Headlights in France- will the adaptive system work?

[dab1054]

Planning on driving in France later this year. I asked Toyota what was needed to avoid headlight problems. This is the response:

"To drive abroad on the right side of the road you’re not allowed to have the kick-up on the left of the beam. Your nearest Toyota Centre will be able to tell you if the left of your beam has kick-up. If there is a kick-up, you’ll need to apply stickers to remove this."

A bit disappointing since I was hoping the adaptive headlight system would cope with driving on the right. Anyone else had any experience with this?

[Malop]

7 hours ago, dab1054 said:

Your nearest Toyota Centre will be able to tell you if the left of your beam has kick-up

You would have also thought Toyota themselves could tell you if the car they manufactured had kick-up on the left, but I continue to remain disappointed by the poor technical responses from Toyota UK.

[philip42h]

9 hours ago, dab1054 said:

Planning on driving in France later this year. I asked Toyota what was needed to avoid headlight problems. This is the response:

"To drive abroad on the right side of the road you’re not allowed to have the kick-up on the left of the beam. Your nearest Toyota Centre will be able to tell you if the left of your beam has kick-up. If there is a kick-up, you’ll need to apply stickers to remove this."

A bit disappointing since I was hoping the adaptive headlight system would cope with driving on the right. Anyone else had any experience with this?

I'm none to sure what to would expect an "adaptive headlight system" to do under these circumstances. Don't they just 'align' the direction of the lights with the direction of the steering wheel?

And while I can't speak with any authority on the bZ4X, the LED headlights on my RAV4 are absolutely flat - there is no "kick-up on the left of the beam" so I can drive on the continent without applying stickers and without inconveniencing oncoming drivers. 👍

I suggest that you park the car a few yards in front of a wall with the lights on in the dark and look carefully for the kick-up - I don't think that you will find one and you too will be absolutely OK in France. 🙂

The beam does deflect to the left rather than the right so is better suited to UK roads than Continental ones but there is no danger of dazzling oncoming drivers.

I'm currently in France!

[Cyker]

It's easy to check it yourself - If you turn your dipped beams on and face the car at a flat wall, you can see the beam pattern.

Broadly speaking:

If it's curvy with a big high bright bit on the left, you'll need deflectors.

If it's just a flat horizontal line, you're good to go.

[dab1054]

On 3/14/2023 at 5:53 PM, Cyker said:

It's easy to check it yourself - If you turn your dipped beams on and face the car at a flat wall, you can see the beam pattern.

Broadly speaking:

If it's curvy with a big high bright bit on the left, you'll need deflectors.

If it's just a flat horizontal line, you're good to go.

OK, thanks. Checked that yesterday and it was a nice flat line when dipped. No sign at all of a "kick up" on the left. I'm going to assume that the bZ4X headlights will be fine in France.

[Cyker]