The old headlamps on my 2016 ES used to adjust up and down after first turned on at night. Does that mean they were AFS? The new headlamps the Lexus dealer recently has put on are not AFS because the lexus dealer checked the specs of my vehicle in their system and they said my car didn't come equipped with AFS. But these new headlamps don't go up and down at first turn on like the old ones. Does anyone know the answer or have an explanation? Thanks.

 

If you install the Lexus smart phone app on your phone, you can use it to check exactly how your car was equipped when it came out of the factory.

After you download and install the app, register your car with its VIN. Then, click on "My Garage". When your car comes up, click on "Vehicle Specs", and that will show you the details about how your car was equipped.

If the headlights did adjust up and down after they were first turned on, you did have the automatic leveling headlights. It sounds like the dealer may have installed headlights that were different from what the car originally came with.

 

Thanks for replying, lesz. I assume the info for the specs from the app be the same as on lexus drivers website? I had checked on the lexus drivers website and didn't find any where in the specs that mentioned AFS. BTW, does the headlights adjusting up and down mean only self leveling, or both SL and AFS? I read some where, I believe in one of the forums here, that adjusting up and down means AFS.

The current new headlights don't adjust up and down even though the lexus dealer said that they replaced the exact same part number that my car was equipped with. So they want me to bring back to figure out. Lexus dealer is in firm belief that my car was not equipped with AFS. But I want to confirm it myself. I currently have one of the old headlights. Is there a way to figure out? it doesn't have the part number on it. I appreciate any help.

 

I'm assuming that the smart phone app has the same vehicle specs information as what is on the Lexus Drivers' website.

The 2017 ES that I recently sold had the self-leveling bi-LED headlights. I thought that AFS headlights adjusted laterally, depending on the vehicle's direction of travel, and, as far as I know, AFS headlights were not available on any Generation 6 ES, but I could be mistaken.

If your replacement headlights are something different from what came out of the factory, that could be a good thing because, in the IIHS headlight ratings, the headlight options for 2016-2017 ES were not at all good. I know that the distance for the headlight beams, both high beam and low beam, for my 2017 ES were not nearly as good as they were for the 2013 ES with HID headlights that I previously owned.

 

Removed...sober second thought. Just what is "AFS"?

 

Adaptive front lighting system...

From Google: "AFS adapts the headlamp level to how the vehicle is sitting, this is designed so that the headlights do not point too high if there is a weight in the rear. It is a legal requirement for any vehicle with LED or HID lamps to have an adaptive system". If any part of this statement is incorrect don't shoot the messenger...

 

My search resulted in a different explanation.

"The Adaptive Front-lighting System (AFS) optimizes distribution of light from the headlights according to driving circumstances. Depending on vehicle speed and steering input, the system points the low-beams headlights in the direction the driver intends to travel."

What you found makes more sense, and, if that is correct, the Lexus version of AFS is just another name for self-leveling headlights. That makes sense since I know that Lexus had a self-leveling headlight system for the Generation 6 ES, but I don't think that they had a headlight system that adjusts the beam laterally.

 

Here is one more piece of information. Even though I sold my 2017 ES a month or so ago, I still have the original window sticker that was on the car when I bought it. I just checked that sticker. It shows the LED Low/ bi-LED headlamps (as a $515 option). It makes no mention of either self-leveling or AFS headlights, but I do know that they were self-leveling and that they did not make any lateral adjustments when the car was going around a curve. Those headlights were the most expensive headlight option available for the ES in that model year.

 

Thanks a lot, lesz. The manager at the lexus dealer finally got an AFS headlight for the Gen 6 ES and compared it with non AFS. He told me the AFS has a different color wire wrap among other minor things. So at this point it looks like I just had the LED Low/bi-LED with self-leveling feature. Based on my research which is consistent with the manager said, there are three types for this Lexus Gen 6 ES: halogen, LED self-leveling, and LED with AFS. Here's a link for the AFS:
https://parts.lexus.com/p/Lexus_2016...114033C70.html

To address Tootsall's question on what AFS is, to me AFS on this Gen 6 model means the headlights swivel when car turns at night. and AFS is different than self-leveling. SL, according to the user's manual, "the level of the headlights is automatically adjusted according to the number of passengers and the loading condition of the vehicle to ensure that the headlights do not interfere with other road users."

so the question remains why my new replacement headlights (supposed to be LED Low/bi-LED self-leveling) don't adjust up and down at first turn on. Will have to bring it back for the dealer to figure that out.

 

According to the IIHS headlight ratings, the headlights available for the 2016 ES were the LED projector low beam/halogen projector high beam on cars with the Lexus Safety System (with an acceptable rating), the LED projector low beam/halogen projector high beam for cars without the Lexus Safety system (with a marginal rating), the LED projector low beam/LED projector high beam (with a marginal rating), and the LED projector/bi-LED (self-leveling) headlights (with a poor rating). There is no mention of any headlight option with AFS.

https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle...016#headlights

I also find it interesting that, of those 4 headlight options, the most expensive one (bi-LED self-leveling) is the one with the worst rating. That is the one that I had, and I can attest to its poor performance on dark country roads without lines painted on the pavement. The is also apparently the option that you had.