diff --git a/src/openalpr/segmentation/charactersegmenter.cpp b/src/openalpr/segmentation/charactersegmenter.cpp
index d5912db..98f925d 100644
--- a/src/openalpr/segmentation/charactersegmenter.cpp
+++ b/src/openalpr/segmentation/charactersegmenter.cpp
@@ -308,7 +308,7 @@ namespace alpr
     {
       vector<Rect> validBoxes;
       
-      int pxLeniency = 0;
+      int pxLeniency = row;
       vector<Rect> allBoxes = convert1DHitsToRect(histogram.get1DHits(pxLeniency), top, bottom);
 
       if (this->config->debugCharSegmenter)