Patent ID: 7165858

Claim:
A headlamp apparatus for a vehicle comprising: a steering device coupled to a steering wheel; and control means for controlling a light distribution of the headlamp based on a steering angle of the steering device, wherein the control means detects a straight steering position of the steering device from an origin position signal output by the steering device for each rotation of the steering wheel and when a difference between a left wheel speed and a right wheel speed is equal to or less than a predetermined value wherein the steering device comprises a rotary disk, attached to a steering shaft of the steering wheel, having a plurality of unit slits circumferentially positioned on the rotary disk and an origin slit positioned at an inside diameter of said unit slits; at least one origin slit detector that generates the origin position signal when the origin slit passes the origin slit detector; and at least two unit slit detectors separated at a half pitch from each other on the circumferential position of said unit slits, to generate respectively at least two pulse signals, wherein the control means controls the light distribution by adjusting the headlamp based on a degree of rotation of the steering wheel.