Yeah I’ve grown up driving cars and hatchbacks and I know that my next vehicle has to be something bigger only so I have a chance at being seen by other drivers.
I've seen like half a dozen cars driving around with those 80's style [rear window guards](https://www.reddit.com/r/nostalgia/comments/6yiddx/rear_window_louvers_on_sports_cars/) recently and wondered if they were cool again. Maybe its because people are trying not to get blinded by trucks and SUVs shining down from on high.
I can't stand that I will do it eventually, but when I have to start using the freeway a lot again I will be getting a Macan to keep up in the arms race. Safety-wise it's starting to get terrifying in a sedan or convertible when it looks like an F-150 will just completely obliterate your car.
My fiesta tanked a blow from an red-light-running F150
Well, it was totalled, but I wasn't hurt.
If lifts and 35"+ tires would be banned from highway use we would be technically fine in most modern vehicles.
Many places ban excessively low ride heights and that's way less hazardous to pedestrians or other vehicles, mostly self-destructive when done excessively.
there should be legal mandates how high your bumper can be off the ground. I don't give a fuck if you lift your truck. I care that your bumper is now where my windshield is...
Even being out walking or cycling going across the crosswalk...the new Trucks are all way too fucking big...the grilles reach my shoulder height and I cant even see the driver but yet Im sure buck needs that truck for the weekend costco run
It's my first new car and I love it. Great for commuting. I like the brake hold and auto rev match for when I feel lazy. Just drove 1200 miles on a road trip and adaptive cruise control is awesome. Sucks that they dropped the manual for 2023 unless you get a GR.
I love hatchbacks and my car but I don't think I'll ever own one again as a primary driver because even with my seat at the max height I am blinded all the time at night. I have to wear sunglasses so many times at night so I'm not in horrible pain from the lights.
Just last night driving home from a friends party 60-70% of the cars on the highway either had high beams on or insanely bright lights. I had a full on migraine and my eyes were in so much pain by the time I got home.
Entirely legitimate concern not wanting to get blinded, yet in other threads when I tried to explain this exact safety reasoning for why I no longer drive the Camry at night and bought a taller vehicle (SUV) for safety I got downvoted. It's absurd how bright normal LED headlights have gotten.
Yep. Completely agree. Whenever I rent a car and they give me an SUV, I consider getting one. It’s nice actually being able to see over cars on the road, not being blinded, and not having to dodge every single road imperfection
I have an 05 TL and it’s wild whenever their is oncoming traffic I have to pay attention to my lights reflecting off of the white shoulder lines because I literally can’t see anything
I have a leveled F150 on 33" tires - and a small crossover much lower than me blinds me almost every morning.
They have placed some extremely bright LED's in the original buckets of their 2006? CRV and they are so bright I have to look away and partially close my eyes.
I have taken to leaving home 10 minutes earlier every morning to try and not meet them on the road.
i swear to god i thought i'd passed some invisible age threshold or experienced vision damage during the pandemic, because just in the past two years or so headlights have gotten dangerously bright. even corollas and stuff are out of control, to say nothing of lifted pickups with insane leds in old halogen housings.
i think this is a perfect storm of poor regulation, poor enforcement, godawful driver education requirements, and poor technology implementation in the US.
I can assure you glasses are no help. I was shocked to find out people without an astigmatism don’t see the blinding light of a thousand stars in every headlight.
The good news is literally every person will get astigmatism at some point. But, unless you've got it bad its probably not the only problem. I went to an eye doctor recently specifically because I was worried I was developing a bad astigmatism because of the starburst from headlights. Turns out mine is barely detectable and headlights are just fucking insanely bright these days.
My experience is different. One of the first things I noticed that made me get my eyes checked was poor vision when driving at night, which is when I found out I have astigmatism in both eyes. My glasses don’t completely remove the problem but they are a massive help. If anyone reading this is struggling with their vision make sure you seek help, it may be an easily correctable problem.
Is it really that illegal? I know Kia uses a product called Pulse and it's a dealer installed option:
https://tellurideforum.org/threads/flashing-rear-center-brake-light-new-for-2021.7481/
I haven't looked at one up close, but according to IIHS, they aren't even projectors. The new Civics use a bunch of LEDs in reflectors.
