Smelly

In Europe, cars equipped with HIDs are requlred to have auto-leveling, and other manufacturers like Lexus has them too. What exactly does auto-leveling do? If you are going up a hill, will the lights aim lower? Or does it auto-level just during acceleration or when the rear of the car is loaded down? Either way, I think it is a safety feature that Acura should consider having since you basically blind oncoming drivers when you accelerate or go over a bump.

evsweat1

Yes that is what they fo, they move freely up and down

bioyuki

Lexus has auto leveling HIDs? I thought only the German trio had those. :confsued: Anyways, since there are so many critics of HID lighting, I predict that the DOT will mandate auto leveling HIDs just like Europe to get all the complainers off their backs.

daverman

Auto-leveling HID's actually have the HID assembly linked to the front suspension of the car. They're not free floating.

1SICKLEX

Yup all Lexus models have auto-level HID's. It really only adjusts to when you have 5 people in your car or tons of stuff in the trunk. Instead of the headlights aiming in the sky, they adjust on the road.

On the GS, when you turn on the lights, you can see part of theheadlight move in then out, pretty cool.....

TUFF GONG

Yes, when my sister starts up her IS300 (with real auto lights), the headlights turn on and do a quick up and down and level itself.

ElegantTL-S

Yeah, I've seen those in action on my friend's Benz S500...I really want those....i didn't know Lexus has those too!! Acura should do these.then I'll complain and make them install it... :p :p

Smelly

So, is the auto-leveling just based on the load of the rear end of the car, or based on the tilt of the car? For example, if you are going up a steep hill, will the auto-leveling point the lights down, thus not lighting the road ahead?

daverman

It usually depends on how compressed the front springs are. If you load up on the back of the car, the front will tend to lift, and the headlights will lower to compensate. If you brake suddenly, the nose will dive, and the headlights will rise.

I don't know if the Lexus, BMW or MB systems do it that way, but if they do, it'd be pretty challenging to lower the car without causing the headlight to point skyward all the time.

1SICKLEX

The HID's will not move because the car is still level with the ground. But say Polyman's 800lbs mother sits on the hood while you are going uphill. Then the hood will be lower and the HID's will self adjust.

The point is not to blind oncoming traffic (like those @#%^ SUV's with HID's)........

Or read daverman's post

AKRY

Funny isn't it, it seems Auto-Leveling is a great feature for HID equipped cars, yet Honda/Nissan doesn't use it.... and yes ALL Lexus model with HID has auto-leveling....

As Daverman and 1SickLex explained, Auto-Leveling keeps the light beam properly aim toward the front of the car and automatcially compensate for any loads added to the car...

However, from what I know(and on MBs anyways), the auto-leveling sensor is mounted on REAR suspension??

Andy Kuo

ElegantTL-S

IF it's mounted on the suspension....and when you use lowering springs...which brings the body of the car down as you would put a heavy load into the trunk....So shouldn't it shoot the beam very low? or high? or would it still function properly?

TommiGSR

iTrader: (1)

i didn't know the HIDs were sensored by the suspension, i thot they use a gyroscope like device, like in the airplanes to see if the car was tilted forward or back...and it would adjust accordingly? that's what i figured they would do rather than stick it on the suspension.

ElegantTL-S

I was thinking the same thing..it appeared to be....until i read this thread. I would love to get this....

Smelly

I wouldn't think the auto-leveling would be based on a gyro, otherwise, when you go up a steep hill, the lights will point down at the ground, and when going down, they would point up. But I'm just guessing on this.

TommiGSR

iTrader: (1)

shouldn't a gryo do the opposite? when the car is pointing up, the lights point down, and when the car is pointing down, the lights point up....

up hill, lights point down
down hill, lights point up...

????

daverman

That's exactly what Smelly said!

The auto-leveling system keeps the HID's level relative to a line drawn from the bottom of the front tire to the bottom of the rear tire.

