auto headlight levelling system error icon

Hi Jim,

I assume that your car is equipped with HID headlights? Have you noticed any problem with headlight aim, like the headlights are pointed down towards the ground?

The warning light is telling you that there is a problem with the system that adjusts headlight aim in response to a heavy load being carried in the hatch or passenger cabin.

 

Hi Jim, welcome to PriusChat! :welcome:
Headlight aiming was sometimes a problem on earlier gen II Prius. Here's a PDF of how one member repaired his lights.

 

Bill, Any update to this. I have the same problem and would like to try the repair...:wof:

 

To my limited knowledge, the level sensor hasn't changed. The repair is probably the same.

 

My 2005 with nav has come down with this dreaded red light triangle also. I went to the service dept and they wanted near $400 to replace the sensor. Does that sound reasonable?

 

Hi--
I had the same thing happened to me this morning (2005 Prius). The red triangle came on & the the icon showed the "auto headlight levelling system needs attention."

I didn't know I had that on my car to begin with. It just happened that once and every other time I started up the car today, there was no warning triangle. I had carried a 40 lb bag of birdseed around yesterday and took it out of the car last night....could that have confused it?

How would I find out if I have this option on my car?

Should I just wait till my next service appointment and tell them about it? If I have it and it needs replacing, does that extended warranty I bought help out with the cost?

Thanks!

 

clongwor & Ohio Prius,

Yes, $400 sounds about right for the dealer to do it. Mine was replaced under the factory warranty (at about 13,000 miles), but when I posted about it here, others looked up the part # & found it to vary between about $270 to a little over $300. The rest is the labor to remove & install & to recalibrate (if necessary) the headlight aim. You should make sure the replacement part has the "G" suffix after the part # (maybe just on the packaging on not on the actual part---not sure).

I don't know if the extended warranty covers it or not. If you have one, check the exclusion list. If it isn't on that list, then it should be covered. Don't neglect the fact that you saw the warn'g, even if you don't see it again. I never had a warn'g at all in my case, but the lights were tipped so low that I could only see about 20 feet ahead of me & NOTHING else was visible at all beyond that, so to continue to drive safely would limit you to less than 5 MPH. And mine was intermittent too, so at one startup you may make it to your destination, but at the next startup for your return trip, you may have the severely reduced lighting, making your return trip EXTREMELY LONG.

Anybody's car will have that sensor (attached from the rear axle to the car body) if they have HID headlights. And you have HID headlights if your car came equipped with the factory fog lights in the lower grill (pkg's 4, 5, & 6 in 2005).

Ken (in Bolton,Ct)

 

Thanks, Ken!

I have noticed that the headlights didn't seem to throw much light but I don't drive at night that much. And as you say, it doesn't bother me all the time.

I'm off on a vacation tomorrow but will definitely bring it in as soon as I get back. Looks like the Platinum Extended Warranty I got talked into might just cover it.

I'm glad I posted....I don't have to worry too much, but do have to get it looked at.

 

I don't know if my problem is the same. To be clear I'll describe it. I get red triangle error and "headlight leveling" icon on MFD. But I notice, that my headlights are sometimes directing to high, while no additional weight in the back and sometimes to low. I notice, that after car start, headlights are lowered (i see how they are going down) and error appears. I do not get the error, when the tank has approx. half of fuel, but if it's full or below half, i get this error. It shouldn't be so for sure, please help me to identify the problem.

Thanks!

 

Common guys, I'm sure you can figure it out!

 

When I first got my Prius, my HID headlights consistently pointed too low. The cut off illumination line common with HID lights was no more than 100 feet down the road. This was unsafe when driving over 30 mph on dark roads. I took the car to the dealer several times. They replaced the sensor and said everything was in spec and adjusted right. But I still felt it was too low. The dealer said there was no manual height adjustment screw, as there is with regular headlights. Others on PC said there was, but I couldn't find it (but that doesn't mean much since I'm not a mechanic).

After a couple of months of frustration with the bad performance of my supposedly high end headlights, I fixed the problem myself. I took off the back left wheel to access the HID leveling sensor and took off the rod that connects the sensor to the frame of the car. I did this at night with the car pointed against a wall. Then I moved the adjusting arm on the sensor until I had the lights pointing where I wanted them. Then I taped the sensor arm in place against the frame.

This was three years ago. My lights have been perfect since then. My lights point down the road just below the windshields of oncoming cars or cars I'm following. No one ever flashes their brights at me. The car has passed three annual inspections which include checking headlight adjustment. So I know I don't have the lights set too high. They now provide excellent illumination down dark roads. They point the way HID lights are meant to point.

This fix might not work for everyone though. I essentially never have anyone in the back seat of my car or carry anything heavy in it. If I did, it might shine my lights too high and annoy other drivers. As a result, someone with varying weight loads shouldn't do this simple, free and highly effective, fix.

 

The automatic leveling system uses a sensor located at the left rear of the car. It senses the compression of the rear springs and compensates accordingly. The fact that your headlights are sometimes too high and other times too low, combined with the error message, means that this sensor or the circuitry to which it is attached have failed. You need to visit a Toyota service shop for this type of problem, unless you are good with auto repairs.

If you are very handy, you can inspect or replace the leveling sensor. However, I suspect that you would already have done this if you had those sort of skills. You probably should take it in.

Tom

 

does the headlight sensor also sense the angle of the car ( uphill or downhill ) or is
it just for the load your carrying in the back?

just curious

 

It senses the amount of spring compression in the back. The spring compression is slightly affected by going up or down a grade, but not enough to make a practical difference. Load is the only significant factor.

Tom

 

I took off the sensor and saw that 2 out of 3 springs were totally rusted.. So now i have to find a way to fix it, because a new one costs about 300 EUR, which is non-sense IMHO. It is ridiculous to ask 300 EUR for such a piece.. Anyway, after I have removed a sensor I get error trianel after car start imediately. And the diagnosis is simple: As one of the springs were fine, there were positions, when the energy was floating properly and now error was appearing, but when it supposed to go through a rusted spring - error appeared.

Thanks everyone for your insight!