no issues here with the tripple beam., i run with the driving/fog lights on too.
automatic brights set to on, they work very well too.

 

I have a 2016 RX 450h with the standard headlight package (NOT the triple beam optional lights). I am constantly getting flashed on two-lane roads at night. I almost always use the fog lights at night. The car hasn’t been crashed & all the bulbs are stock. The headlights were WAY off when we picked it up, so they adjusted it up. People were flashing me from across stop lights, so I had them adjusted once more. They are right on the verge of not being able to see most street signs, yet the *%# flashing continues! Are most people morons now & have no idea that fog lights WON’T come on with high beams? This is extremely maddening at night. Interstate (divided highway) is never an issue. I had a truck that had horrible headlights & I upgraded the bulbs so I could see at night & sometimes someone flashed me. My Camaro has fantastic headlights & no one ever flashes me. Is anyone else having this? Dealer has said there are no other adjustments on these lights. I’m so frustrated, I feel like adding one of those big LED light bars & just blasting these headlight flashers.

 

lol.. If your fog lights are on it clearly means your low lights are on as well. It happened to me once with the triples and I even raised mine a little. If I were you I'd flash them so they know the difference.

 

Oh, I do, I give them a very quick flash up & down & then they turn on their brights! Freak’n stupid people!

 

Man... I sorta' wish I had just splurged for the F and got the triple beams. On the FIRST day I drove my baby home... a junker was in front of me and I tried to keep a distance (because I was already aware my lights were pretty bright)... and when he turned he stuck his arm up and held it through the turn, flipping me off.

So... then (I'm laughing already typing this)... I thought I'd do the friendly thing to say, "hey I wasn't trying to high-beam you... see, they're on low"... so I flip the highs on... of course not realizing there was a cop RIGHT there... shooting radar. I think I probably broke the radar gun... so again, I waved like, "oops... sorry".

So yes... I feel your concern... in only my first day of owning an RX I'm already a luminous menace to my neighborhood. I asked the dealer if I could aim them down a bit... I'll have to figure that one out.

 

The latest edition of Consumer Reports Talking Cars had a question about newer cars having really bright lights & possibility cause accidents. The data is actually reversed. Their answer was people need to stop looking at the lights coming towards them. I have been guilty of that & I have lost my night vision for a few seconds because I looked at the lights. Their big push for better headlights is the alarming number of accidents that are happening because of poor headlights where the cutoff is way too short for almost any speed & people overdrive their headlights & run right off the road because they can’t can’t see a curve or obstacles until it’s too late. I’m not a jerk, but I’ve gotten to the point that if they flash me, I turn on my brights & leave them on.

I remember reading that the triple beams are not as bright or as good as the standard bulbs. I’m not sure that’s true as I’ve never driven the triple beam cars. I wouldn’t lose any sleep over not getting an F Sport just for the headlights.

 

I believe that the standard headlights on your car are LED projector headlights. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety did not rate the headlights for the 2016 RX model year, but, for the 2017 RX, the rating was only marginal.

One of the problems with LED headlights is that they are very bright at the source, but they do not project out as far as other types of lights, including HID and even halogen lights. If you try to compensate for the lack of projection distance by raising the beam, the LED lights will blind other drivers, and there really isn't a good compromise that allows for both satisfactory projection distance and that doesn't blind other drivers.

I know that, when I got my 2017 ES with bi-LED headlights and when I drove it home from the dealership mostly on unlit country roads, I immediately noticed that those headlights performed at a much less satisfactory level than had the HID lights that I had on my 2013 ES.

It would appear from the IIHS ratings and from reports from vehicle owners, that Lexus and other manufacturers have, in the last year or two, improved the design of HID headlights, and, for example, the triple beam headlights being used on various 2019 models appear to perform much better than did any Lexus LED headlights from 3 or 4 years ago.

So, for those of us who have LED headlights on on vehicles that are 2 or 3 or 4 years old, it appears that the only choice we have is either to blind other drivers or to lower the beam and live with not having the light project out to the distance that we would like it to project.

 

Have you tried driving without the fogs? I've never used them and I've never been flashed.

 

The IIHS headlight testing suggests that both the standard and adaptive headlights have glare issues, while the triple beams do not.

Considering that the NX LED headlights are rated as "Good" and the RX as "Marginal"
and this quote from the IIHS headlight evaluation
Leaves me wondering how useful this data is.

 

Good question, and yes, they still flash me & I can see even less without the fogs.

 

ive come to the conclusion that most people are idiots - are most of drives that are flashing you in sedans or coupes that are lower than you?

..... the cut-off on the headlights nowadays are so clear and crisp - once they are in your eyes its like looking at the sun.

ive had RX350, MDXs and pick up trucks on the opposite direction as me when i am driving an IS300 - and at certain intersections where the grade of the road was just right - the low beams on those cars would be right in my eyes.

id adjust your headlights back to what is normal/legal so you can see properly at night and let the other drivers deal with it... if they flash you.. just keep the high beams on in their eyes if you are at a stop light until you are ready to drive off..

last thing you want is to lower your lights to accommodate these idiots to compromise being able to see at night.

