Headlights

[Saxmaniac]

Had this hybrid touring sports for 6 months now and 10k miles, absolutely love it apart from the headlights! Got it back today from service and had reported that beam pattern on nearside is terrible,  dark patches in front and lights up the hedgerows in a very strange way! Dealer assured me it's now adjusted,  but though there seems a slight improvement beam pattern is uneven with light and dark splodges and worse than my old Morris minor! Iz this normal? If so I'll live with it, if not I'll have a  moan next service.  Incidentally, dealer said hybrid Battery guarantee is now 14 years. Subject  to dealer hybrid check. 

[FROSTYBALLS]

There was an issue on some pre-facelift Auris (manufactured prior to the 2015 facelift) where headlights could be replaced subject to customer complaints. However, as far as I'm aware post facelift cars aren't affected by this issue.

The hybrid Battery is covered under the new car warranty - 5 years/100,000 miles. After this the hybrid Battery warranty may be extended by a further 1 year or 10,000 miles (whichever occurs first) up to 15 years subject to an annual hybrid electric service being carried out by a Toyota dealer.

[Saxmaniac]

It's a 2018, dealer seems to be just fobbing me off...now there's a surprise! I'll badger them on the next service. It all reinforces my view that I'll end up doing the real maintenance myself while still paying dealer through  the nose to do half a job. I know I'll have to lubricate locks and hinges, copaslip on wheel hubs etc  as dealers simply don't do this basic stuff 

[Gerg]

I think it's a bit unfair comparing your Auris's headlights with those of a no-compromise performance saloon designed in the 1950s.

In any case, you'd probably upgraded the Morris with some Wipac Quadoptics or similar.

There are Toyota branded bulbs with a higher output (named OptiWhite) available from the dealer, but they won't change the beam pattern of course, just the intensity.  And they'll set you back £50 a pair.  And they don't last that long.

Your Auris has an HIR2 bulb (Halogen Infra Red 2), also called a 9012, I think.  They are used in some Auris, Yaris, Insignia, Amperas and others I can't remember at this moment.  The bulb is high-output as standard, apparently.  But it seems that many of the drivers of those models don't reckon that is very evident. 

There is only one bulb each side, it does both high and low beam via a solenoid operated shutter arrangement. So on low beam some of the light never gets to leave the headlamp, and you have a complete fail of both beams on one side if the bulb should burn out.

On the other hand, the headlamps do look nice.

 

[FROSTYBALLS]

Most upgrade bulbs have a shorter life - which is the trade off for brighter light. The Optiwhites are made by Philips.

The majority of dealers whichever manufacturer they hold a franchise for, will follow what is laid out in the service schedule, and if lubrication of hinges, etc isn't included, then it isn't done.

[mrpj]

1 hour ago, Gerg said:

designed in the 1950s.

Point of order, 1940s.🤐 I own one. The original sealed enclosure candle beams aren't bad but those Wipacs are better!

[Gerg]

Of course, you are entirely correct, 1940s!

By some weird fluke, I came across this picture that I had, just this morning, whilst looking at something unrelated.  Strange coincidence....

 

[stevecrvn]

My 2015 Mk 2 Auris was checked for the headlight recall due to me reporting poor highlights . As it was the facelift model it was not covered . I had the optiwhites fitted and at the same time the dealer adjusted the headlight adjustment. Still not brilliant but there is a improvement .

I have now had the optiwhites fitted to my Yaris Hybrid on there is not such a improvent so I wil be asking the dealer to check the adjustment

 

Steve

[Kineticsteve]

You don’t want to be putting cooper slip in door hinges or wheel bolts. We stopped doing that in the 50’s 😉. 
clear grease or silicone spray is best. 
 

I don’t but grease on because it just lets the dirt stick to the grease turning it into a grinding paste 

[Saxmaniac]

A Morris minor a dedicated performance saloon?? I hope your tongue was firmly in your cheek! No, the original Lucas 7inch sealed beams were superior to the contraptions fitted to the Auris. Not just intensity but beam pattern is awful. The main problem is with the nearside however, the offside seems reasonable. The  dealer said they had adjusted it but it's still bad (the same dealer said they had cured the creaking driver's seat and hadn't)

It all reminds me why I've always serviced my own cars till now and only using dealer now in guarantee period. (Another example of rubbish servicing is no lubrication to any hinges or locks over 2 services)

[Saxmaniac]

Sorry to revive this headlight thread but took a photo of the beam pattern to illustrate my original post. The big pool of light is from the right headlight and the weedy pool on left is from lhs headlight. The dark patch in between lands on the road in front of the car. Do others think this is normal? They seem borderline dangerous to me 

[Gerg]

Yes, tongue very firmly in cheek.  I was just hoping anyone who didn't know the car would be taken in by my description.

Is it possible one of your headlamps is misaligned left/right?  

