Vehicle headlamp apparatus and method of setting optical axis position thereof

A method of setting an optical axis position of a vehicle headlamp apparatus including left-right deflecting means for deflecting an optical axis of illumination of a headlamp in a left-and-right direction in correspondence with a steering angle of a vehicle and vertically deflecting means for deflecting the optical axis of illumination of said headlamp in a vertical direction, the method comprising the steps of:

• effecting the operation of setting the optical axis by said left-right deflecting means at a time when the optical axis of illumination of said headlamp is in a state of being oriented in a lower direction than the horizontal direction by said vertically deflecting means at the time of setting the optical axis position of said headlamp to a reference angular position;
• and
• completing the operation of setting the optical axis by said vertically deflecting means after completion of the operation of setting the optical axis by said left-right deflecting means.

6 The method of setting an optical axis position according to claim 4, wherein after starting the deflecting operation of said vertically deflecting means in a downwardly oriented manner, the deflecting operation of said vertically deflecting means in an upwardly oriented manner is started after the lapse of a second predetermined time.

7 The method of setting an optical axis position according to claim 5, wherein after starting the deflecting operation of said vertically deflecting means in a downwardly oriented manner, the deflecting operation of said vertically deflecting means in an upwardly oriented manner is started after the lapse of a second predetermined time.