 

I have no earthly idea what kind of vehicles these people are in - it’s dark, at night & most times I’m traveling at 40 mph or better, so there is no way to know what style of car they are driving. Sometimes I can tell if it’s a pickup truck, but not often. My lights have been adjusted numerous times by the dealer & they have passed state inspection. That’s all I can do.

“Lesz” & ”Usual” provided some great info. I had noticed that I have issues with just about all of the projector beam headlights, but didn’t know why. Now I know why! They are magnifying fairly lousy light, so naturally there will be scatter (glare). To back this up, I used to own a 2001 Acura TL with HID headlights. That car had the best headlights of any car I’ve ever owned! They were NOT projector beams. They were a true lens with HID low beams & halogen high beams. I could see WAY down the highway (great for deer) & rarely got flashed. That system was fairly complicated as it required modules that sometimes wore out & were expensive to replace. To me, that was worth it vs. the garbage headlights that most manufacturers are putting out now. Those type of headlights were also very easy to adjust to get precise. I really loved that car, but after 3 transmissions, it was time to part with it, or I would still have it!.

 

Your experience is similar to mine. The 2013 ES that I previously owned and, also, an Infiniti that I also previously owned had HID headlights. In both cases, the beam projected far in front of the car, and it did not blind on-coming drivers. As I said above, on my first drive with the 2017 ES with the bi-LED headlights, I immediately noticed how much shorter the beam projected ahead of the car. Even the halogen high beams on the 2013 ES performed better than the LED high beams on the 2017 ES. And, to make things worse with the bi-LED headlights, they are self-leveling and cannot be adjusted.

For those who live and drive mostly in urban or suburban areas with lighted streets, they likely would not notice how shortened the distance lit by the headlights is, but, for those of us who live in non-urban areas and who drive on unlit and often unmarked roads, the difference is dramatic, and that shorter distance can easily make the difference between whether you have enough time to react when a deer or other animal is crossing the road in front of you. For many who do drive in urban situations on well lit roads, many of the LED headlights look "cool", and that is all that matters to them, but, when lighting performance counts, they cab perform at less than ideal levels.

 

That sounds like an invitation for road rage and, in some places, a bullet. Never purposely blind other drivers with high beams if you value your safety and the safety of your family.

If other drivers are frequently flashing their high beams at you, then it's clear that something is wrong. Maybe your auto beam leveling is not working properly or your high beams are staying on too much and the auto high beam needs a sensitivity adjustment. Stick with it and figure it out. I've noticed that the auto high beam feature sometimes doesn't dim the high beams quickly enough on hilly country roads and sharp curves - especially when meeting an oncoming vehicle at the crest of a hill. If that is the case, it's better to turn the auto high beam feature off and control high beams manually..

Although I'm super sensitive to glare due to a life-long eye abnormality and now also due to advancing age, I rarely have problems with the headlights of oncoming vehicles. When I do have a problem, it's usually due to someone using fog lights in clear weather or a vehicle that has an obvious aftermarket HID kit installed that's throwing light everywhere. For example, I and a number of other drivers had to pull off a road to Monterrey CA a few years ago until an endless string of oncoming mostly older Honda "ricers" with HID kits passed - we were totally blinded. Maybe it was some sort of club or car meet.

Modern headlights on average have improved dramatically - I think the IIHS rating headlights has much to do with it. Based on my experiences with rental cars, my opinion is that the IIHS headlight ratings are spot-on accurate. Particularly after my experience with a rental Kia Sedona in January, I'm never again going to accept a rental car that has headlights that the IIHS rates less than "Acceptable". And I am never going to buy another vehicle that has headlights that received less than the IIHS highest "Good" rating.

One of the attributes of modern efficient headlights is that they do not have the foreground hot spots that many older headlight systems had. Excess foreground light has been shown to be dangerous in that it leads people to focus on the "near" instead of looking into the distance for hazards. Unfortunately, many people are overly impressed by the excess foreground light which also leads some people to improperly use fog lights in clear weather. Fog lights are meant for use in inclement weather at reduced speeds to see lane lines and road edges - I got a rather stern lecture on that in the U.K. many years ago.

Headlight blinding issues "should be" mitigated if/when the NHTSA allows adaptive headlights with beam masking in the U.S. Toyota petitioned the NHTSA for this in 2013 and the NHTSA has been dragging it's heals while many car makers including Toyota have been implementing adaptive headlights in other world markets. Here's a good read about it: https://www.autoblog.com/2018/10/11/...lights-safety/

My understanding is that Canada recently went its own way and is no longer going to synchronize its headlight standards with the U.S.

Pardon the diatribe ... automotive lighting has been a primary interest since the 1960's.