Uneven Headlights

[Carmel]

My drivers side headlight appears to be blocked at the top of the beam, creating a sharp dark cut off on the road ahead, while the passenger side beams way ahead of the driver's side.
MG service says it's normal for the Drivers side to be lower, but this feel quite restricting in how far I can see the road ahead in the dark. Is this normal?

 

[Rolfe]

I don't think that's normal at all.

And welcome to the forum by the way.

 

[Archev]

My drivers side headlight appears to be blocked at the top of the beam, creating a sharp dark cut off on the road ahead, while the passenger side beams way ahead of the driver's side.
MG service says it's normal for the Drivers side to be lower, but this feel quite restricting in how far I can see the road ahead in the dark. Is this normal?

Sounds like the headlight is not adjusted or assembled correctly or part of the assembly is broken.

 

[Wizard of Oz]

Hard to say if your particular set-up is right or wrong, but it is normal for the driver side to be set a little lower not to dazzle other drivers.

 

[DixieTGS]

Some headlights are designed with a kick up on the passenger side which may give the effect you are seeing whereas others are flat across the whole width and you can often see a slight step in the middle with the driver's side being slightly lower to ensure oncoming traffic isn't dazzled as stated above.

For light on the drivers side it will fail the UK MOT test if set higher than 5% below horizontal or lower than 2.75% below horizontal (I think this is right according to a 2016 document I saw, but it may be worth checking the current MOT requirements).

 

[salty]

 

[Bricktop X PWR]

My drivers side headlight appears to be blocked at the top of the beam, creating a sharp dark cut off on the road ahead, while the passenger side beams way ahead of the driver's side.
MG service says it's normal for the Drivers side to be lower, but this feel quite restricting in how far I can see the road ahead in the dark. Is this normal?

MG4 Trophy headlamp adjustment

OK, so on the Trophy lights there are separate adjusters for low and high beam. I'll try tweaking the low up a tad, and the high down a bit. I recently replaced the lamp units on my Honda so I still have a board handy to check them - just need it to be dry... 1 - Low vertical horizontal 2 -...

www.mgevs.com

 

[Vaasref]

Headlights dropping in brightness sharply is how this car does it.

It is shitty and does feel restrictive. But that's how it is.
On a bumpy road you will flash people those very bright headlights and some might blind you with their main beams in retaliation.
And on hill road you might even need to flash yours sometime so people understand that you only have your dipped beams.

I have been wondering if I shouldn't sand the beam window a bit to diffuse more light at the top end of the dipped beams.

 

[Daedalusminos]

My drivers side headlight appears to be blocked at the top of the beam, creating a sharp dark cut off on the road ahead, while the passenger side beams way ahead of the driver's side.
MG service says it's normal for the Drivers side to be lower, but this feel quite restricting in how far I can see the road ahead in the dark. Is this normal?

The beam from the headlights are shaped with a 'notch' on the drivers side to prevent dazzling oncoming traffic whilst still giving good illumination of the kerb - you'll see this if you illuminate a flat surface. I've found the dipped lights to be excellent on the MG4, first thing I'd do is check to make sure the headlight level knob is set to zero.

 

[Carmel]

The beam from the headlights are shaped with a 'notch' on the drivers side to prevent dazzling oncoming traffic whilst still giving good illumination of the kerb - you'll see this if you illuminate a flat surface. I've found the dipped lights to be excellent on the MG4, first thing I'd do is check to make sure the headlight level knob is set to zero.

Thanks, my beam adjuster moves both sides so the relationship between the two remains constant. I had service adjust the drivers side a bit, which has helped slightly but I live regionally and drive a lot on small windy roads with no lighting. At night it's hard to see ahead for wildlfe and upcoming bends.......

 

[Todgy]

I would say that the headlights are, in my view, a key design weakness. I live in the sticks where there are few streetlights, and back roads are bumpy. Perhaps the weakness (as I see it) is mainly since they are LEDs and so therefore are more tightly focussed than the previous type. But being more focussed means that the contrast between what is lit and not lit is greater. There are two main problems with this:
1 - as mentioned above, on the driver's side there is a stark line that, on dark bumpy roads, is a bit sick-inducing and makes you feel somewhat blind to what is coming.
2 - more serious is that since there is virtually no light spillage to the sides, when you're turning (it's worse turning left, but right not great either), there is a blind spot that means if a person / animal / other obstruction was just past the start of the turn (say, in the middle of the tangent) you would not see it. I have never felt this issue before on any other car.

 

[tsedge]

Some headlights are designed with a kick up on the passenger side which may give the effect you are seeing whereas others are flat across the whole width and you can often see a slight step in the middle with the driver's side being slightly lower to ensure oncoming traffic isn't dazzled as stated above.

For light on the drivers side it will fail the UK MOT test if set higher than 5% below horizontal or lower than 2.75% below horizontal (I think this is right according to a 2016 document I saw, but it may be worth checking the current MOT requirements).

Here's what you are referring to:

The MOT headlamp aim test is changing – Matters of Testing

Official advice and information about MOT testing from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA).

mattersoftesting.blog.gov.uk