What does the inscription "-1,3%" mean on the sticker under the hood of the car

Car manufacturers place stickers with some important designations in several places under the hood of cars. The information on them is useful, although not everyone pays attention to it. Consider the sticker that manufacturers place next to the headlight.

What does the sticker look like?

The sticker in question looks like a small white or yellow rectangle. It schematically depicts a headlight and indicates a certain number as a percentage, most often 1,3%. In rare cases, there may not be a sticker, then a stamp with the same number can be found on the plastic body of the headlight.

How to decipher the inscription on the sticker

The number on the sticker, depending on the design of the car's optics, can vary between 1-1,5%. This designation determines the reduction in the headlight beam when the machine is not loaded.

Modern cars have correctors that allow you to adjust the headlights depending on the desire of the driver, the situation on the road and other external conditions. So, for example, if you fully load the trunk of the car with something heavy, the front of the car will be raised, and the headlights will not shine on the road, but up. The corrector allows you to change the angle of the beam to restore normal visibility.

An indicator of 1,3% means that if the corrector is set to zero, the level of light beam reduction will be 13 mm per 1 meter.

How the information from the sticker is used

Quite often, car owners are faced with the fact that the headlights are set inefficiently: the road is poorly lit, and drivers driving towards them can be blinded even by low beams. These problems are eliminated by the correct setting of the front optics. All the details of such a procedure are described in detail in the instruction manual for a particular machine. For self-configuration, the information from the sticker will be enough.

You can check the efficiency of the headlights and corrector as follows.

1. First of all, the car needs to be prepared: remove all things from the trunk, especially heavy ones, adjust the tire pressure, fill the gas tank. Additionally, you can check the condition of the suspension and shock absorbers. All this will allow fixing the "zero" level of the light beam, from which the countdown will be conducted.
2. The prepared machine is installed so that the distance from the headlights to the wall or other vertical surface is 10 meters. This is the average recommended distance. Some manufacturers recommend tuning to 7,5 or 3 meters, this can be clarified in the car manual.
3. For convenience, it is worth making markings on the wall: mark the center of each of the beams of light from the headlights and the center of the car.
4. If the headlights are set correctly, then with a sticker reading of 1,3% at a distance of 10 meters, the upper limit of the light on the wall will be 13 centimeters lower than the light source (filament in the headlight).
5. The test is best done at night and in good weather.

It is important to check the correct operation of the headlights from time to time, as the settings go astray during the operation of the car. It is enough to do this once a year or even less often if the light bulbs have not been replaced (reflectors may go astray). The easiest way to check in a car service is a standard and inexpensive procedure.

Do not neglect the correct setting of the headlights: when driving at night, a quick reaction of the driver is very important. Improperly adjusted headlights may not illuminate the obstacle in time, which may lead to an accident.