I know I’m not the only one who feels like I’m getting visually assaulted everytime I drive at night. It was bad 10 years ago but now, it seems like headlight manufacturers have a deal with insurance companies and optometrists to make the lights as bright as possible. Is this ever going to stop or is there some kind of race in the headlight industry to see who can reproduce the power of the sun first?
Because we decided we hated to have our vehicles inspected. If we still did that these people would get violations.
There was a government survey on this just a few weeks ago. Conveniently posted here so I filled it out. Did you?
The government is using Lemmy???
Probably not an official government use. Probably just someone who came across the survey somehow (government employee or not) and just decided to help out with Lemmy.
Edit: Here it is, I just found it again. 2 months ago: https://lemmy.ca/post/62141402
Also why did they make them cooler? Everything used to me more tinted red and now everything has gone to blue which is worse for your night vision.
A huge number of people are unaware that headlights must be aimed. Some are not adjusted by the manufacturer or dealer before sale (Tesla, Toyota). Sometimes a large enough pothole or going over a speed bump too fast will knock alignment off.
Couple this with American police driving primarily SUV’s (higher up, less bothered) and no longer issuing “fix-it” tickets unless using headlights as an excuse to pull over minorities, and we wind up with tons of issues. Feed the prison system- Don’t waste time making the roads safer!
Lawmakers are increasingly separated from those they are elected or appointed to represent by heightened economic status, and are not affected by issues that plague everyday citizens. No longer are they accountable to their constituents- Money drives their political aims.
As a frequent night driver, I often see people late at night using only the decorative running lights (because they don’t understand the light controls?) or with one or both headlights aimed at the ground just a few feet ahead of their car from hitting a bump or a minor accident. Sometimes one or both headlights will be pointed too high. Other times, drivers have their brights on purposefully because their low beams are burned out, or perhaps for their own benefit.
It is a complex issue that I can see only getting worse in the future. Social consciousness needs to become a thing in America.
Politicians are a million years old and don’t drive themselves.
We haven’t. Many states have new laws on the books about this issue, and others on the horizon. The issue is that they approved at one point, so there will most likely be a grandfather clause for existing ones on the road because you can’t force car manufacturers to go back and recall all these things to be retroactively compliant with a new law at cost to them. Not how laws work.
You can ban the sale of super high power bulbs, though. all of the bright headlamps fail (even LEDs, eventually…) and they simply get replaced with compliant bulbs.
LED’s generally outlast the car
Not the PCB flea-bay ones. Not ten minutes ago I discovered yet another 194 bulb fritzingTF out on my car that the previous owner had installed. This is the fifth one that has crapped out. I only notice because I rarely drive at night and my car looks like it’s spazzing out.
I work in auto parts. I processed warranty returns for about 5 years as my main task for a while. We didn’t get many led bulb warranty/defective returns. Hella, Sylvania, Osram, Heliolite, and can’t remember the other brand we typically sell. Those brands have very very few returns that weren’t “we fucked up and ordered the wrong part”
Just stop buying cheap shitty bulbs from cheap shitty suppliers
Myth. LEDs do not last. Led house bulbs also suck, and die all the time. Led headlight literally go out on 2 year old vehicles, ive seen it often, usually Chevy’s if i recall.
The whole “led lasts forever” was a scam.
Which brand led bulbs are you buying, so I can avoid them? I have bulbs that I use daily when I’m at home, and a few are getting close to 15 years old at this point.
Feit
I wouldn’t ever buy from them, I had to wait months for them to answer a simple technical sales question about capability on one of their lights. Only got an answer because I sent another email after months and ruined some ones KPI lol. Them not answering within a week disqualified them
They can last forever, or you can push them too hard with too little cooling to save money. Almost all bulbs seem to do this.
Of course bad designs overheating the leds do lead to some cars models (and brands) burning out their LED’s, but as a general statement its still true.
So Chevy cant design a proper circut. Check.
My Acura MDX has permanent LEDs, they cannot be changed without buying a complete new headlight assembly. I’ve been driving it for 11 years and have never had any of them fail. They will outlast the car.
Wasteful and terrible idea for repairability. I’ll take my sealed beams and 1176 generic bulbs that are user serviceable. Have you seen the cost of those headlight assemblies ? Also, get in 1 small fender bender or a deer you’re looking at maaaasive repair bills now.
Any fender bender means massive repairs. I’ve been replacing bulbs for over 30 years, it’s nice to have great visibility and not having to worry about bulb replacement. I totally get your point, but it’s a non-issue for me altogether. I’ve never had to replace them up to this point, and I’ll never have to replace them in the future most likely.
I’ve driven it for so long at this point if I get in a fender bender it’ll be totaled anyway. They’re mathematically engineered to last between 41 and 68 years. That’s one cost I’ll never have to worry about.
Makes sense ! I just dont like non replaceable parts.
