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Originally Posted by The Citrus Smoothie
It is important that any new bulbs do not blind other motorists coming the other way. I believe I am right in saying that to be legal (in the UK) all xenon / HID lights must have a self-levelling mechanism or they fail inspection.
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An auto-leveling headlight mechanism is an important auto safety feature that is absent on most U.S. spec cars. It automatically adjusts the headlight height based on the angle of the vehicle which can change due to heavy loads in the back of the vehicle causing the headlights to shine up higher than normal. Some Japan and Euro spec cars have manual headlight leveling switches inside the car that the driver can use to change the headlight level if they are carrying a heavy load, but I have only seen this in a few U.S. spec cars where most adjustments have to be made manually under the hood and are time consuming. The manual and automatic leveling systems are mostly found on cars equipped with HID systems as they are an additional cost item but they are also found on a few cars with halogen headlights. These systems are not absolutely necessary with HID or halogen bulbs (for functionality, legality varies obviously due to the higher luminosity of HID systems) but they are tremendously helpful when carrying a heavy load. In my first Prius (not equipped with the auto-leveling HID system) when hauling 4 people with their luggage the halogen headlights would shine up almost as high as the high beams and I was getting flashed by oncoming drivers constantly due to the heavy load in the back. This could also happen in an Insight hauling a heavy load in the trunk either with or without HID bulbs and you may be pulled over if you haul heavy loads for long distances and it is distracting to other drivers. I have found headlight leveling to be much less of an issue with the Insight compared to the Prius, but people who carry heavy loads frequently may want to become familiar with the manual leveling system on the Insight of they are being flashed by oncoming drivers.
