# 2019 SEL P Headlights aimed to low



## Seedavs (Jul 3, 2019)

Hi All,

Wondering if anyone else has had this issue. I’m on my second 2019 Tiguan. I picked this one up on Monday when VW bought back my last one. Both were identical they were 2019.5 versions of the SEL P. My first one I could see fine headlights had a nice clean line across the top. When driving next to Jersey barrier the headlight line was straightforward. The new one I picked up on Monday however. I can’t see very far at all. I’ve taken to dealership twice to have the headlights adjusted. The dealership is telling me that they are at the correct factory height.

Has anyone else had a similar issue?


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## ec2k1gt (Feb 24, 2011)

Seedavs said:


> Hi All,
> 
> Wondering if anyone else has had this issue. I’m on my second 2019 Tiguan. I picked this one up on Monday when VW bought back my last one. Both were identical they were 2019.5 versions of the SEL P. My first one I could see fine headlights had a nice clean line across the top. When driving next to Jersey barrier the headlight line was straightforward. The new one I picked up on Monday however. I can’t see very far at all. I’ve taken to dealership twice to have the headlights adjusted. The dealership is telling me that they are at the correct factory height.
> 
> Has anyone else had a similar issue?



I adjusted mine 1.5 turns on each side. 

I originally did 2 full turns and was getting flashed, so I backed it out half a turn on each side.


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## GTINC (Jan 28, 2005)

Seedavs said:


> Hi All,
> 
> Wondering if anyone else has had this issue. I’m on my second 2019 Tiguan. I picked this one up on Monday when VW bought back my last one. Both were identical they were 2019.5 versions of the SEL P. My first one I could see fine headlights had a nice clean line across the top. When driving next to Jersey barrier the headlight line was straightforward. The new one I picked up on Monday however. I can’t see very far at all. I’ve taken to dealership twice to have the headlights adjusted. The dealership is telling me that they are at the correct factory height.
> 
> Has anyone else had a similar issue?


Why not just open the hood and adjustment them just like folks have done for decades? Not rocket science.


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## Rodizzle (Oct 18, 2018)

My wife’s Tiguan has the same thing , when we bought the car the light were aiming the ground . 
I went ahead and adjusted by the white screw to a comfortable level . 
Long story short , couple of weeks ago pass by and the the light go up super high aiming the sky . So .... again I Readjusted them and the next day they where facing the ground  . 
Iv readjusted them a 3rd time and they seem to be set now . But I could see them creep up here and there . Definitely something off with the light adaptation 


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## vw906 (Aug 17, 2018)

Mine too were crazy low. Asked the dealership and they said they were "perfect" and didn't need adjusting. I manually adjusted them (haven't done the reset through obdeleven... some people say you need to and some say you don't). Interesting with mine though, the passenger side is about a 3/4 of a turn before it will even move... so I had to do 3 turns to get a little height increase. Not sure how some people are seeing better results with 1 turn. They don't seem overly high and I haven't gotten flashed... but I'll adjust if needed.


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## LennyNero (Aug 25, 2018)

For everyone with the SEL-P with NA adaptive headlamps. Please follow my guide. Simply turning the screw without using a scan tool to reset the stored "level" point of the lights will result in improper aim.

Happy Driving!


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## vw906 (Aug 17, 2018)

LennyNero said:


> For everyone with the SEL-P with NA adaptive headlamps. Please follow my guide. Simply turning the screw without using a scan tool to reset the stored "level" point of the lights will result in improper aim.
> 
> Happy Driving!



Just curious (to learn more about it) why is the scan tool necessary? What exactly does it do compared to the auto leveling on startup? 

Also, just a heads up...I read your document and your first sentence contradicts the entire document and your point you made above  "NOTE: If you have halogen headlamps or LED with AFS, the only adjustment is the white screw on either side of the vehicle at the rear of the headlamp module."


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## zimmie2652 (Feb 15, 2015)

LennyNero said:


> For everyone with the SEL-P with NA adaptive headlamps. Please follow my guide. Simply turning the screw without using a scan tool to reset the stored "level" point of the lights will result in improper aim.
> 
> Happy Driving!


Your entire intro to that is a mess as already pointed out. Might want to re-read and fix it. 

*"NOTE: If you have halogen headlamps or LED with AFS, the only adjustment is the white screw on either side of the vehicle at the rear of the headlamp module. No scan tool or adaptation changes are necessary.
If you have the LED headlamps with AFS, you do additionally need a scan tool capable of accessing the 4B (Multifunction) module's basic settings modes in order to have the automatic leveling feature learn the new adjustment. Otherwise, the headlamps will auto-level to the old position even though you've turned the screw."*


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## LennyNero (Aug 25, 2018)

vw906 said:


> Just curious (to learn more about it) why is the scan tool necessary? What exactly does it do compared to the auto leveling on startup?
> 
> Also, just a heads up...I read your document and your first sentence contradicts the entire document and your point you made above  "NOTE: If you have halogen headlamps or LED with AFS, the only adjustment is the white screw on either side of the vehicle at the rear of the headlamp module."



