Problem with 2009 Camry headlights

I bought a 2009 Camry for my 16 year old son. The first time I drove it at night, the low beams were just not right. They work, but they cast shadows on the road. They were aftermarket assemblies so, thinking they were defective, I replaced them. The replacements did the same thing. I tried a different brand. Same thing. Got original equipment ones from Toyota. Same thing. They cast a dark shadow on the road and then about 75 feet behind that shadow is a lighter shadow. I have had a mechanic and the owner of a collision shop look at it. Both are very experienced and both say they have never seen anything like it. High beams are perfect.

I am totally stumped. Anybody got any ideas of what I can do to fix this?

:welcome:

camryingeorgia said:

I bought a 2009 Camry for my 16 year old son.

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Spiffy! Yet safe, relatively efficient, reliable.

The first time I drove it at night, the low beams were just not right. They work, but they cast shadows on the road. They were aftermarket assemblies so, thinking they were defective, I replaced them. The replacements did the same thing. I tried a different brand. Same thing.

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All of those were defective because they were aftermarket units. None of them, and I mean this and it's fact, none of them are any good. Hopefully you were able to get your money back on the aftermarket units you got.

Got original equipment ones from Toyota. Same thing. They cast a dark shadow on the road and then about 75 feet behind that shadow is a lighter shadow. I have had a mechanic and the owner of a collision shop look at it. Both are very experienced and both say they have never seen anything like it. High beams are perfect.

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You definitely need to get the lamps aimed properly; you don't describe that the aim was set with a device like Hella's Optical Beamsetter. If they're aiming the lamps on the wall, they need to not just drive it up against the nearest wall and get to cranking on the screws. There's a procedure detailed here that goes into the details. It takes the right location, a little bit of setup time, and some patience.

There's another thing that might be at play since you're not the original owner-- someone may have stuck an HID kit where the H11 bulbs should have gone. This will surely cause major focus issues. If it's got an HID kit installed, remove it and destroy it before taking the metals in for recycling.

These lamps offer excellent glare control-- even if the new Toyota lamps came with a set of bulbs, remove the H11 and upgrade to the H9 such as the from Philips. There's a simple modification to the base of the H9 to allow the power connector to plug in.

Get *four*; usually when replacing bulbs keeping an older bulb from the original set as a spare is a good idea until you can then replace both lamps at once, but there's too high a performance differential between them to drive as safely. Get four, so that when one burns out you can then replace the pair all at once. Then order another pair at a time from then on.

The high beams use the 9005. The HIR1 (or 9011) is a fine upgrade to the high beams. There's a simple base mod needed, described here (no relation to this site).

And by all means, once the lamps are aimed, bulbs upgraded properly, and spares provided, do not let your son try to second-guess us and YOU by trying to 'upgrade' everything.

The thread about IIHS headlight testing is informative. The 2016 Camery has headlights that are marginal.
Could be the 2009 is no better. I would follow the advice given above and if not good enough, then try auxillary lights.
It may "harm" the cars good looks but it would be well worth it to see better.

fastgun said:

The thread about IIHS headlight testing is informative. The 2016 Camery has headlights that are marginal.
Could be the 2009 is no better. I would follow the advice given above and if not good enough, then try auxillary lights.
It may "harm" the cars good looks but it would be well worth it to see better.

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I expect that once the initial problems are resolved, auxiliary low beams won't be needed. I can almost guarantee that the vehicle has an "HID kit" installed and the shadows are from the arc-discharge capsule's ground wire.

Which brings up another point: If it is the low beams, and low beams alone, that are uncorrectably deficient then the only auxiliary lamps that will solve this are auxiliary low beams. Fog lamps are not low beams, "work lights" are not low beams, and high beams are not low beams.

The other thing to check is the plastic "headlight cover". I live in the desert, and within 2 years the covers are so sandpitted it is hard to see at night...

Crazyeddiethefirst said:

The other thing to check is the plastic "headlight cover". I live in the desert, and within 2 years the covers are so sandpitted it is hard to see at night...

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'Cept for that part about

camryingeorgia said:

Got original equipment ones from Toyota.

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The "cover" is integral with the headlamp, so replacing the headlamp replaces the cover.

Tried to post a pic of the low beams against a corrugated metal building wall from about 30 feet away but not sure how it will show up in the thread

You can tell right away if you have an hid kit, look at the bulb, there is nothing but visual differences with the only one in common with a halogen bulb is the base.

camryingeorgia said:

Tried to post a pic of the low beams against a corrugated metal building wall from about 30 feet away but not sure how it will show up in the thread

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It didn't. I removed the text after unsuccessfully trying to UUDecode it.

LeoTheLion89 said:

You can tell right away if you have an hid kit, look at the bulb, there is nothing but visual differences with the only one in common with a halogen bulb is the base.

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Yes, the differences in bulbs should be pretty obvious. Especially when you compare them to the ones that might have come with the OEM Toyota lamps.

Crazyeddiethefirst said:

The other thing to check is the plastic "headlight cover". I live in the desert, and within 2 years the covers are so sandpitted it is hard to see at night...

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Right, you have get them buffed out after a while.

Crazyeddiethefirst said:

The other thing to check is the plastic "headlight cover". I live in the desert, and within 2 years the covers are so sandpitted it is hard to see at night...

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RedLED said:

Right, you have get them buffed out after a while.

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It's still not "the other thing to check"; the OP has new factory headlamps.

Buffing out headlamps just sets them up for failure again in short while.

This is the wrong thread to discuss buffing headlamp lenses.

The headlights on the mentioned Toyota camry are so dim, it'll make you think you are driving without headlights. I've seen multiple camry's with the same issue and changing the bulb does not resolve it (unless you upgrade them like mentioned before, I haven't tried that yet). Just by looking at the light bouncing off a white background at night, you'll know those headlamps aren't bright enough. The appear like an old car with ground wire corrosion.

There is definitely something wrong with this particular car and/or your headlamps if they are as dim as you describe -- it is not a problem intrinsic to the 2009 Camry.