Generally I love my Mazda3, but driving it at night is driving me nuts. Here's my problem...

The cutoff headlights are *really* cut off. They seem to be aimed pretty level so I have no reason to think that they're out of adjustment, but if I'm on a sag curve (engineering lingo for where the road is getting more uphill or less downhill), then the beams to project far enough at highway speeds. And even if I'm on a level stretch, they don't light up high enough to see deer on the roadside. The high beams certainly light up high enough, but I can't use them if there's oncoming traffic. If I adjust the low beams too high, I'll still blind oncoming drivers.

Anyone know of any mods to make the headlight beam more diffuse? I know that's contrarty to the idea of cutoff beams, but I'm learning that cutoff beams kind of stink...

 

cutoffs, or "projector" style headlight are designed so that the light is cutoff at a certain point so that they dont blind ppl.

i know the MS3 come with adjustable headlights, so i dunno.
try looking there?

 

I agree, but by emitting near-zero light above that, you can't see half of the hazards of the road. If the headlights are adjusted upwards, then they would definitely blind oncoming drivers because it's so bright below the cutoff. I need to un-focus the beam somehow...

 

then get HID's



notice how the one street sign hundreds of feet away is visible

 

I see the roadsign, but I'm also thinking from that picture that you wouldn't see a deer's head poking out of that grass even if it were closer than that black spot on the pavement. Maybe it's a location thing, but I'm in Minnesota and you have to *constantly* watch for deer, and pretty much anyone who drives at night has nailed at least one of them, and probably incurred a $1000 or more in damage because of it.

 

... and of course deer aren't retro-reflective like a road sign... Quite the opposite, designed by natural selection to blend in.

 

There is a pretty significant difference if youadjust the headlamp up just a little bit. i did that to my car and its at a point where it illuminates the road at a greater distance and doesnt blind people (nobody has flashed me).I once drove around with the headlamps adjusted very high, and where speed signs were completely illuminated by the light under the cut-off. Even in the darkest roads and with hills i didnt even need my brights. My low-beams went as far as where the brights would go. With my brights on, the tops of tree were seen. When i was behind somone, they would pull over and let me pass because i was blinding them. It was really cool and i didnt want to adjust it but i put HIDs in my car and i know for sure that people were pissed whenthey passed or i was behind them. i still have a sharp cut-off but its at a greater distance and i dont notice it as much. The easiest thing would be to adjust the headlamp a little highersoyou dont haveto take out the unit and un-focus it. Good luck with whatever you do, and i hope everything works out for you.

 

wouldnt the light just reflect off of the deer's eyes tho??

and why not just get those deer horn dealies??
they make a noise that humans cant hear, but it scares deer away.

 

Sounds like maybe just adjusting them upwards might hold some promise, I'll give it a shot before anything more drastic.

As for the deer whistle attachments, I guess it's safe to say I never actually hit a deer while I had them on, but it never seemed to scare them off either, they'd still be at the roadside. When I go skiing up by lake superior in the spring and it's starting to thaw along the road ditches, it's not unusual to see about one deer per mile along the road, many of them in the road, for about 50 miles. Cats' eyes reflect in the dark, racoons too, but deer, not so much. Their eyes must be more like humans.