It is less about the output in lumens of the lamp, but more about the angle and color temperature.
In most cars, the difference between regular headlight operation and “brights” has nothing to do with the output, it’s about the angle of the beams. Of course, when you angle the headlights up so you can see farther down the road, now you also point them at oncoming drivers eyes.
The scourge of “blue” headlights amplifies the problem. They’re no brighter, but they are more uncomfortable to stare down.
In most cars, there are a variety of ways to fine-tune the angle of the beams with often little more than a screwdriver. The problem is that most people have no idea that they need to be adjusted. This is why regular inspections are important as well as some sort of standards that can be applied across a wide variety of cars.
The reality is that correcting poor angle on headlights is a trivial task, should only take a few moments. Additionally, most modern headlight systems are active and can adjust the angle by pointing the lamp down or using shutters or individual LEDs to change the angle or beam pattern. Eventually, this will just be an irritating thing of the past, but it will take a number of years before every GM truck and SUV is off the road as well as a lot of current Hyundai/Kia products (anecdotally observed by me to be the worst offenders).
The last part: it can work like that, with a transition period
I’m sorry you can’t see, but I can see great.
I feel concerned about your shitty vision. You could pay me to fix that.
What if another lifted F750 with bright white Xenon headlights is coming in the other direction?
We stop, get out, and kiss.
Highlander rules. The winner takes the losers headlights and adds them onto their monster truck.
This is the plot of Mortal Engines.
26% on rotten tomatoes but 4.5/5 on amazon? Well…I guess I may as well watch it…
Hell I’d take Xenon lights over LED. Xenon have a more defined line at the edge of the beam whereas LED is more dispersed or scattered, so it’s more blinding.
Wouldn’t be so bad but some idiots can’t figure out how to aim their newly lifted truck’s lights downward and instead install a bunch of LED light bars to light up half the neighborhood!
It’s a game a chicken to see who looks up from their phone.
Calibrated headlights shouldn’t impair vision too much. Laser headlights are becoming more mainstream too, those gets even brighter but directed. Do you have an astigmatism by chance? Is it aftermarket and modified headlights causing the issue? My pet peeve is lifted trucks running brights behind me. Could be 6 car length back and still light up my interior like a stadium
Poorly aimed headlights are the real killer. They might not even be brights, they’re just aimed to the heavens because people don’t know how to maintain their car.
Well obviously if its a big enough problem to be regulated its not imaginary, and only due to something like alignement
Nothing better than having to cover my eyes at night because my retinas are being fucking burned out of my head.
Don’t people who set the rules also drive? “Wow, I can’t see a damn thing. Maybe headlights are too bright?”
Over here, ADRs (Australian design rules) stopped this problem before it began
The US has laws on it too. It’s poorly aimed headlights that are the problem.
maybe i dont have the perspective of other countries but some of the lighs im experiencing are well above acceptable (im guessing aftermarket). has there been fines for this from police or transport departments?
The police can issue “yellow stickers” for illegal modifications including non compliant headlight modifications.
If given one, the vehicle has to go for inspection.
It happens, however it’s rare enough that it doesn’t really stop people doing stupid shit like fitting the wrong bulbs in the wrong housing or fitting LEDs with the power of 10 suns and fucking binding everyone.
Here in vietnam, probably half of cars and bikes have yellow headlights that don’t mess with your night vision, then white brights.
In Canada, the federal government just put out a nationwide poll for input on this exact subject, as it’s coming near to the time to review the related legislation. It’s very possible that some of the headlight implementations currently on the road will soon be illegal nationwide.
Thank god, I’ve been sick of this shit for over a decade. I don’t know who would vote against dimmer lights. Do you have a link for this poll?
The poll closed 20 April: https://tc.canada.ca/en/corporate-services/consultations/canadian-experience-vehicle-headlights-glare-night
I seem to recall it opened in February. There were lots of news articles on Lemmy about it at the time.
In regional areas the extra light at night is genuinely helpful.
However, thats on unlit roads with so little traffic that you only see an oncoming car once every 5 or 10 minutes.
On roads with more traffic theyre just not necessary because there aren’t any animals or other obstacles.
In regional areas the extra light at night is genuinely helpful.
Bro, that’s what the high beams are for.
The current situation is the normal (low beam) headlights on some “newer” cars are so bright, I could turn of my headlights at night and the car behind me gives enough light for me to see without a problem.
Oh I thought thats what everyone was complaining about.
Everyone here has after market LED light bars or spot lights. Factory lights and evern high beams are no big thing but light bars have the fire of a thousand suns.
Bright lights are fine, just point them down. Although, you might have noticed that when you’re going downhill or uphill the lights are more blinding.
I’ve proposed a polarization system where you would be able to see thing illuminated but not the bright lights that illuminate. There are many ways to make this work.
Tell us your idea.
FYI you’re going to get absolutely shredded by technical responses about how light works.
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