Top or sides, my point is the same: the brightness of the lit areas make the dark areas appear even darker. If you start with dimmer lights, the dark areas appear not so dark. It has to do with the way human eyes adapt to light and dark. You can see this when you walk a trail at night with or without a flashlight. If there is a little ambient light, without a flashlight everything is darker, but you can see the entire trail. With the flashlight you can only see the illuminated portion. Very bright headlights are like using a very bright flashlight: you can see what's in the beam very well, but nothing else. Hobbit's explanation is spot on. A softer transition would be a lot better. Tom
There are laws concerning this adjustment limit. However, I'm not sure there is a good intrepretation to apply to LED's. By that I'm "thinking" (not sure though, just a thought to consider) that traditional lights have a center bright spot and I believe that spot is used for the aim adjustment. The LED's just seem to have a transition between bright and nothing without a defined center bright spot so a dealer may really not know what the legal setting limit would be unless the state has issued updates for newer lights. IF though they do have guidelines on this, I'm guessing this would be one item they won't adjust for you beyond their specs. Tire pressures and back beeps are optional and they can set to owners preferences. Issues where there are state laws giving gudelines are not something I see a dealer giving any slack, even if they are not sure what the limits should be.
I don't think any Gen III car had HID's, except for the ones that have illegally put them there. What we need to know is the poster talking about an LED equipped car? If so your out of my league, but for regular lights, I would say a simple adjustment is all that is necessary. If you have not done it before, have someone else do it, it's easy to screw it up.
There is a 6 page procedure available on TIS called "LIGHTING (EXT): HEADLIGHT ASSEMBLY: ADJUSTMENT (2010 Prius)" which tells you exactly how Toyota thinks you should aim your headlights. All that's requited is a level place with a wall to shine the lights on, a tape measure, some tape for alignment marks, and a screwdriver to make the adjustment. Here is an aiming procedure that looks like it will aim them the same way. Pay particular attention to the NOTE which allows you to raise the b-------b line, I think this applies to out cars. It gets them a bit higher to compensate for the sharp top cutoff. Aiming Headlights I did not use this procedure, I just aimed mine against a wall, adjusted them a bit and drove the car, after doing that a few times I think I have them just right. As I posted previously if people don't flash their lights at me and if I can see well enough not to overdrive them at 50 or 55 mph they are OK.
I got traded in my 2007 Prius for a 2010 Prius V. And yes, the headlight aiming is scary. Things just pop out of the darkness as the line between bright (which is very bright) and dark is something like 2 car lengths in front of the car. I almost hit a coyote the other night. My wife has an 09 Acura MDX which does have a distinctive line between light and dark, but the line is MUCH further out in front of the car. The real question for me is, are these adjusted out of spec low coming from the factory or is the spec that way? If I take it to the dealer will he adjust to spec or say "they're fine"? Anyone know based on the TIS document mentioned? After reading this, I've adjusted 6 'ticks' up and will see how things look tonight.
Don't know if the dealer would follow the TIS doc or not, a lot of them just try to do the job whatever way they have in the past and don't read anything. Sounds like your lights are like mine were, 6 clicks will help a bit but you will almost surely need to come up more. Take a look at them shining against a wall while on a level place also. My left one was actually aimed a bit higher than the right one and they should be the same. I tend to believe mine were definitely out of spec from the factory. But I didn't measure them to be sure, if they were in spec then the spec needs to be changed.
I think I am going to experiment with rising mine. They are low, and dim. (LEDs.) I really wish on such a high tech car they would have done some bmw-style turning headlights. That was so nice on my 330i.
I also had a 330i and I miss the headlights. Aiming the LEDs correctly helps a lot but they still don't provide as much light as they should. Truth is the much touted Toyota LED headlights are not as good as the halogens on the other versions of the Prius or the Corolla loaner car I had. I think Toyota needs to go back to the drawing board for these lights.
Interesting thread, another thing I have to examine when my V arrives. Post # 24 points to the conditions that should be in place when adjusting headlights--if you're the driver you need equivalent weight in the driver seat, and normal cargo. Adding passengers and cargo will certainly change the headlight aim. I recall one vacation in Germany. We had a cheap rental car that had a thumbwheel on the dash with multiple positions for headlight aim height. I would get flashed whenever I forgot to turn them down enough while passing through towns at night. This would be an excellent feature on US cars, but would confound too many people. Now off-topic: On another vacation in England, we had a rental car. One of my hosts said the license plate identified it as a rental to warn the natives that the driver was likely to make an intersection turn into the wrong lane if there is no one to follow. He was kidding I think, but I actually did it. Oh man, I just loved those clockwise roundabouts. Back at home, jet lag had me up and on the street early, and I started out in the left lane. Good thing it was 4AM. Back to Germany: Their drivers are really good. Mandatory serious driver training required. They drive fast and well. Lots of uphill passing in what would be our no-pass zones, everyone gets back safely as needed and before the top. It was a pleasure to be a more-timid driver amid all this competence (and not venturing into the left lane on the Autobahns!).
Remarkable, I'm another BMW convert. The BMW auto leveling low beams are the best I've seen on any car and I think anything in comparison will not be as good. Someone asked about having the dealer adjust the Prius LEDs to spec and my dealer did just that and I did not see a difference. I agree with others that speeds above 35 to 40 mph can get scary as the Prius LED have minimal light scatter and are aimed low. I'll be adjusting mine as others have. Thanks for the posts.
I did the adjustment, and it is an amazing improvement. I have a feeling I may have gone too high, but I guess I really don't know how to find out unless I get flashes.
Glad it worked for you, they are not to bad once you get them aimed right. That was my test also, drive a dark two lane road with traffic coming the other way and make sure no one flashes me. I also wanted to be able to drive 55 or 60 without overdriving them. I think I have them about right.
On a related note, my 2008 Prius with HIDs really stinks...I drive with the brights on all the time in order to see anything and no one flashes me. Could they be pointed too low down?
It sure sounds like it. I never had to adjust the headlights on my '05 but it should be about the same procedure. Why not give it a try, remember how far you go with the adjustments so you can go back if you need to. let us know how it works out.
Just wanted to say thanks to this thread, after putting on the PLUS springs the cut-off line on my prius V headlights was way to low. Got them nice and adjusted now.
I don't think the US models have the user adjustment knob/dial we got on our rhd versions. I usually keep mine set at 1/5 as it gives enough beam without blinding others.
If you do the height adjustment, it is easy to lose track of how many notches you go. Remedy this by using a magic marker to make baseline marks on the adjuster.
I meant you don't have the manual adjustment dial on the dash inside the car like we get here. It's next to the electric mirror adjuster.
Another old thread that has greatly helped me as a new Prius owner. My headlights were very low cutting off at about 6 car lengths . Thanks to this forum I found this thread and made the adjustment myself so it saved a trip to the dealer and a wait and probably $
