Need help with better headlights for 2015 rav 4

[Sequoiasoon]

Not the question I asked. Will it pass NY safety inspection? Here in Virginia, any inspector that's on the ball will fail a vehicle for having HIDs or LEDs where a halogen bulb belongs. Rightly so.

Post above it. Passes safety inspection each year. Has for over 17 years between different cars. 2 other cars also for many years and at car dealer and independent shop.

If they fail, I have the halogens in the cars to swap back and doesn't take long. Keep them in the car just in case of light failure on the road.

Always carried a spare Halogen prior for the same reason. I drive a lot at night.

 

[apollo18]

ty i may try the 9011 mod, any recommendations on the best 9011 bulb?

 

[Sequoiasoon]

ty i may try the 9011 mod, any recommendations on the best 9011 bulb?

Send an email from link below to Daniel Stern Lighting. I don't what or if he has any of the better bulbs left. It won't show on his page. You need to email. The older original versions have a different globe shape to them.

You can get the Phillips HIR1 9011 ones from Amazon. I don't think they were as good as the ones I got from DSL but are available at least. I wouldn't get an off brand if you do. Phillips/Osram/Sylvania or if you find Toshiba.

Phillips with Tab modified. Then the globe shape of the ones from Daniel Stern Lighting.

https://www.danielsternlighting.com/products/products.html

 

[Sequoiasoon]

Leave the low beams alone. That way, you can avoid blinding other drivers by switching to the low beams when there's oncoming traffic. "Upgrading" the low beams to turn them into high beams is...dumb.

Upgrading with proper aiming or doing full retrofits is not...dumb. Over the years MANY argued that upgrading from incandescent to Halogen was dumb and no need. The same went for Halogen > HID > LED > Laser. Not here obviously but some vehicles have or are being tested with "adaptive" LED's. Multi array versions that dim or turn off just around on coming vehicles and at certain heights. Still might light the road around them but not their faces/cabin. In many areas there is no street lighting especially rural. Having lights that cover the the immediate sides of the road for pedestrians/objects/animals helps with the safety and time to react.

Europe has and had for a long time different requirements. My dad upgraded to Halogen way back in the 70's maybe. Then again as soon as he found them H4 Halogen with replaceable bulbs. Unheard of almost here in the US but a much better controlled beam pattern compared to the DOT "blobs" that came from the GE Halogen 5 3/4" round. Do you recall your cars when the pattern went to a nice line and slope or a stepped version? Can you go back to the old blobs?

Use the low beam in city areas with streetlighting or when there's a lot of traffic around.

Use the high beam if you're the only car on a 2-lane road or rural interstate/highway with no streetlighting, or you are the lead car with cars behind you and no oncoming traffic, or if the car in front of you is so far ahead you can't see anything but their taillights.

Switch to low beam if there's oncoming traffic within 500 feet of you. Switch back to high beam when they pass.

Part of why I don't like the auto sensing lights on my wife's Pilot that turn high beams on/off. If I see taillights in front of me, my high beams don't go on, period! If I see oncoming lights, even along the trees/electric wires, my high beams go off. I tried hers a couple times, they took too long to activate after cars passed and didn't turn off fast enough for oncoming traffic. They also don't activate at lower speed in middle of nowhere.

 

[brianl703]

Upgrading with proper aiming or doing full retrofits is not...dumb.

The fact that you have to re-aim the headlights when you swap the halogen bulb for an HID or an LED ought to serve as a clue that something ain't right. Hint: It isn't right, and re-aiming will NOT fix it.

EDIT: Would also point out that swapping halogen bulbs for LEDs or HIDs is *illegal* in all 50 states...assuming you are the sort of person who might care about that. It's also a violation of Federal law to import or sell this crap, not that it's enforced.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

None of mine needed re-aiming from swapping bulbs. Making sure aim is correct when doing something is important and 1st step before doing anything.

'19 Pilot EX-L factory LED projector lows and factory LED fogs. Left headlight had to come down 2 full turns, right side 1 1/2 turns down. Fog lights about 4 turns up. I noticed the first night of owning it that they were out of aim and blinding people. Once I installed my trailer hitch and put junk in the back I had to come down more.

Bulb changes won't help mis-aligned lights from factory either.

I'll rephrase it as separate parts if it makes it better for people to understand. 1st thing you need to do is confirm that your factory lighting with factory bulbs are aimed correctly. If you choose to go against federal and state DOT laws and change lighting source, it needs to be confirmed to match the aiming.

You suggest upgrading high beams that would be a violation. Daniel Stern lighting recommended by you showing how tabs need to be modified to accept a bulb that wasn't designed to go there would be a violation. The HIR have a lot more output than the 9005 and 9006 but you are OK with and recommending that?