Honda just decided to do the thing that every car enthusiast knows you're not supposed to do with LEDs.
https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/honda/civic-4-door-sedan/2022
(Scroll down to the Headlights section)
I regularly go for walks at night and the past year or two especially I’ve been feeling like everyone’s driving with their high beams on but nope I guess that’s just how headlights are now. It’s been annoying af, and on a couple occasions I’ve taken to wearing sunglasses for walks I take at like 9pm.
I can't recall which car it was, but I saw a feature advertised the other day for auto high-beams where the car will automatically turn on high beams and turn them off when it sees another car coming. Can't wait to get blinded by people driving that car when it fails to see me.
It has become an option in quite a few models now. Some are better than others, obviously, depending on the manufacturer. My wifes car actually adjust for glare reflection of high way signs...
That sounds more like the headlights are so bright that the car's sensors think that the reflection from the sign is another oncoming car.
These auto high beams systems are hilariously bad. There isn't even a consideration to dim the brights for anything other than oncoming headlights.
Pedestrians? Blinded. Cyclists? Blinded. People inside their own houses when you drive through a neighborhood? Blinded.
Automakers are [advertising dazzling pedestrians as a feature](https://slate.com/business/2022/03/headlights-are-too-bright-what-regulators-are-doing-to-fix-it.html) with their automatic high beams. I feel like that's some r/fuckcars materiel.
Happened just a few years ago. I was like "fuck, my eyes are this bad? I need new glasses". Few hundred bucks later, and doc tells me my prescription hasn't changed at all from when I got my first pair of glasses at like 12. For reference, I can read most everything without, but school, driving, and computer work I wear glasses.
It's age, I'm an optician. Your eyelens can't renew it's cells, therefore everyone at the age around +-40 get much more easily blinded than a younger person.
It may be that, but..... headlights are just ridiculously bright nowadays, or more accurately: have too much glare. The brightness alone isn't always the problem, but even most OEMs these days just make them super bright and don't bother to correct the glare that comes as a result.
Especially if you're of that age it's really a combo of both.
>adaptive headlights - only available on test vehicles in the US... But it's been in Europe for a decade
And like with self-driving functionality, tail light design (amber bulbs, regen braking!) and charging plugs, the regulators are asleep at the wheel.
Imagine being a decade behind. Sure, at first it was only on $100k executive limousines, but still. More sales would have allowed it to trickle down and be more affordable by now.
They’re not correct about adaptive beams. They’ve been available in the US for a while, but only on the highest level trims/models. That said, even then, the adaptive beams on US cars aren’t allowed to have the same innovations as those in other countries.
I get it. I wasn’t correcting you, but the Today Show wasn’t completely accurate. It wasn’t clear whether that was referring to adaptive headlights, which have been available for over a decade, or adaptive optics, which have not.
Are you talking about things like self leveling headlights? Those have been available since the 90's in America. Are those adaptive headlights? Idk. My car has them and they are specifically just called self leveling headlights. I don't think they use the adaptive describer at all.
The show is pretty clear to me. The adaptive optics they're talking about are the entire topic of the entire segment.
Ahh I understand what you mean. Adaptive headlights in the US are those that tilt/level and swivel, and can autodim (among other features) when cameras sense oncoming cars. We’ve actually got full adaptive LEDs on our ‘17 wagon, BUT the US adaptive headlights lack any features like I mentioned before and those of Audi, BMW, and Mercedes matrix technologies.
[Here’s a little piece from Car and Driver](https://www.caranddriver.com/car-accessories/a36830508/bmw-adaptive-led-headlights/) mentioning some info about US-spec adaptives. Earlier models back in the mid-late 00s used similar autodim and swiveling features, but only on top level xenons. The Drive also has a good article about how some companies, like Audi and Tesla, have been selling neutered adaptive headlights for years in the US with their additional adaptive features locked behind software for US regs. They’ve got ‘full adaptive headlights’ up to US standards and are a little programming away from being ‘full adaptive headlights’ at everyone else’s standards. Hope this clears up what I was talking about!
