Hello! I've had a headlight replaced, and it seems to be different from the old one,
and I'm having trouble finding out why. Any help would be appreciated.

My car is a 2004 RX-8 with manual transmission and HID headlights. After a fenderbender, the body shop replaced the right headlight assembly and bulb. However, the pattern of light it throws is quite different from the pattern of the left, and original, headlight. The new light appears to be aimed to spec. The old light projects a beam with a flat top, but the new light has a beam that curves up and down drastically to the sides. (see pictures)

Also, although it's hard to see, the old light seems to have a filament about an inch long, arranged horizontally. The new light has a pinpoint filament. (I know filament is probably the wrong term for an HID lamp.) The dealer says that Mazda changed the bulb a couple of years ago, and the old bulb is not available. But they don't know if the new bulb projects a different pattern.

Does anyone out there know? Is there an new bulb? And is there a new headlight assembly that matches it? Or is this the proper light pattern for newer models? The shop is willing to make it right, but we can't figure out what needs to be done, if anything. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

...Bob...

 

It seems that the new one isn't leveled correctly. They might have to adjust it manually, because normally the autoleveling system should fix it. If this isn't the problem, then I would suggest to try and get the old bulb replaced as well to see if that could be the other problem.

 

i have the same problem. they replaced my old ones and now the new ones have the curved cut-off...