Adaptive high beam

[johalareewi]

Now it is getting darker earlier i have been trying out the adaptive main beam feature on the gen2 plugin.  While it functions well enough, it doesn't turn the main beam on until the speedometer reaches 40mph.  Is this normal?

The owners manual suggests it should come on at 19mph not 40.

[altocumulus]

Yep - that's about right. 40 mph to start, though it will then manage to stay active, sometimes, down as low as 19 mph.

Absolutely annoying feature for those of us navigating rural roads.....

I had it for a long time on my RAV4s until I cottoned on to the restriction, with my current Prius. It's something to do with some EU countries,

if memory serves me correctly, having asked Toyota UK about it.

[Ten Ninety]

Yes Alan, it's normal. Completely stupid, but normal, and confirmed by Toyota UK as per this thread:

The good news is that there is a very effective solution, which is to adjust the dipped beams up so that they aren't pointing at the floor like the factory sets them. Phil T shows how here:

This provides enough dipped beam light to drive safely up to 40mph, when the AHBs will kick in. However, I actually don't bother with them now because although the shuttering is 95% effective for oncoming traffic it doesn't seem to be so good when there's traffic in front going in the same direction. It also does some unexpected switching off at certain points on my commute when particular combinations of lamp-posts and signs confuse its algorithm.  

[HSDish]

Interesting.

I'll check this out.

[PeteB]

From what other have reported, the AHB setup is difference on the PHEW compared to the Prius Ordinaire.

When I had my Gen 4 2016 Prius Excel I found that it would allow High Beams to come on from about 27 mph, but they would stay on when slowing down until around 20 mph.  Where I live there are some very bendy single track lanes across farmland, with steep banks either side and lots of trees, so even 27 mph was too high a speed to wait for high beams.

Also, I found that on dual carriageways and bendy single carriageways they were too slow to dip to avoid me getting flashed by 80-90% of oncoming vehicles, and on any road they would leave the high beams on when there was a car in front going the same way that was more than about 500 yards ahead.

My 5th Gen 2019 RAV4 is no better, so I have always left the AHB disabled.