This is a picture of our 2013 model with standard bulbs fitted, for comparison with yours -

 

 

Your bulb will look like this -

 

 

This is the inner headlamp arrangement (i.e. outer case removed) , notice solenoid shutter 'motor' underneath reflector -

 

 

This is a bulb's eye view of the world, the high beam/low beam shutter can be seen, as can the beam pattern 'mask', I think -

 

 

As it's such a new car, it would be very unlikely that someone has replaced the bulbs in an attempt to 'upgrade' them, wouldn't it?

I've never tried this, but a 9006 bulb can be made to fit the HIR2 headlamp if its locating tangs are lightly modified (cut back).  And Osram make a Nightbreaker Ultra, or something similar, in a 9006, but not a 9012.  Although that is an upgrade path for the 9006, the 9012 is already a high performance bulb, so this is not necessarily the upgrade it seems for the HIR2 equipped cars.  If this was ever tried (there are guides on how to do this on the internet) it could do weird things to your beam pattern.  But this is an unlikely scenario.

HTH

[Saxmaniac]

Thanks for your photos and helpful comments. I've had the car 6 months bought from main dealer at 10 months old. It's possible it's had a replacement bulb before I bought it but car is exactly as dealer supplied me and under guarantee, so now I have your photo to refer to I'll get them to put it right.  Photos will give me some ammo!

[Tyfan]

Hi, I find this post very interesting. In November this year 2019, I purchased a Toyota Auris ExcelHybrid  (Sept. 2016 Reg.)

I was very unhappy regarding the dip beam as it did not light up the nearside well at all. I checked the Manual and asked "Frosty Balls" on here. Both came up with HIR2 bulbs, "FrostyBalls" also gave me the info regarding the "Optiwhite bulbs." I got onto the Dealer And asked for a pair to be fitted. Two days later I was informed that I had LED Headlights. Down to Dealer ,Headlight shrouds removed LED lights.! Next step onto the Beamsetter. The  main beam was fine, but the dip was looking everywhere but where it should. Everything set up properly and the difference is excellent. We all would like better light but  but just sometimes there is another explanation other than the bulbs. I am happy now, but annoyed that my hand book is telling "Porkies."  I hope you have a solution for yours.

[Saxmaniac]

The outcome of this for me was that the main dealer was incapable of diagnosing an ill fitting bulb.  Once I decided to look at it myself I found and rectified it within 30 seconds. I suspect that the dealer didn't even switch the lights on let alone try to correct it. The lights are now as they should be which is just about adequate but as above,  the lack of illumination at the sides is scary on dark country lanes. The episode has certainly reinforced everything I thought about main dealers and Toyota's are as bad as anyone else's. 

[eygo]

hi geoff

how was the bulb fitted badly, as the Hir2 bulbs push into the housing and then twist them to lock in place.

your lucky the lights are just about adequate ours where rubbish,

dont forget the dealers are NOT owned and operated by toyota and are all independants

this is why the level of service can widely vary between dealers .

 

[Saxmaniac]

It was simply pushed in but not twisted.  I bought off a national group main dealer and it was supplied freshly serviced like that,  and when reporting it on the next service they obviously didn't attempt to cure it. The  same dealer scammed me for £20 for petrol when I bought the thing. (I will simply never buy from them again and do all my own servicing when the guarantee is up). When I say the lights are ok now, they are working correctly but that doesn't mean good!

Sounds like I'm moaning a lot but main dealer apart the car's great with the minor niggles you get with anything 

Btw I'm quite willing to name and shame the dealer but not sure about forum rules 

 

 

[eygo]

i would name & shame any dealer

Lexus Chester absolutely the worst Lexus dealer i have used and if it didn't exist

it wouldn't be a loss to the dealer network , on the otherhand Lexus Liverpool are great.

[Beekeeper D]

On 12/27/2019 at 3:53 PM, Tyfan said:

... In November this year 2019, I purchased a Toyota Auris ExcelHybrid  (Sept. 2016 Reg.)

I was very unhappy regarding the dip beam as it did not light up the nearside well at all. I checked the Manual and asked "Frosty Balls" on here. Both came up with HIR2 Bulbs, "FrostyBalls" also gave me the info regarding the "Optiwhite Bulbs." I got onto the Dealer And asked for a pair to be fitted. Two days later I was informed that I had LED Headlights. Down to Dealer ,Headlight shrouds removed LED lights.! Next step onto the Beamsetter. The  main beam was fine, but the dip was looking everywhere but where it should. Everything set up properly and the difference is excellent. We all would like better light but  but just sometimes there is another explanation other than the bulbs. I am happy now, but annoyed that my hand book is telling "Porkies."  I hope you have a solution for yours.

It sounds to me as though the led bulbs might have been a previous owner’s tweak! 

The interesting thing about this tale is that nobody was suggesting that the car wasn’t road legal. 
Sure the pre-sale service/check was clearly poor, not spotting and fixing the mis-alignment, but even when looking for a headlight problem, nobody said “wots all this ere then”... and I’m certain that the garage wouldn’t want to be hit for selling an illegally modified vehicle, rather than standing the cost of a couple of fully-compliant bulbs. 
I wonder if this was a Toyota franchise dealer?