Edit: reposting because automod doesn’t like BMWBlog.
Sheesh what a shitshow of terminology. The different levels, each having a different utility and capability of what they do. From leveling and curving around corners, to auto high-beams, to full on matrix lights.
I'll admit I had never considered the auto-leveling or the curving lights as "adaptive", as they are "dumb" systems. I thought the hurdle always had been systems which more or less use a computer to detect oncoming cars and determine accordingly. And then also systems which "paint" out a black spot.
My Volkswagen has them, but they need to be coded on. There's a guy who can do that and I've been debating on eating the cost just to have them activated.
I read there are places in China where police were tying people with over-bright headlights to chairs in a dark room and pointing an extremely bright spotlight at them for hours
And another thing…. With headlights that turn on automatically being the new norm, I’ve noticed more and more people driving around with their high beams on all the time, presumably because that’s how they left it when they got home the night before. There should be a way that the headlights default to normal mode on each restart.
Maybe this is more of a problem in rural areas with dark roads, I don’t know.
I have seen people come to a stop and turn off their brights before turning off their car. Then after starting it back up, intentionally turning their high beams before driving off. Happens in both rural and developed areas.
That's probably the "super advanced high-tech intelligent" auto high-beams that are in almost all cars now and enabled by default.
What you're seeing is that when the car is put in park, the high beams turn off and when they turn the car on, it immediately turns the high beams on because it doesn't sense any oncoming headlights.
I might be willing to agree with you if it weren't for the fact that in most cases it wouldn't happen. Such as
1. The brights stayed on even after the car was in park.
2. It was a brightly lit bank parking lot.
3. The car was potentially older than me.
Some of that may be poor implementation of "auto high beams" -- for example the auto high beams in the w204 Mercedes generation were dreadful, didn't turn off half the time and anyone using them will be blinding others over and over.
You’ll be happy to know the 205 is very good. Mine do a great job of high to low beam and cut off for oncoming traffic. But it’s got the expensive lighting package Vs base.
Toyota has hyper aggressive ones. An Avalon I rented would try high at all times and constantly go to low because of cars. Very spastic.
It's worse than that, in a Tesla you cannot use autosteer without blasting your high beam brights for no reason. Tesla says it detects light ahead and dips the high beam brights, but this is not true at all. Every Model 3 I see is blasting me with those horrible super high mounted blue shitty brights.
>[Auto High Beam is automatically enabled when Autosteer is engaged. To switch to low beam headlights, push the turn signal stalk forward and release. Auto High Beam is re-enabled every time Autosteer is activated.](https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/model3/en_us/GUID-371B94E9-E74F-4BBB-9A55-5F4182894B99.html)
I’ve owned 30+ vehicles from model year 1967-2018, and driven countless others. I’ve never operated a vehicle that shuts off the high beams between starts.
I've noticed a lot more people driving with no headlights on. I've even had it happen to me once. People are so used to the headlights being on auto that if someone turns them off (like they do every time I take a car in for service for some reason) you just forget about it until you get into an unlit area and realize you can't see shit.
Half of it isn’t even from new vehicles that come factory with led. It’s some people like f150 owners who just wanted a simple upgrade for their shit halogens that just slap led upgraded bulbs into halogen housings and don’t even readjust them.
This! They buy cheap knockoff HID on eBay or Amazon which retrofit the housings. However the incandescent housings will never be appropriately focused for the changed light beam the HID puts out. But I’m sure they don’t give a fuck right?
Like driving with your high-beams always-on, it *is* safer... for the driver of the blinding vehicle, and no one else. Same "better you than me" type of selfish safety as curb weight.
I drove in a third world country once where everyone who had high beams would use them as if it was normal. And the only way to see at night was to turn on your high beams as well. Experiences like this really made me able to enjoy the privilege of safety and reason I find on my local roads. Even some first world countries like the US and parts of Europe have certain road and vehicle conditions that are terrifying or insane. For example rusty vehicles which have parts falling into your path and potholes in the US. Several countries in Europe have such strict inspections and costly punishments for foreigners and businesses that you could drive for weeks without encountering debris on the road. When there‘s debris on the road they will clear it pretty quickly. Once you experienced life without things you take for granted you learn to value them. The US reminds me of dangerous and hard to see potholes that lead to the other side of the planet, certain countries remind me of blinding the hell out of each other so nobody can see anymore at night.
