Dipping Headlights Aygo

Oct 18, 2021 Last reply: 4 years ago 3 Replies
B

I?m sure I?m missing something obvious.



We?ve just bought a new (2021) Toyota Aygo for Senior Management. Smashing little car, ideal for what we want.



I wanted a set of spare bulbs- not least as we will be using it in France etc- so off I went to find out the types etc.



No real issue. Just a mystery.



There only seems to be one bulb in the headlight ( dipped / main beam) assembly (ignoring the side lights, DRLs, indicator etc).



The bulb is a single filament quartz (HIR2- I?ve looked at it). The light dips etc, the main and dipped beam comes from the same assembly / Lens lump.



I?m used to seeing dual filament bulbs ( so the source moves, moving the beam) but how are they dipping the single bulb?



The dipped beam has the usual UK left up kick ( unfortunately - I was hoping to find the flat top dip like on my car which is EU legal.)


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P

HID Bi-Xenon. Hella have a patent. A solenoid operated shield flips up to block the lower part of the beam that produces the high beam. The dip beam comes out the top of the headlamp. For Europe the shield will be shaped to give a kick up to the nearside. For USA it's flat.

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Some may have a lever that rotates the shield to give kick-up on opposite side but that costs more and there is another patent.

LED adaptive headlamps can be switched from a user menu in the car control panel.

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D

When HID arrived, some cars used the same bulb for dip and main. Either the bulb moved, or some form of shutter? Most cars use LED these days. Perhaps they use the same method for that, but base models still fitted with halogen?

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B

Thank you to you and Peter.

It seems the bulb is moved - I asked on a Toyota group.

I was vaguely aware of bulbs which had moving parts to move the source but not of moving the whole bulb- at least not for dipping.

It seems overly complex but ?.

Great little car for a runabout etc and gizmos you don?t expect on a basic car.

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