Oops... changed with to without in the first sentence. Thanks for that. If you find any other errors, you can always leave a comment on the document itself. 

As for the question. The basic settings / acknowledge basic settings procedure first sets the headlamps to a fixed position and disables auto re-leveling temporarily and then, once your adjustment is complete, stores the new zero level in the module. Basically, this is the procedure directly from VW as their technicians should do it except substituting their pre-made lamp aiming targets and use of ODIS for manually created ones that meet the DOT specifications for the Tiguan and using something like OBDeleven or VCDS. I think the reason for requiring the scantool song and dance has to do with what the white screw actually moves within the headlamp housing and the likely fact that VW uses relative rather than absolute encoders for headlamp vertical and horizontal dynamic aiming.


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## vw906 (Aug 17, 2018)

So if I decide to do the song and dance via scan tool... do I need to undo my height screws until it's in maintenance mode?


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## LennyNero (Aug 25, 2018)

You might be well to do it as a precaution. Since we are not absolutely sure how the car is measuring everything related to lamp position, there does exist the possibility that adjusting the lamps improperly may cause a situation where the servos run into a hard stop or the encoder system runs out of counts and is then unable to get the lights back to a known position.


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## xmittensxcorex (Sep 23, 2006)

has anyone had success getting the dealer to adjust these properly or is that a lost cause? i feel like this is an actual issue that should be addressed by the manufacturer, more so on the auto-leveling side of things. when i'm parked in my driveway, i have the correct amount of throw, but when i drive, i'm lucky if i have 2 car lengths of visibility in front of me.


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## GTINC (Jan 28, 2005)

xmittensxcorex said:


> has anyone had success getting the dealer to adjust these properly or is that a lost cause? i feel like this is an actual issue that should be addressed by the manufacturer, more so on the auto-leveling side of things. when i'm parked in my driveway, i have the correct amount of throw, but when i drive, i'm lucky if i have 2 car lengths of visibility in front of me.


Just because you think they are not adjusted properly does not mean they are not properly adjusted. Your personal opinion, not VW's issue.


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## phlegm (Apr 24, 2019)

xmittensxcorex said:


> has anyone had success getting the dealer to adjust these properly or is that a lost cause? i feel like this is an actual issue that should be addressed by the manufacturer, more so on the auto-leveling side of things. when i'm parked in my driveway, i have the correct amount of throw, but when i drive, i'm lucky if i have 2 car lengths of visibility in front of me.


If they seem fine parked (assuming level driveway), I wonder if it's not the headlight adjustment, but rather this issue for LEDs in general for that timeframe:
https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?9357169-What-the-****-is-this


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## xmittensxcorex (Sep 23, 2006)

phlegm said:


> If they seem fine parked (assuming level driveway), I wonder if it's not the headlight adjustment, but rather this issue for LEDs in general for that timeframe:
> https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?9357169-What-the-****-is-this


I have an '18, so I'm definitely affected by the old style but I haven't found anything stating what improvements were actually made to the new ones. My understanding is the only thing that's changed on the new ones is the power module, not the housing, programming, or how they are calibrated. I think my headlights would be fine if the threshold for at what angle my car is above or below "level", triggered my lights to dip or raise, and how much. That's why I'm curious if anyone has had luck at the dealer rather than "brute forcing" an adjustment. If the dealer can flash the computer with new firmware that is a little more forgiving of angles, or they acknowledge the lights are out of alignment from factory, then I don't need to buy VCDS to set the new level value. I fear the dealers response based on my 2011 GTI's rear wiper jet check valve going bad, the dealer replacing it, then coming back after the replacement failed to be told the tech "will not replace it until VW issues a new part". I'm waiting to get, "the lights were within spec" when I bring it in for this.


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## GTINC (Jan 28, 2005)

xmittensxcorex said:


> I have an '18, so I'm definitely affected by the old style but I haven't found anything stating what improvements were actually made to the new ones. My understanding is the only thing that's changed on the new ones is the power module, not the housing, programming, or how they are calibrated. I think my headlights would be fine if the threshold for at what angle my car is above or below "level", triggered my lights to dip or raise, and how much. That's why I'm curious if anyone has had luck at the dealer rather than "brute forcing" an adjustment. If the dealer can flash the computer with new firmware that is a little more forgiving of angles, or they acknowledge the lights are out of alignment from factory, then I don't need to buy VCDS to set the new level value. I fear the dealers response based on my 2011 GTI's rear wiper jet check valve going bad, the dealer replacing it, then coming back after the replacement failed to be told the tech "will not replace it until VW issues a new part". I'm waiting to get, "the lights were within spec" when I bring it in for this.


You are not listening! If you think the aim is too low, get your tools, find the adjustment screws and set the new baseline aim. You don't need a dealer, you don't need VCDS, you just need a driver that fits the adjustment screw. Once you adjust the aim to your liking, the system will take over and do its thing.


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## Rodizzle (Oct 18, 2018)

Had the dealer re aim my lights . 
4 weeks later (yesterday ) my light were looking for pennies in the damn floor . What gives ?? 


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