Should I have the car looked at????

I have a 1993 Honda civic EX 4 door sedan. I was in a minor accident on
Sunday, if you want to call it that. I rear ended a young man, but no
damage to either car & neither of us was injured as well. I looked over
the car well the next day & drove it & I did not see anything wrong with
the inside or out, should I still have someone look at it??

 

-----------------------------------

Since your headlights may now be pointed at Jupiter, yes, have it
checked. An expert will notice things that the untrained eye would never
see.

'Curly'

 

On flat, level pavement, at night, or in an underground parking garage...

1) Drive up to a wall, maybe ten feet away. If you can manage 25 feet, even
better.
2) Make sure you're perpendicular to the wall.
3) Are both beams at the same level, or is one higher than the other?
4) Are both beams the same distance apart as the lamps are on the body? (As
reference, use the center of the blob, or the point of "kickup" on the
beam)

If both beams are straight and line up together, then alignment was not
materially affected. If there is no visible damage to the bumper's skin,
then the impact disturbed nothing of note.

 

Isn't the driver's side headlight aimed slightly lower than
passenger's side?

Dan D
'07 Ody EX
Central NJ USA

 

"motsco_" wrote

Jupiter's fairly low in the sky right now, so it may not be an issue.

;-)

 

A 14 year old car will guarantee any mechanic you take it to will find
several thousand dollars worth of work that just has to be done. Do a check
of the lights as mentioned and check for any fluid leaks and move on.

 

No. They are aimed in the same direction. If your left one is low relative
to the right, one of them is aimed wrongly.

The low beams are down and to the right relative to the centerline of the
lamps, while the high beams are straight-on.

 

So if you're driving something like a Ford Expedition, you're probably
aimed directly at Jupiter. Which coincides with directly into my rear-view
mirror...

 

------------------------

Yeah, Just like the new JEEPS in Canada. Full-blast DRL's that are aimed
like high beams. Who lets this crap operate on Canada's highways, I
don't know.

'Curly'

 

how about those pickups that have the rear dragging lower than the front?
(intentionally,via hydraulics)
Think they get their headlights realigned?
If I were a cop,I'd be nailing them every time for it,too.
Those "Bigfoot" type trucks also need ticketing;inherently unsafe.

 

I believe there has been a federal government regulatory change,
although the online copy of CMVSS-108 does not appear to show it.
The online copy was last updated in 2005.
<http://www.tc.gc.ca/acts-regulations/GENERAL/m/mvsa/regulations/mvsrg/100/mvsr108.html#Daytime_Running_Lamps>

From my observation of ALL new Canadian cars (not just Chrysler
products, although Chryslers have the brightest ones by far),
it appears to me that
1) auxiliary lamps may no longer be used for DRLs, and
2) main high beams must now be used, and at 100% brightness
instead of 80% as previously.

Observe for yourself.

The new ones are uncomfortably, intensely bright, to the point
where I have to look away (or turn my mirror to "night") to avoid
being dazzled. They're absolutely awful.

 

-------------------------------

The car makers probably cried to the Government that they couldn't
figure out how to build an 80% module that wouldn't cost too much or
burn the vehicle to the ground.

Jackasses.

 

That's unfair. Unless you mean the government is the jackass.

The automakers had no part in DRLs at all; it was forced upon them. Just
like those 200mph bombs that used to be in your steering wheel.