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Comment by coding123 | Hacker News Reader

Even more idiotic is my truck. I put a camper on it. I can't drive it at night because the weight of the camper tilts the entire truck back just a bit so that the head lights are aimed right at driver's eyes even on the lowbeams. Everyone flashes me and gets pissed off. Hopefully Adaptive headlights account for things like this.

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self-leveling is required on bi-xenon headlights even in the US, so this is quite strange. if you have older-style headlights, there should be manual adjustment screws on the lamp housing you can fix this with in a matter of minutes.

Bi-xenon lights are mostly reserved for luxury cars in the US.

And despite the MSRP, many trucks don't have them (not without buying the fanciest trim level).

In my state, you would not pass the yearly safety inspection.

Can't you just adjust the headlights?

Of course you would do the safety inspection without the trailer?

I assumed the OP meant "camper" as a mostly-permanent thing mounted in a pickup truck bed, not a detachable trailer.

Those are in no way permanent. Many of them even have built-in stands that can lift and support the camper, allowing you to simply drive the truck out from under it.

Lights are always adjustable. On my last car, there was just a screw where you adjusted it one way or the other and it would move the beam up or down. You pull up to a wall some distance away, and adjust the beam so it's at the right level.

The only equipment you need is a screwdriver, and the only knowledge you need is which screw to turn and a basic understanding of "that's too high" vs "that's too low". It takes ten minutes tops.

In my experience, people driving trucks and people with high/blindingly bright headlights are highly overlapping sets of people. So you can at least feel consolation in that those people are probably not surprised in being pissed off by you.

Truck owner with correctly adjusted stock headlights here, but your observation is pretty accurate on average.

They’re adjustable.

Mechanic should be able to adjust them for you or search for a guide online or the device manual.

May need heavier duty springs in the rear suspension to accommodate the weight.

Sounds like too much tongue weight. Assuming you aren't exceeding your vehicle's tow capacity, the tongue weight should be about 10% of the loaded trailer weight (check your owner's manual) which the suspension should be designed to handle and thus not tilt your vehicle under load. Or you may have a worn suspension...

I would say there is almost certainly a little wheel somewhere on your dashboard to adjust them. My Land Rover has this.

A vehicle in the US that would be colloquially referred to as a 'truck' almost certainly does not. Headlight level controls are extremely rare in the US.

Been driving about 20 years in the US, owned eight or nine cars (mostly small to mid-sized sedans and minivans) over the years between me & the wife, and I can't recall ever seeing headlight level controls.

I'm an enthusiast who has owned dozens of vehicles and driven around a hundred. I have only seen this feature on a couple of euro luxury cars.

It's been a feature for ages in the EU on even the most cheap crap you can buy for money.

Interesting! In Europe you not only have cockpit adjustable lights but auto leveling very common. Of course the consumer ends up paying for that, and they do cause maintenance issues.

> In Europe you not only have cockpit adjustable lights but auto leveling very common

Cockpit adjustable lights have been required by law in Europe for about 20 years. When Xenon lamps arrived, auto-leveling was added as a requirement for them.

Bit the bullet and read the Wikipedia part, which was excellent. Cockpit adjustable headlights since 1948!

https://wiki.relexsolutions.com/display/MOR/Isengard+High+Le...

They have manual adjustments in the engine Bay Area on most cars

They are usually in the bottom of the bumper as a little screw, or on the inside of the engine bay in the front near the top of the radiator. They are in most cars.

We were talking about driver controls, on the dashboard.

The manual adjusters on the headlight are not intended to compensate for daily variances in vehicle load.

Not if they are halogens. I've only seen manual adjustment on HID-equipped cars, and only older ones. Most anything modern is auto-leveling.

It's bog-standard on my old Land Rover with weak yellow halogens. I think you'd find it hard to drive with a load in the back without them!

I have only seen manual adjust on halogen and only auto adjust (because it's a requirement in Europe at least) on Xenon.

My last Japanese car with HIDs had manual adjust. Everything I've owned since was auto leveling. I've never owned a manual adjust (unless you count the screw on the headlight itself...) on a halogen headlight equipped vehicle. And I've owned a lot of vehicles over the years.

Indeed, my Bentley has this feature but my Ferrari and Lamborghini do not.

I'm not sure if you're trying to mock the fact that I said I had a Land Rover. That's not very kind.

I mean an old Land Rover Defender - a working vehicle that rattles and doesn't even have air bags. It still has a headlight adjustment wheel as it's a functional feature, not a luxury.

Those are awesome. Yes, I was just teasing a bit. I hope someone got a chuckle out of it. Hope everyone has a great day. Stay safe!

Does your truck not have self-leveling headlights? Or is the change outside their ability to handle?

I've not worked on newer cars in a long time, but when I did you could purchase "adjustable shock absorbers" that use compressed air to lift the back of your truck when it was loaded down with a heavy trailer attached to the trailer hitch.

If it's outside the adjustment range, there's too much weight on the trailer hitch. There are limits (usually documented in the manual) and both the rear suspension and headlights are the reason for them.

Or the hitch is placed at the wrong height for the trailer.

How much lift do you have, and how awesome do those 35s look in photos? ;)

Surely there is leveling on it? Check the dash board or drivers manual. What model?

Automatic beam cutoff is overrated since it too ofent just is a bit too late.

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