Patent ID: 7649321

Claim:
An apparatus for controlling an irradiation direction of a lamp for a vehicle, the apparatus comprising: an actuator that controls an irradiation direction of a lamp; a controller that detects a pitch angle of the vehicle and controls the actuator in accordance with the pitch angle; a control signal line that sends a control signal for controlling the actuator from the controller to the actuator; and a monitor unit that is provided in the controller, monitors a state of the control signal line and determines an abnormality of the controller, the actuator or the control signal line based on the state of the control signal line; wherein the monitor unit monitors a voltage of the control signal line and determines that the controller, the actuator or the control signal line is abnormal when the voltage is not a predetermined voltage; and wherein the actuator includes: an abnormality detection unit that detects an abnormality of the actuator; and a voltage fixing unit that fixes a voltage of the control signal line to a voltage different from the predetermined voltage when an abnormality of the actuator is detected.