopkinsmfg.com/hoppy.html?visio...imersintro.html

http://www.lujanusa.com/sniper/sniper.htm

There is also a good pdf that explains why headlight aim is so critical:

www.i-car.com/pdf/program_support/advantage/1995/janfeb95.pdf

Again, I'd be VERY surprised if Edmonton didn't have at least ONE shop with a proper headlight aiming tool. Try to find the largest shop, one that dealers and insurance co's use.

 

thanks Jayman,

I'll continue to investigate this and post it as a new thread once I've found a solution.