Headlamp levelling control
Lowers the headlamp beams when the back of the car is weighed down, so they do not dazzle oncoming drivers.
What pressing it does
A thumbwheel sets the beam height: the higher the number, the lower the beam. Hyundai's Tucson manual gives: driver only — 0; driver and front passenger — 0; all seats full — 1; all seats full plus maximum load — 2; driver plus maximum load — 3. Cars with automatic levelling have no wheel: SEAT's Ateca adjusts the headlight range automatically to the load whenever the lights are on.
Check your car's manual: makes and models differ in what a button does, which positions a switch has and whether it works with the engine off, and your owner's manual is the authority for your car.
- What it looks like
- A headlamp with its beams sloping down and an up-and-down arrow
- Also labelled
- Headlight leveling; Beam height adjuster; Headlight range control
- Standard
- UN R121
What to check in your car's manual
Your car's own table of wheel positions for different loads, or whether levelling is automatic.
Where makes differ
Manual wheels (Hyundai's Tucson, manual type) versus fully automatic levelling (Hyundai's automatic type, and SEAT's Ateca 'dynamic headlight range control', which has no control at all). The numbers for each load are the maker's and are not the same on every car.
Where the regulations list it
| Rule | Row | Function | Must be lit with the headlamps |
|---|---|---|---|
| UN R121 | Table, item 40 “Headlamp levelling” (alternative symbols) | Control | No |
UN Regulation No. 121 (01 series), location and identification of hand controls, tell-tales and indicators: Cars (M) and light goods vehicles (N1) approved under the UN 1958 Agreement, which includes the EU, UK and Japan. Paragraph 5.2.1: where fitted, a control listed in the table is identified by the symbol in its column 2; note 2 says the symbols are substantially identical to those of ISO 2575:2004.
Good to know
- UN R121 note 13 allows the symbol with five beam lines instead of four, and vice versa.
Related dashboard pages
Other buttons under “Lamps”
Sources
The symbol is cited to the regulation row above; what pressing it does is taken from the owner's manuals below. Each document was read on the date shown.
- UN R121: UN Regulation No. 121 (01 series) as published in the Official Journal of the EU, L 5, 8 January 2016, pp. 16-19: table 'Symbols, their illumination and colours' checked 2026-09-25
- Hyundai 2025 Tucson (general market, English web manual): Headlight leveling device — Thumbwheel 0-3, higher number lowers the beam; load table; automatic type. checked 2026-09-25
- SEAT Ateca owner's manual, UK English, edition 06.21 (model year 2022), PDF: Dynamic headlight range control, p. 121 — Headlight range adjusted automatically to the load when the lights are on. checked 2026-09-25
Written in our own words; the manuals cover their own models only.