If one can legally fit aftermarket brighter Optiwhite bulbs, I’d stick my neck out and say that as long as it satisfies the mot tester (who does specifically check these things), then the actual performance of the part (whether properly certified or not) must be within legal limits. Being an owner-replaceable consumable part (in the manual guv), as long as it is verified (mot) to work properly, I don’t see any need to highlight (bah-boom!) the means of making the car safer, especially as “the car must have come to me with that installed - aren’t they all like that?”

[Tyfan]

Hi, I understand what you are saying, but, can I assure you that it is a Toyota Main Dealer I bought the car from. As for the previous owner having the Led's fitted, I can't say.  The two headlight shrouds have small stickers on them saying Oem  Leds etc. Also the Dealer Parts dept. when checking said that this model had LED's.on his Computer, It was only after that the physical check was made. 

I have purchased several cars from this Dealer in the past, and while I do agree the miss alignment should have been picked up, in this case it was not. However I have the record of work carried out and if it is a MOT problem it will be rectified I am sure.

As for the handbook information, perhaps that covers several Models and is an omission?

It would be interesting to know if the Hybrid Excell was ever fitted with ~LED's? Perhaps someone will know. The next time I am in the Garage I will enquire.

[Gerg]

Hi, I have only ever noticed one Auris with factory-fit LED headlamps, but then it's not something I'm looking out for.  The headlamp front is significantly different.  If your car has these then the LEDs are very likely integral to the headlamp - if an LED function fails then it is headlamp replacement time, as I understand it..

A while ago I took a BMW one to pieces just out of interest (a saw was required - its all bonded).  That one was made by Valeo, a headlamp supplier to Toyota at Derby.

At its core it looked like this:-  

 

[Beekeeper D]

4 hours ago, Tyfan said:

... Also the Dealer Parts dept. when checking said that this model had LED's.on his Computer...  

...

It would be interesting to know if the Hybrid Excell was ever fitted with ~LED's? Perhaps someone will know. The next time I am in the Garage I will enquire.

Thanks for coming back on this. 
I didn’t think that leds were a factory fit option ... but if your man says they were, there ought to be part numbers and the possibility of fitting pukka bits as an upgrade. (I’d hope they were an improvement over the widely disliked as being barely adequate standard units.) Maybe someone with appropriate access could check existence, price and availability?

Are yours fitted with led bulbs that appear to be detachable, or some sort of all-in-one assembly like the BMW one that Gerg dissected? 

On a different tangent, my headlamp units were swapped under the Technical Bulletin programme (it wasn’t a recall - you had to moan at them, rather than getting a dealer summons via the DVLC). That was a slight improvement, but they are still poor compared to other cars I’ve owned or driven. 

Nowadays I (naughtily) keep the front fog lights on for peripheral illumination in the local lanes, even when there isn’t fog or falling snow - never been stopped for doing so. But I would like a better solution... 

[Gerg]

I think the LEDs were only fitted (if at all) on the facelifted Mk2 Auris from mid 2015 onwards.

So, a change from the first picture (without LEDs) to the second (with LEDs), if I am understanding this correctly.  These pictures were lifted from Autotrader, by the way.

This looks like it has entirely different headlamp internals.

For your fog light conundrum, perhaps a fresnel lens might do the job, if fitted onto the lens so the light is directed sideways?  If I get time then I may experiment with this, I have a plastic fresnel lens knocking about already, and it's made from soft plastic, so it can be cut easily.

The only time I tried experimentally leaving my front fog lights on, I was flashed by the first car coming the other way.

If I remember correctly, the bulbs in the fog lights are around 18w, much lower than I expected.

HTH.

 

[Beekeeper D]

Thanks Gerg. I don’t plan on putting on a whole new facelift front, so those headlamps are a non-starter for me. 

The front fog lights give a wide, flat, low-level (but not terribly bright) beam pattern. So (unlike rear fog lights) they shouldn’t cause offence to other road users. And they do help a little in narrow twisty lanes with ill-defined edges. However, I think that the letter of the law nowadays only permits their use when visibility is reduced to less than 100 metres, for both front and rear lights. On my Auris the rears (only!) are cancelled automatically on power (or lights) off. I must have accidentally left the front ones on... so sorry! Just as well their beam couldn’t dazzle anyone! 

Compared to driving around with just one working headlight, as seems to be the popular modern fashion, using the fog lights excessively is a very minor naughtiness.

[MagicBoy]

7 hours ago, Tyfan said:

It would be interesting to know if the Hybrid Excell was ever fitted with ~LED's? Perhaps someone will know. The next time I am in the Garage I will enquire.

First post - Hi.

I'm driving a 2017 Auris Excel HSD, has standard Bi-LED headlights. Pretty sure they're standard fit on the facelift Excel models from mid-2015.