Asymmetric Headlight Cutoff?

[TeCKis300]

EDIT: See post #16, failing aftermarket LED bulb.

I never noticed how asymmetric the headlight cutoff was on my '09 LX570 until recently. The drivers side in particular has the expected horizontal cutoff, but also a very sharp vertical cutoff to the left. I assume this is to avoid too much light going into oncoming traffic?

This could be my aftermarket LED bulb, but wondering if others have this or notice?

I've been driving my wife's Tesla this past week as she's been on travel, and with fall in full swing, I'm using headlights more. Tesla's have full matrix LEDheadlights with auto high beam. The light output is dramatically broad as it will only dim small quadrants of light tracking to where the oncoming car is, and flooding light everywhere.

Going back to my LX makes me notice just how much less coverage there is because the beam is statically focused.

 

[2021 LC200]

Not having asymmetric headlights and as a result blinding oncoming traffic more than needed seems totally unacceptable. I thought this was a global standard. I guess it is not…

 

[doru]

There are different implementations of the standards and standards themselves changed over the years. Now days most of the cars have wider beams than it used to be back in the day. I'm not a pro to know the standards but seems likely they changed from tech and lobby pressure.
Even back in the day there were some very expensive cars with out of this word wide beams.
BTW making the beams wider is a standard TODO item when moding the projectors. You just have to widen the hole in the shield and corect the cutoff and focus of the beam. I bet you can do it on our projectors to.

 

[2021 LC200]

Beside Tesla so it seems (although being low vehicles mostly), I find newer Ford truck lights super annoying. They blind you and shine all over the place instead of focusing the light just on the road ahead. Clowns the engineers who designed those. Sad that DOT/SAE standards for a pretty important safety aspect like this are not adequate. Effectively American cars falling further behind and then we are surprised few want to buy them overseas.

 

[UT08LX570]

You're comparing apples to zebras. Matrix has 0 traits in common with projector setups as they are designed with independant quadrant control. The "step" you're referring to on the LX is completely normal and is designed to keep more light where you need it, down your lane and in the right ditch, while also keeping it out of oncoming traffic. RHD countries have a flipped cutoff.

The style or design of the step can vary by manufacturer. Japanese optics made by koito are typically a slope style cutoff that is a bit longer left to right than a 90 degree step. LED oem projectors also have a different style step as well where its more of a divot just left of the hot spot. The LX has decent optics, but there is definitely room for improvement through a retrofit. Won't have the same auto high/blocking like matrix, so that's portion is unrealistic.

 

[bloc]

The steps on my 13LC with Philips xtreme 2 (I think) bulbs look just like UT08LX’s middle image. I know my lamps aren’t the same category as an early 200-series LX, but that seems to be how Toyota implemented them in the HID LCs.

I find newer Ford truck lights super annoying. They blind you and shine all over the place instead of focusing the light just on the road ahead.

The are everywhere in my area, and along my route to Colorado. Stick a trailer on them and I’d consistently lose money on a bet over whether their high beams are on.

 

[2021 LC200]

Not and expert, yet this may explain what is going on in the US. Per the YT’ber IIHTS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, seems a bunch of number crunchers using incomplete data to push their agenda) claims brighter further reaching headlights reduces number of incidents. And a good IIHTS score is considered more important than complying to headlight standards. No data on accidents resulting from being blinded. Or people maybe looking at their phone and “not seeing” things… You wonder indeed how would they gather such info reliable?

Looks to me common sense and respect for others is out of the window and that seems the name of the game these days anyways.

Why I consider not having mud flaps or wheel guards around tires to prevent rocks being thrown at somebody else’s windshield something which is disrespectful. I know probably many of you like your big off-road tires and them sticking out. I would say that is fine however use fender flares and have mud flaps when you do or you just causing damage to other cars. Seems why a vehicle designed and made in a country with a culture of respect (i.e. our Land Cruiser) has mudflats from factory. I like that, a lot!

 

[TeCKis300]

Interested if anyone else has pics to share. Here's what mine look like. It's an '09 LX with aftermarket LEDs. The left margin cutoff seems especially sharp. I have amber fogs that flood in that near region into the periphery so coverage is fine.

 

[UT08LX570]

Interested if anyone else has pics to share. Here's what mine look like. It's an '09 LX with aftermarket LEDs. The left margin cutoff seems especially sharp. I have amber fogs that flood in that near region into the periphery so coverage is fine.

Id bet money thats because of the design of your led bulbs. Your passenger side is the same, is just has overlap from the driver side. This was my factory projector with cheap sealight leds

 

[doru]

That does not look right to me. I don't think that is how Toyota shipped those trucks even in 2009.
Are you sure that your LEDs are correctly positioned in the base? Most of the bulbs allow for rotation having a set screw. You are supposed to loosen it up and rotate the bulb in its base until the actual LED's emitting light are in the same position the halogen filament should be.
Or maybe those LED's are not good to begin with.
Easy test: replace the LH LED with a halogen bulb and see what the Toyota intended light patern is. The LED should not change that pattern much if they are any quality. They are supposed to mimic the halogen bulb filament location as that is what your lamps are designed for.

 

[GrouchyTech]

That does not look right to me. I don't think that is how Toyota shipped those trucks even in 2009.
Are you sure that your LEDs are correctly positioned in the base? Most of the bulbs allow for rotation having a set screw. You are supposed to loosen it up and rotate the bulb in its base until the actual LED's emitting light are in the same position the halogen filament should be.
Or maybe those LED's are not good to begin with.
Easy test: replace the LH LED with a halogen bulb and see what the Toyota intended light patern is. The LED should not change that pattern much if they are any quality. They are supposed to mimic the halogen bulb filament location as that is what your lamps are designed for.

They need to be oriented with the LED emitters shining horizontally in the housing.

LED still has a lot of problems matching the size and position of the filament in an incandescent bulb.

Get some good quality halogen bulbs and use those.

 

[TeCKis300]

You guys might be right. I don't even remember when I last installed these LEDs. I'll get around to inspecting them.

 

[2021 LC200]

Interested if anyone else has pics to share. Here's what mine look like. It's an '09 LX with aftermarket LEDs. The left margin cutoff seems especially sharp. I have amber fogs that flood in that near region into the periphery so coverage is fine.

View attachment 4025177

View attachment 4025178

I would have to drive towards your car to really judge, yet this seems a pretty good focus of your lights with reduced or no blinding issue for oncoming traffic. Now they also need vertical cut off and maybe that is all what you are discussing?

 

[bloc]

LED still has a lot of problems matching the size and position of the filament in an incandescent bulb.

Yes, and I just don't see how this will ever be solved as long as LEDs must be mounted to a board to dissipate heat.

I'm extremely happy with Philips HIR bulbs in the high beam spots. I don't think they make a version for the low beams on early 200s, but something along those lines will probably work well and avoid the issues seen above.

 

[TeCKis300]

I would have to drive towards your car to really judge, yet this seems a pretty good focus of your lights with reduced or no blinding issue for oncoming traffic. Now they also need vertical cut off and maybe that is all what you are discussing?

I never get flashed even as a taller rig, so the aim is good. The lighting's exaggerated in the pics. It's the driver horizontal cutoff I'm curious about.

 

[TeCKis300]

Turns out my aftermarket LED bulb was going bad. The left side of one bulb was intermittently going off/on.

Replaced and coverage is back to normal