XLT Headlight pattern - normal?

[alrashid2]

Hey guys. Got my 2026 XLT this week! Have had a few issues unfortunately but still loving the truck. One issue was that the right headlight was not working in low beam. They found that from the factory a pin was bent in the plug. They bent it back straight, plugged it back in, and it's working like a charm now.

This being my first night driving it, I turned the truck on to see that the headlights were wildly misaligned on my garage door! Drivers side was pointing near the top of the door, passenger was shooting down to the garage floor...

Got my manual out and found how to adjust it. Found a warehouse with a beautiful, white cinder block wall, parked 30 ft away, and adjusted the headlight patterns to about 35" off the ground (manual says 4" lower than center of headlight which was 39").

Anyway, all adjusted and didn't need another dealer visit. But I did notice the beam pattern looked odd. Noticed that the shape differed between left and right, and also that the left side is very flat and cut off while the passenger side has a lot more "splash".

Curious if that is normal? Photo attached. Thanks!

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[chasc]

I have no idea what the XLT headlights are supposed to look like, but it's my understanding that asymmetric pattern between driver and passenger side is intentional and broadly common in modern vehicles. Take a look at the IIHS headlight test results for the Ranger or virtually any other vehicle and I bet you'll see a consistent pattern of driver's side illumination range being less than passenger side. I believe the reason is to reduce glare for oncoming traffic on 2-lane roads.

For that reason I wouldn't automatically assume that because yours are different from each other something is wrong.

 

[alrashid2]

Thank you for sharing that, very cool info! And that is a good point.

 

[superj]

My stx headlight pattern is the same as yours. It seems weird to me but that's how it came

 

[alrashid2]

My stx headlight pattern is the same as yours. It seems weird to me but that's how it came

Thank you for confirming !

 

[scottyg2025fxlariat]

I have no idea what the XLT headlights are supposed to look like, but it's my understanding that asymmetric pattern between driver and passenger side is intentional and broadly common in modern vehicles. Take a look at the IIHS headlight test results for the Ranger or virtually any other vehicle and I bet you'll see a consistent pattern of driver's side illumination range being less than passenger side. I believe the reason is to reduce glare for oncoming traffic on 2-lane roads.

For that reason I wouldn't automatically assume that because yours are different from each other something is wrong.

Ditto. I think that is the factory setting.

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