Headlight cutoff line - dangerous

Hello everyone,

Anyone else out there feel the headlight cutoff line is dangerous?

When the low beams are one, the projection of light on the road is fantastic, but there is a sharp line where the light completely stops and above that line is completely unaffected/not-illuminated by the headlights. There's no "spread" to the light.

I've read this is to avoid blinding oncoming drivers. While I understand that and agree with the sentiment, I'm not a fan of the potential for not seeing something in the road just past the cutoff line as I'm driving.

I know that using the auto high-beam on "feature" can help, but in crowded areas and windy roads, this thing can be going on and off so much, it's not something I feel is useful.

Thoughts?
Don

 

There is supppsed to be a sharp cutoff on low beams. Properly designed headlights have had this for over 20 years

 

I had Cibie Z beams on a car 40 years ago. Loved the cutoff even though they weren't DOT approved. Back them all headlights were required to be sealed beam and these were European spec using H4 halogen bulbs.

 

First off, you may have an alignment issue if you feel it's "dangerous" so you may want to confirm they are properly adjusted/aimed.

Second, if they are set up correctly and you still feel uneasy... well you have a couple options; You can drive slower so you're not outpacing what you can see, or you can recognize this is kinda like people in Oregon refusing to pump their own gas because they are afraid of an imagined danger. I don't mean to be harsh, but if they are properly adjusted you're being fearful of something that millions of people do on a daily basis.

 

I don’t know if Don is afraid or not, maybe just pointing out a potential downside to the feature. Deer on the road is a big thing rn and having light that shines farther down the road helps identify them sooner to give more time to react. But I agree, it’s not changing, so using the auto-brights may be the only solution short of what would likely be non-dot approved auxiliary lights.

 

If you are having trouble seeing in the areas that are not directly lit by the headlights, I would consider seeing an ophthalmologist.
Not trying to sound cynical or the such but sadly the eyes performance gets worse every day as we age. I'm no young buck but I can still see pretty good in the unlit areas of the headlights. Using the highbeams, I feel the oncoming drivers are looking at the sun as they approach the truck. Nothing good comes out of blinding them.

Oncoming glare can be bad too and have heard those yellow/orange tinted glasses (made for driving) can help.

 

If you have the sr5, you can adjust them up with the dial. Someone may have adjusted them down.

 

What trd package do you have?

 

Get your headlights adjusted correctly and learn how to operate them. If all this has been done then slow down and operate your bright lights manually.

 

Areas of the road where your Auto Hi beams would activate and shut off in a rapid enough succession where you would worry about the feature shorting out or failing, is likely a very high traffic area, thus an area where deer probably won't be in high numbers or there is enough illuminated light from other vehicles to provide auxiliary light in most cases.

On dark windy country roads, the auto on/off hi beam feature is awesome.

 

I love the headlights on mine. I think they are far superior to the lights on my previous 2015 Tundra.

I also like the auto high beam feature. My only complaint is they occasionally think reflective road signs are oncoming traffic and they will dim. It took me a few night drives to figure out what that was all about.

 

What you are describing, is how headlights are supposed to work.

They are not designed to light up a mile ahead.

Pay attention to the road and your speed.

 

That's exactly how it is supposed to work and I love my headlights. The cutoff allows the beams to be aimed as high as possible to put light as far down the road as possible without blinding oncoming. Only time it bothers me is coming to the bottom of a sharp dip in the road where the coming start of the uphill won't be visible.

 

You will have to like me get used to them. But as many have said these are the best I had period.

 

or be like the really old folks and not drive during dusk to dawn. outside of work requirements (on the road at 5am and sunrise is at 8am, and on the road at 430 pm and sunset is currently 451pm, stupid northern tier state). outside of that i avoid driving at night, especially on long trips.

 

This got me thinking...Would the automatic brake see the deer and warn/activate?

 

Only if the deer walks on two legs, lol.
As far as I know, the system is only designed to recognized humanoid shapes, cars, trucks, motorcycles and bicycles. It takes a lot of computer "brainpower" to analyze the image and properly identify the objects, especially considering that humans come in many sizes and shapes. The AEB takes about 200 ms to identify the objects and apply brakes, so it's still much faster that a human brain (which needs about 500 ms to do the same job in an average human, and 350 ms for a Formula 1 driver). The computer analyzes the shapes and give them a "percent recognition". So if something looks 80% like a human, it's a human, but something that looks 40% like a human, probably isn't.
My understanding is that they are trying to increase the number of objects that can be recognized to include things such as stroller and dogs, which are also relatively common.

 

Just a heads up for anyone running auto brights, you have until the count of 5.

 

I hear what the op is stating and agree, the cut off line is tight on the tundra. It's a downside to led lights in general. I have 5 cars with leds and the tundras are the most abrupt imo. They are perhaps the brightest too which why many might say they love them or are better but it makes the dark area that much darker. My tundra has the dash adjustment for the lights. By adjusting them up a bit, not enough to blind folks, but a bit, you can max out where the cut off line is and that may help a little - it helped me.

 

Maybe it's not the headlights...it's your eyes.

 

I agree with the OP 100%. The headlight’s on my pro are fantastic but the cutoff sucks. The headlights on my ‘95 T100 that I daily in the winter are not much brighter than two burning candles but have more reach down the road.
Although I will say that the high beams along with light bar on the pro illuminate the road extremely well!

 

I find the cut off too low, however I find my wifes Lexus cutofff worse.

 

A 5 count is a pretty long draw.

 

We have a Honda Odyssey with the projectors and it has a sharp cut line as well. I hated it at first but now I am used to it. My 21 tundra has halogens and the cut line is much softer.

 

Perhaps it has something to do with the very cool/white color of led requiring a sharper cutoff vs the warmer/yellow light of standard bulbs? Or even the cool/white effect on how well you can see "beyond" the projection pattern?

 

takes about 3 seconds.

 

That’s a warm barrel and an empty mag.

 

10000. This ^

so much better than my 2016, plus auto highbeams are great

 

My 23 with the premium lighting package has great headlamp lighting. It does have a very distinct cut off line on low beams. Kind of a characteristic of LED lighting in general as well as a narrow color "temperature". Now what I find as unusual (but not really a problem) is any reflection from right on said line has a purpleish hue to it.

 

I agree the cutoff seems much more defined versus my 2007. I don't seem to notice on a flat road, but the other day while driving out of the country club I felt like I was only seeing 20 feet or so. That drive is curvy, hilly, narrow, and dark. The neighborhoods around there are similar, and that area is packed with deer. Though I refuse to use my brights in residential areas. I've driven out there plenty of times with the 07 and Highlander, but I don't recall ever feeling like I couldn't see much, certainly not a sharp line separating light and darkness.