Nine years ago, we wrote in a DVN editorial:
“The situation of aiming is grim; a great many vehicles drive around with improperly-adjusted headlamps, even in countries where public awareness is relatively high and regulations relatively strict. With no interest from car makers and lighting suppliers, and headlamp aiming equipment often decrepit and/or improperly used, the situation has deteriorated. At the same time, recent headlamps’ increased output has increased the safety-negative effects of misaim. The American situation is still the worst amongst developed countries; there is no legal requirement for headlamps to be aimed correctly, and the voluntary SAE standard a few states adhere to permits a very large range of aim — low beams may be aimed up to 10cm upward (above horizontal) at 7.6m distance. Large numbers of vehicles are out of even this permissive standard”
In that same editorial in 2008, DVN suggested six proposals. The need for corrective action grows ever more urgent as speeds and headlamp output increase.
Proposal 1: SAE technical documents recommend vertical and horizontal aim allowances of ±0.76°. Reducing this tolerance to the ECE value of ±0.57° would improve the aiming recommendation in US and harmonise ECE and SAE prescriptions. UN Regulation 48 aiming prescriptions call for vertical aim:
– Between 0.57°D and 0.85°D (range ±0.14°) at assembly line or garage without load
– Between 0.28°D and 1.42°D (range of ±0.57°) at the ECE certification with all loads.
Proposal 2: All vehicles should be equipped with dynamic automatic levelling systems with accuracy better than 0.25° over the range of permitted load.
Proposal 3: The automotive lighting research, engineers and regulatory community should work on changes of lights that compensate changes of elevation along hills by integrating innovations like adaptive light and pixel light.
Proposal 4: Calibration and quality of aimers must be improved.
Car makers and lighting suppliers have to be more involved to improve aimer accuracy.
Proposal 5: Lighting suppliers have to communicate together on lighting and the importance of careful, accurate, proper aiming. Such an educational campaign should be prepared by the main lighting suppliers in Europe and in North America.
Proposal 6: Electronics and automotive lighting researchers, producers, and regulators should work together to devise and propagate systems that attain correct headlamp aim, as an evolution of today’s autolevelling systems that merely maintain whatever aim setting is manually—often incorrectly—attained by whoever touches the headlamp aim adjustors, often with good intention but bad results.
Since 2008, very little has changed. The 6 proposals remain proposals, even an update is needed.
See DVN Editor Daniel Stern’s in-depth report this week for an example of what today’s North American drivers face in trying to get their headlamps aimed. Coordinated, thoughtful attention to this basic, serious issue is more urgent today than yesterday, and tomorrow will be even more urgent; we need to tackle this right away.
Sincerely yours
DVN President