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I recently purchased a Santa Fe Sport and love it. I had spent months researching SUVs and tried many other makes. I kept coming back to the Santa Fe Sport and until I drove it at night I felt I had made the best choice. However, I travel at night on country roads that offer no street lighting. When the lights are on low beam it seems as if I am viewing the road through a tinted windshield!!!<br /> <br /> The dealer has adjusted the lights and says that adjusting them any higher is illegal. There doesn't seem to be a good solution...either I feel unsafe or I am in danger of &quot;blinding&quot; oncoming vehicles. What do I do? <br /> <br /> In my experience, HID headlights do not improve the safety of night driving. Night-time driving is difficult in situations where there is little traffic and no street lights. <br /> <br /> The increased brightness may be an advantage in some situations. However, the disadvantages of how the light projects, making the windshield appear shaded, outweighs any slight advantage. It would appear that the projection alignment of HID headlamp systems are of benefit only to oncoming drivers. The increased light projected by HID headlights is potentially valuable, but how and where it is projected is not satisfactory and is not conducive to safe night time driving. <br /> <br /> The headlights feature a beam that sharply cuts off rather than fading out gradually. The sharp cutoff causes &quot;flashing&quot; on bumpy roads when the horizontal cutoff bounces up and down. This is extremely distracting. The additional light produced by HID headlights is overshadowed by the lack of visibility through the entire windshield. Night-time visibility through the windshield is inadequate at best. Visibility is pushed to its limits at night. Although HID headlamps project light farther down roads, the darkness that appears as a shaded windshield defeats the purpose. Adequate visibility should not depend upon driving on roads with street lights or primarily using high beams. The use of high beams at night in a snow storm will be a significant driving hazard. Appropriate headlamps would not cause night time driving disabilities. Night time driving should not have to be curtailed due to the flawed design of the HID lights.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> I have also read that a bigger issue for many drivers is how HID headlights perform in fog. It seems that with HID headlights, more light is reflected back to the driver, making it harder to see when you most need good visibility. I can hardly wait to experience this driving hazard.<br /> <br /> If the reflector design determines the illumination pattern projected ahead perhaps it is the square design of the reflector in the Santa Fe Sport that causes the sharp illumination cutoff that appears two-thirds of the way down the windshield. As I have stated, it is as if the windshield is tinted (which is illegal in ME). We have noticed some vehicles with HID lighting have a rounded unit which houses the HID light rather than the square design on our Santa Fe Sport. It seems that the rounded design would aid in dispersing the light.<br /> <br /> My understanding is that most HID-equipped vehicles have a standard beam leveling control, dropping and raising according to vehicle load and angle, to further prevent glare to other road users. Is it possible that this is causing the problem I am experiencing?<br /> <br /> I purchased this vehicle on May 15 and drove it at night for the first time on May 17. Since 5/17 I have been trying to find out how to correct the problem with these headlights. <br /> <br /> Please do not refer me to &quot;Paul&quot; at the Eastern division again. He has stated that the headlights are not appropriate for all driving situations. He tells me there is nothing that can be done other than to drive using high beam lighting and to get used to the way the lights project. He also said there are on a few complaints about this headlight system. Perhaps those of us with complaints have faulty systems. He has said that he will be closing my case.<br /> <br /> <br /> Hoping for a resolution soon. I really do love my Santa Fe Sport (with the exception of night time driving!!!!!)


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