In Europe, this is hardly a problem. I’ve recently been on the road more in the US, and it sucks. But I think it’s more so due to cars being ridiculously big and their lamps being way off the ground.
this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2024
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it is a problem in europe too. all new german SUVs, and many others, have front beams around the height of others drivers eyes so they blare right into internal rearview mirror, car is lit like ufo is here to take us, and when meeting those cars coming from opposite direction, it's again at the height of eyes to burn the retinas. the regulation of headlights is obviously fucked.
When an SUV with floodlight headlights is tailgating me, I ask the passenger to use the rearview mirror to reflect their light back into the eyes of the driver. When that fails, we flash them a few times with one of those stupid 5k lumen mega-flashlights. They always seem to back off.
And then the snow falls and all the light not being directly shot onto your retna from the light is now being bounced off every surface in your feild of vision.
From what I hear, people who modify their vehicle by lifting it higher with bigger wheels are suppose to recalibrate their headlights (point the headlights toward the ground).
There was nothing wrong with the halogen and I'll die on that hill. Ever since they abandoned it, it's been an arms race, and the aftermarket drop-ins are the worst offenders. I've resigned myself to never seeing anything on the highway shoulder because of the intensity of oncoming traffic's headlights.
Oh I’m definitely on the Fuck You Frank! team.
It’s not because they’re LED. It’s because they’re aftermarket: illegally colored, and poorly aimed or not aimed at all.
That explains it to me. Never understood the hate for LED headlights, they're great. Aftermarket is illegal here, you don't see any.
Bullshit, Tesla headlamps blind everyone else on the road straight from the factory.
"tesla" and "build quality" do not match, even before the cyberstuck
Yeah, he already covered "poorly aimed or not aimed at all."
Unless they were aimed poorly from the factory (with how bad their cars are built I'd lean towards that being very probable) they should not be blinding. I know someone with a very early model 3 that had poorly aimed headlights, but he eventually got it fixed. But the 5 other people I know with Teslas are not at all blinding. My Outbacks slightly fucked up headlight is more blinding than their cars.
This isn't always correct. I have a 2021 Toyota and the lights are factory installed and way too bright. I've had the lights lowered by a mechanic, but I still blind oncoming traffic and frequently get people flashing their brights at me. I feel terrible, I don't want to blind anyone. I had someone yelling at me about my aftermarket lights and I had to tell them they were factory, he was still mad at me. It drives me crazy, I hate these lights too! Replacements are over $1,000.
Can't you stick some material over the lights to dim them? Or is that illegal?
Thanks for sharing this. I'll try to remember there are at least a few people out there like this when my blood pressure starts to rise, and I wish painful deaths upon the presumed assholes blinding me on my way home from working for 14h straight.
Emissions checks need to have strict headlight inspections and tight regulations on aim and intensity. Permits should be required for all these additional spots and bars that truck owners love to slap on too. It's too far out of control.
1000% this. Aftermarket, fucked colors, and/or no alignment is the cause of the problems. I would add that a lot of aftermarket lights are also way too bright. Sure, the owner can see (a tiny bit) better but everyone else gets blinded. Even then, it's not bad unless they're not aligned properly. (Well, it'll still blind you if it's a truck directly behind you but that's just trucks.)
I own a '97 Honda. The last owner had LEDs in it. The lenses weren't designed for LEDs, they were designed for halogens. So one of the first things I did was revert the headlights to halogen bulbs. And they work perfectly fine. I drive in a suburb so the streets are already fairly well lit. I don't need to cast a beam 5 miles out to see where I'm going.
Also, it's that soft yellowish white light. Not that harsh daylight bluish light everyone and their mom is obsessed with. I don't get it. Anyway, the best thing you can do in 99 times of 100 is to consider what equipment you have and stick to OEM spec.
Anyway, the best thing you can do in 99 times of 100 is to consider what equipment you have and stick to OEM spec.
