Headlight project very low

[polarbill1999]

I am guessing this has been brought up before but our 2014 Touring with standard headlights has a very defined line where the light quits projecting. The problem is this "line" or whatever you want to call it is fairly low(3 or 4 feet from the ground) so it basically doesn't light up anything above that line. The biggest problem with it is that it is just flat out annoying on your eyes. Does anybody know if this is how they are suppose to work? Any fixes to get rid of the line?

 

[MikeM.]

I am guessing this has been brought up before but our 2014 Touring with standard headlights has a very defined line where the light quits projecting.

I suspect you are speaking of the low beam cutoff. Modern headlights have become more effective than ever while managing to prevent blinding oncoming drivers and reducing glare. The light immediately under the cutoff that you speak of is the light that must travel the furthest down the road (simple geometry). Because light diminishes with the square of the distance it travels, it is important that the upper part of the beam is the brightest part of the beam if it is to provide adequate illumination down the road. A sharp cut-off allows high levels of light in the area of the upper portion of the low beams without causing too much glare for oncoming motorists (and we are all subject to other motorists glare, the goal is to keep it reasonable while still providing good illumination).

The problem is this "line" or whatever you want to call it is fairly low(3 or 4 feet from the ground) so it basically doesn't light up anything above that line.

It's called a "cutoff" and it's not the height of the cutoff that is important -it how far it projects towards the horizon. If it doesn't project far enough you will not have adequate visibility to drive above a very slow speed but, if it projects too far it will cause a safety issue for oncoming cars who will not have adequate vision.

The biggest problem with it is that it is just flat out annoying on your eyes. Does anybody know if this is how they are suppose to work? Any fixes to get rid of the line?

I have not found a sharp cutoff to be annoying when properly adjusted. On the contrary, a sharp cutoff allows higher levels of light to be projected further down the road without blinding oncoming drivers. And the only time a properly adjusted sharp cutoff is very noticeable in a negative way is when shining on something very close. This might happen when the attitude of the car angles downhill, such as when entering a sharp dip or depression in the road. In this case you will have an area beyond the effective beam that will be very black and the cutoff will be very noticeable. In the days before headlights were engineered with well defined cutoffs this situation (entering a dip in the road) still presented a challenge. Sure, a gradual cutoff would provide a few more feet of visibility but only by making use of light that would normally be glare to the eyes of oncoming motorists.

I would never go back to a soft cutoff because current projectors with sharp cutoffs provide so much more useable light down the road.