Weak Headlights are the Cybertruck's Worst Feature

[SentinelOne]

Part of lighting is brightness for both low and high, another part is features: cornering lighting, active matrix functionality (not sure of the real name but where it keeps brights on most of the time and deactivates lighting up oncoming and in front of cars), hell my wife's audi has laser lights that have a massive throw distance, etc - there's lots of party tricks that are very usable at night / safety, etc that other cars in this price range have - so not really comparable CT headlights although they work fine for "standard" headlights.

Generic reference:

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[CyberGus]

Anyone else have the same thoughts?

I was driving solo on a highway late at night, highbeams on... the overhead highways signs were go bright I had to avert my eyes lol.

I needed to adjust the headlights to be level after delivery. They were pointed very low.

 

[jf64k]

Here's the adjustment steps in the Service Manual:

Headlight - Adjust (Wall Method) (tesla.com)

One thing I noticed with both of my 2020 Model Y's was when I went to the headlight adjustment menu the lights performed an 'auto calibration' and they were MUCH improved (they were aimed very low from the factory). The throw and coverage are great now.

 

[oisiaa]

Here's the adjustment steps in the Service Manual:

Headlight - Adjust (Wall Method) (tesla.com)

One thing I noticed with both of my 2020 Model Y's was when I went to the headlight adjustment menu the lights performed an 'auto calibration' and they were MUCH improved (they were aimed very low from the factory). The throw and coverage are great now.

Great to hear. I'll try that!

Where is the auto-calibration menu?

 

[jf64k]

Great to hear. I'll try that!

Where is the auto-calibration menu?

That happens automatically when you enter the headlight adjustment menu

 

[jf64k]

that's not auto calibration bro

That's what Tesla calls it, and that's what the screen reported when I entered the headlight adjustment menu. I'm not making stuff up, haha!!

The lights on our MY's are definitely aimed higher than they were from the factory and needed no further adjustment from me.

A snip from the CT Service Menu:

 

[jb15]

They are really good I think. Better than my last f150

 

[oisiaa]

That's what Tesla calls it, and that's what the screen reported when I entered the headlight adjustment menu. I'm not making stuff up, haha!!

The lights on our MY's are definitely aimed higher than they were from the factory and needed no further adjustment from me.

A snip from the CT Service Menu:

I'm sorry, but which page of the manual is this located? I can't find it with a search.

 

[jf64k]

I'm sorry, but which page of the manual is this located? I can't find it with a search.

It's in the Service Manual

Headlight - Adjust (Wall Method) (tesla.com)

 

[Polen]

Interesting that I'm perceiving this differently. My wife has the same opinion as me.

The spread is very good, but the brightness is quite low in my opinion which means the throw distance is also unimpressive. I'll have to do some more night driving to refine my opinion.

I saw a teardown (Munroe?, Autoline?) that said the CT's headlight modules are ~50 Watts and the Model 3/Y are ~95 Watts so hardly half the output if that's accurate. Not sure if I can find that again.

I thought size does not matter, it's how you use it!

 

[HaulingAss]

I saw a teardown (Munroe?, Autoline?) that said the CT's headlight modules are ~50 Watts and the Model 3/Y are ~95 Watts so hardly half the output if that's accurate. Not sure if I can find that again.

You can't determine light output by the electrical consumption for a number of reasons:

1) Different LED modules have different efficiencies, the differences can be very large).
2) Different LED modules have different color spectrum (some colors are percieved as brighter by the human eye)
3) Differences in the efficiency of the reflectors at putting the light where it needs to go.

Beyond absolute light output, there is distribution. A headlight with less output can provide better seeing than one with more output if the light distribution is more even (or better suited to seeing down the road). A light with close up hot spots can actually have very poor performance down the road even though they appear "bright" to the driver. Foreground bright spots cause the pupils of the driver to contract, which causes trouble seeing down the road even if it's well lit.

The only way to tell how effective a headlight is relative to others is to properly aim them and use them under real world conditions. I think the people reporting less than good lighting either have misaimed headlights or they are simply trying to throw shade (see what I did there?).

It looks to me that most people, myself included, are reporting as good or better effectiveness compared to whatever they have experience with (but perhaps not as good as some of the latest high-dollar offerings from makers like BMW).

 

[oisiaa]

You can't determine light output by the electrical consumption for a number of reasons:

1) Different LED modules have different efficiencies, the differences can be very large).
2) Different LED modules have different color spectrum (some colors are percieved as brighter by the human eye)
3) Differences in the efficiency of the reflectors at putting the light where it needs to go.

Beyond absolute light output, there is distribution. A headlight with less output can provide better seeing than one with more output if the light distribution is more even (or better suited to seeing down the road). A light with close up hot spots can actually have very poor performance down the road even though they appear "bright" to the driver. Foreground bright spots cause the pupils of the driver to contract, which causes trouble seeing down the road even if it's well lit.

The only way to tell how effective a headlight is relative to others is to properly aim them and use them under real world conditions. I think the people reporting less than good lighting either have misaimed headlights or they are simply trying to throw shade (see what I did there?).

It looks to me that most people, myself included, are reporting as good or better effectiveness compared to whatever they have experience with (but perhaps not as good as some of the latest high-dollar offerings from makers like BMW).

All of these points are obvious and taken into my consideration. The aiming seems fine as there is no hotspot close in and the cutoff seems logical, but I will experiment with this tonight.

 

[HaulingAss]

All of these points are obvious and taken into my consideration. The aiming seems fine as there is no hotspot close in and the cutoff seems logical, but I will experiment with this tonight.

My point was that your original claim was simply incorrect, you said that energy consumed is a good proxy for light output. That's incorrect. Period.

 

[oisiaa]

I just did some night driving and I stand by my claim. The headlights are....meh. Especially the low beams. The high beams are okay, but the low beams are really quite bad.

Part of the problem is how low they are mounted (good for other drivers...they will appreciate that) which causes extremely limited projection distance. At times I wasn't even getting 100 feet in front of the bumper illuminated depending on if the road was in the crest or trough of a hill.

The high beams do pretty well, but still not nearly as good (bright) as my Model 3.

 

[Crissa]

Before making any judgement about brightness of CT's headlight, go get this one to measure.

...Most phone cameras can do that, tho. Not quite that sensitive, but...

-Crissa

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