Or if you do legitimately want to upgrade, consider swapping in something that was OEM spec on a higher trim level/fancier related car model (e.g. Acura stuff on your Honda).
Often this is the case, but there's also a not insignificant number of times I'm convinced a car with shitty aftermarket bulbs ends up being a new Acura, infinity, or Mercedes when I get close enough to determine the make.
New doesn't mean no aftermarket
I don’t understand how LEDs were ever allowed with the same sockets. What legitimate use could that be.
… plus this has somehow gotten so popular that my garage, part of a major regional chain, offered to replace my headlights with LED replacement bulbs
… although I can see the personal motivation. When everyone else seems to be causing so much glare, you need all the help you can get
On the basic end: because they're cheaper, use less energy, are more reliable, and last longer.
On the fancy end: have you seen demonstrations of Audi's matrix LEDs? They have the ability to dim specific areas dynamically, so that they can track incoming traffic and keep them in a dim-zone while still keeping the road and shoulders well lit.
Keep in mind that there is nothing special about LEDs that make them brighter; they can make LEDs dimmer and they can make halogens brighter, but the manufacturer has chosen not to.
We need regulations. It is dangerous to operate a vehicle if oncoming traffic makes it that difficult to see anything in your own lane.
The problem isn't LEDs though. The technology isn't what's making it bright.
The regulation needs to be specific about what they want the end result to be, not about the specific technology used.
Like: there should be a mode of operation where oncoming traffic at x distance, seated at y height, on level roads should not experience more than z brightness.
Or maybe actually enforce our existing laws on this, and make actual punishments for when people modify their cars and don't align their headlights.
Going after random people is harder and worse than going after the manufacturers of products.
Unless you want police shooting black people because their lights were "misaligned"
If we won't regulate guns despite school shootings, what hope is there to regulate cars? (Unless someone rich can get a cut?) Apparently someone else's freedumb to do dangerous things is my own freedom to stfu:-(.
All Praise and Honor be to our glorious Electoral College, may it forever prevent us from making dumb decisions such as "preventing needless deaths".
Guns are part of the US constitution, headlights aren't.
Well you just made it sound even more fucking stupid
Ode to Joy intensifies
Oh, yeah, of course it is not going to happen in the US. Force a pickup truck to aim their lights at the road instead of other drivers' eyes? Political suicide. But I'd still like it to be regulated.
It is. You want it enforced too?
Even here where there are mandatory annual inspections meant to catch these things, no one ever checks headlights beyond whether they turn on and off
Even here where there are mandatory annual inspections meant to catch these things, no one ever checks headlights beyond whether they turn on and off
German TÜV inspections absolutely check that the headlights aren't foggy and are aligned correctly
Me too:-|
In the Europe we have the regulations, it still sucks. Especially OEM "active-matrix" LEDs.
Maybe you need to get your eyes checked. I rarely get blinded on the road in Germany, and when I do it's almost always someone who just forgot to turn off his high-beams. Active matrix headlights are very common here nowadays and never blind me
This is why regulations should be about the behavior they want to see and not the technology used.
The goal is not to blind drivers; companies should be able to use whatever tech they want, but they should get fined every time their tech doesn't work as expected in the real world.
How? We only read the good things about active matrix headlights, not how they behave in the real world
If it wasn't him it just would've been someone else
Not to mention HIDs can be just as bright... Which was first introduced on the 1992 BMW 7 series...
So what you're saying is we need to go back and hunt down Richard BMW
He goes by Dick, actually.
Don't be dumb. He's German. It's D'ich
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the horribly distracting flicker that they make.
It depends on the make and what PWM frequencies they use. Essentially everything LED flickers.
Did CRTs bother you? Most people weren't perceptive enough to notice CRT flickering either.
I never noticed that wojack was holding a VSS Vintorez
You know who I'd go after? Gary fucking Gygax. I've lost too many friends to D&d.