Headlight adjustment for France.

[jamesp]

Hope this is the right section for this;

We are going to France in September, to Disneyland and will be driving abroad for the first time. We have a 2005 Honda CRV and the rules say that our headlights must not dazzle other road users.

How do you all do it, do you fit those deflector things from Halfords, can you get away with aiming the headlights down a bit as we have one of those electric adjuster switches in the dashboard. As far as I can tell the Honda does not have a lever in the headlight to alter the beam pattern as some cars do.

I'd be interested to know how other people do this, as lots of car forums say that they dont bother with the deflectors, just aim it down a bit and it is ok, anyone on here done this or has anyone had a problem with the law over there.

 

[MikeMc]

Everytime we have been to France we have fitted those Halfords things. I figured that for the sake of a couple of quid it was not worth the risk of an on the spot fine in France.

Having said that I cannot honestly see what difference they make once fitted. They also leave a nasty sticky residue on the glass.

Mike Mc

 

[Guest]

It is down to us being part of Europe, except when it suits profits. Most EU vehicles have headlights that dip vertically and are legal to use in the UK. Our 'grubby masters' have decreed that UK vehicles must have lights dipping to the left, so you have to either adjust them if posssible to a vertical pane, or fit the ridiculous stickers, which i fully agree are totally useless. If we had vertically dipping headlights then there would be no problem and we would be able to buy vehicles in the EU without having to spend a fortune on new assemblies once you get back here.

As our EU cousins can use their lights freely here there is obviously no safety issue, so why the Hell can we not do the same. Oh I forgot, then they could not sell you expensive lights and stupid stickers.

Personally, when i go to Europe I rarely drive at night so the issue does not arise, however m,y Volvo has the kights on all the time so I stick the stupid plastic bits anywhere somewhere on the lens and if 'Johnny Foreigner' gets stroppy I give him fullblast of the lot.

Not so many years back i used to get flashed regularly in France as I had white headlights as did all Europe except the stupid French. I did once paint the damm things with yellow dye but it took for ever to get it off again, so never did it again. I got my own back by flashing any car I saw in the UK with yellow lights.

Sorry, I have been ranting again but I really get p....d off when we have to spend lots of money to accomodate the EU laws, but they do not have to the same when they come here.

 

[Lutz]

If you've got electric headlamp beam height adjusters, setting the headlamps to the lowest possible beam should be adequate not to dazzle oncoming traffic, even if the beam dips to the left. If that's not enough, you can also readjust the complete headlamp units so that the deflected beam aims straight ahead - just don't forget to revert to the old setting when you return to the UK. If you've got xenon headlamps you haven't got any other option anyway because you can't use beam deflectors together with them.