TommiGSR

iTrader: (1)

oh gawd! i gotta stop smokin on this crack LOL j/p

Guest

Lexus uses 2 sets of auto-leveling, front and rear.

perrymaxima

AKRY not to nick-pick, but Infiniti uses auto leveling on the Q45.

Closer

Am I the only one that thinks this is just a giant waste of money?

TommiGSR

iTrader: (1)

waste of momey? hehee, it adds to the price of the car of course...that's why it's so freakin expensive!

not a total waste...but it' does add safety to other drivers...so we wont blind them with our cool lights

AKRY

:o :o :o Isn't Q45 came with a knob on dash that let you adjust headlight aims up/down remotely??? It says nothing about auto-leveling in Q45 brochures though..... :p

Andy Kuo

perrymaxima

Maybe your right there a new Q45 site and on there he has a video of his HID's leveling them selves maybe there's a knob.:o

thejavagod

My '01 RX300 had this. I agree, the self-levelling "test" when you turn them on them is so cooool GOSH, I miss my RX I believe the new QX4 has auto-levelling with manual override which means that you can select out of 3 headlight positions manually

asiankidd

you cant just complain and have them install it?!?! reason why i think the tl doesnt have it is cus its made in the us and only imported car's that go thru custom are required to have them....i know on the mercedes 2 things are required to make xenon hid LEGAL 1 is the auto leveling and 2 is the Head lamp washer....its cant be purchased with out 1 or the other....

asiankidd

i agree....lower the light the lower the visibility, the higher the light the higher the visibility and with it come this cool thing to BLIND PEOPLE YAY!!!!!

bebber

Acura RL is an imported car with HID without leveling or washers. Germany has some requirement for the headlight washers on cars. Auto-leveling seems cool, but I'm quite satisfied with my lights as they are.

Guest

I'm pretty sure that it was more of a cost-cutting issue than anything else, as all of these cars mentioned with auto-leveling cost more $$$$ than the TLS.

AKRY

True, very true, but IS300 has auto-leveling, too, and it's not that much more expensive than TLS... and on some higher end trims, IS300 even comes with headlight washers.... IMO, headlight washer is more critical than auto-leveling.....

Andy Kuo

AKRY

The knob is on the left side, under the cluster(where our Cruise control button is)... it's actually pretty cool, and I recommend you go take a look... from lowest to highest setting, there seems to be as much as 1" - 1.5" movement..... very cool....

Andy Kuo

AcuraAddict

Well, actually, no and yes. It depends if you consider the use of reflector (as opposed to projector) lights as cost-cutting, which I don't. You cant put auto leveling on refelctor lights, it ust won't work. But I am going to start, come spring, with my project to retorfit headlight washers on my car (thanks Jens).

Jens

In Europe self leveling headlamps have been around for a long time as I remember back in the early 80's seing gray market Benzes with this equipment,this was long before H.I.D. lighting became available.One thing all of you need to remember is that lighting laws in the U.S. are at best archaic .This is one reason why gadgets like H.I.D. self leveling headlights etc are so slow to be marketed here.Self leveling headlamps are always linked to the suspension system not to a gyroscope .The idea is to level the lights relative to the car not the road.Acura/Honda designed the TL some time ago prior to it being legal to have self leveling lighting so this may be part of the reason why the TL was not designed with this feature.Possibly with the next gen TL/CL Acura may elect to employ this system.Also remember this stuff is expensive so rather than hear people gripe about the high cost of cars and lose people to other cheaper brands they leave some features out.Now granted some of you are probably saying but XXXXX brand car maker has this gadget but their car is almost the same price as ours WTF???? Well just remember if you go to the forums for XXXXX brand car you will hear those owners of XXXXX brand car say the same thing about our cars.SO give it a bit of time and these gadgets will also appear in our cars when the cost is more reasonable because the cost can be spread across more cars using essentially the same equipment.
AcuraAddict cool can't wait to see how this works out for you .Jens

Guest

I guess my question then is, are there higher priced vehicles (say, above $40k) other than Acura that use reflector instead of projector, by choice (meaning they like it better than projector) not by cost ?