So my headlights are just fine at shining 20 feet down the road, but not further - at even 30mpg this seems insufficient. I don't drive much at night, but this is not a good thing. I need the high beams to have any comfort.

Honda light designs are traditionally not very good so this isn't a terrible surprise, but it's something of a safety issue nonetheless. The "fog lights" add nothing ahead - although they do provide some good light out the sides, like those old cadillac "turning lights"!

This is probably a worthless question, but just wondering if anyone has any brilliant and unexpected insight on how to get my terrible headlights back up to "OK?"

 

When I bought my '12 Sport, one of the first things I had to do was aim the headlights higher...pretty simple, I think it takes a 10mm wrench?

 

As mentioned, re-aim the headlights. At the back of the headlight unit, there's a pretty obvious bolt thing to adjust up and down.

 

do you wear glasses?

 

Do a search on here. After headlights are properly aimed, try higher wattage bulbs (not Silverstars!!!!).

John

 

Had to do the same thing on my 09 Fit Sport. I do not know who adjusts them when they come out of the factory but they all seem to be set too low.

 

Gotta reply to a few posts at once:

1. I did do a search. There's a lot of threads relating to headlights but I didn't find this topic. I'm not making excuses; but I get annoyed when people don't search at all, too.
2. malraux - thanks. I'll take a look.
3. I do wear glasses.

Thanks everyone, I expect given your posts this should be an easy fix. Will reply if not

 

Lights were adjusted too low on our two cars as well. Much better lighting when they're aimed higher.

The Fit's bulbs are actually H4s, which have a pretty sharp cutoff. If they'r not aimed high enough, you really don't get any reach out of them. If you can see the cutoff plane travel out and in relative to the car on an uneven road, they're aimed too low. In years past, when I ran aftermarket H4 replacement headlights, I would aim them so the cutoff plane "touched" the road right about where the beam's effective light ran out on a smooth road. Gave a nice "carpet" of light without glaring into oncoming traffic. The same technique still works on the Fit, and gives the same results.

Malraux mentioned the bolt on the back of the light units. This is good for coarse adjustments. For fine adjustments, there's a "star wheel" that's part of that bolt, that can be moved in small increments using a flat-blade screwdriver that you slide down a "sleeve" you'll see above the nut to engage the star-wheel teeth. There's even a diagram showing which way to rotate the screwdriver to raise or lower the aim.

 

i will definitely be doing this later this year as sun sets earlier.

heck, i should do this on my 09 too. couldn't believe how little visibility it had vs my HID equipped cars.

 

x2, I also think the headlights don't have much "reach", the brightness is fine but i'll get some higher wattage bulbs come late fall. It seems during the summer I hardly drive when the sun is down anymore.

I guess it hurts even more since I lowered the car and never reaimed the lights, I know better, just never did it.

 

I suggest that you get them adjusted correctly before installing HIDs for two reasons. First you are going to have to adjust the HIDs after installation and second you may find that you do not need the HIDs if the light are adjusted correctly. Mine started out way too low as received from Honda.

I adjusted mine by initially aiming them against the garage door from about 50 feet away. Then I had my daughter drive the the road following me. I watched in the mirror and adjusted them up until the became objectionable to other traffic. Then I stopped several times and dropped them until that glare went away for other cars.

After that we reversed rolls and I adjusted the headlights in my pickup following the FIT. I like the on road lighting of both vehicles and no one flashes their lights at me because they think they are too bright / high.

Good Luck.

 

Thanks everyone! The adjustment bolt is easy to find when you are looking for it. Otherwise it just looks like a bolt

Gave it a good 5 ratchets (quarter turns) up. Drove around block. Realized the wisdom or lack thereof of doing adjustment only 15 feet from the hedge. Ratcheted back down by about half. It's quite difficult for me to tell when the beam is adjusted "properly" - I don't have a wall to point it at and the roads here are pretty much all hills - so I'll have to drive about for a bit and see if I am properly avoiding blinding other people.

Which, just in case anyone thinks this doesn't matter if you're selfish enough, actually DOES matter - people who are blinded by the light are more likely to hit you.

 

Update - thought a sight level could help here. I'm at about a -1 degrees off horizontal, which is obviously below horizontal, BUT after some quick trigonometry which the Internet helpfully provides, that gives about 140 feet of distance illumination. I don't think the Fit lights will really throw useful light that far, so I'm going to have to adjust further.

 

hummmm... i drove my GE tonight for the first time after dark and the lighting was fine... i am on swifts so perhaps the springs leveled the car better? hahaha.

 

Hey guys, i have a 2007 Fit Base, im looking for any brand ideas for aftermarket fog lights? Has anyone installed any? How did they work? Any info will be helpful. Thanks

 

HID retrofit is my next plan. I exhausted the options for the factory halogens.


Also planning of adding a LED lightbar in the lower grill to really light the road up.

 

That's an expensive headlight adjustment tool you have there...