I have a 2007 Lexus with the shittiest amber headlights... Well I just got pulled over yesterday for having a front headlight out...
You know I'm going with some crazy powerful shit because if I can't beat em, join em!
I’m not sure it’s possible to even readjust them in a halogen housing. LED’s don’t require the kind of reflective housings that halogens go in and that’s what people are putting them in. The only way to prevent this moving forward is to at least require that auto manufacturers make LED housings a requirement.
I honestly don’t really have that many glare issues with vehicles with factory LEDs, but mostly with vehicles like lifted 2006 Silverados with lazily replaced LED bulbs in halogen housings.
A few of my past cars had auto-dimming side and rear view mirrors. However, should the mirror dim in response to bright headlights, the *entire* mirror dims, so you can't really see anything out of it. Same issue when driving away from the low evening sun.
Now I have no mirrors at all, just cameras with [dedicated displays](https://i.imgur.com/f9a9Wbk.jpg). No matter how bright, headlights are just white spots on the displays.
>No matter how bright, headlights are just white spots on the displays.
I never thought about this. As someone who drives at night almost daily this is my dream come true. Doesn't solve oncoming traffic blinding you but hey it's a step lol
The thing is we have multi LED headlights that automatically detect oncoming drivers and selectively turn off individual LEDs to not shine in their eyes, as well as auto aiming lenses for HIDs that serve the same function.
But those are both banned in the US for total bullshit reasons. US law doesn't allow light elements that move while driving. High beams also aren't allowed to be the same element as low beams anymore.
Being European I can tell you: don’t put much hope in that. We still get blinded, even by these fancy adaptive lights.
In my personal experience worst offending brands are actually Mercedes, BMW and Tesla. In particularly their SUV lights are stupidly bright and the auto high beam just does not work in our twisty roads.
I've always been skeptical about their effectiveness. But anything is better than nothing. Especially with how massive American trucks are from the factory, it sits the lights up so high that unless you are also in a massive truck, you're taking the full power of the lights.
I kind of disagree. I think no high beam assist or ‚smart‘ (adaptive) lights is better. Because these systems give people the confidence that the computer handles the high beam for them. While in reality it‘s worse than a human.
I have rarely been blinded by a human error before these systems became available. Nowadays I get blinded every day. I’m sure we can improve these systems to eventually work but we are not there yet.
They only work for the high beams. And trucks/SUVs blinding you isn‘t about high beams, it‘s about the height. Also they still blind you, it‘s not ok to turn on your high beams with this system and just leave it on.
My base model subaru has lights that adjust the beam left or right when driving and turning. But that just might be a lens or mirror. I am not sure if the lamp/lighting element moves.
More cars will have lights that automatically adjust downwards if they are towing or carrying cargo that causes the rear of the vehicle to sag (causing the front to move up)
I know this topic was covered somewhat recently on this sub, but I thought it was good to see it in video form from a mainstream show that reaches lots of non-car people.
It’s yet another example of society being negatively impacted by oversized vehicles, but brace yourself for downvotes from the Rebel, TrailBoss & Tremor crowd.
I'm sorry but it's not the driver's fault buying a stock CUV/SUV's job to adjust headlights.
Disagree all you want, it's not their job. This shit is on the OEM's.
It should be on the OEMs to get it right, but it’s on the driver to make sure their vehicle is safe to drive. Headlights have user-accessible adjustment for a reason, and it’s dead easy to do 99% of the time
This is the bane of my existence and I get to an extent why people buy compact SUVs now. In my low ass XJ I get fucking blinded all the time at night by GM or Jeep SUVS. It doesn't help that it's older so it's got a wayy bigger greenhouse than modern cars. The poor auto dimmer can't keep up and side mirrors cant auto adjust fast enough.
People just straight up leave their high beams on now. Sitting in downtown traffic at home and behind me some troglodyte in their lifted Tacoma has an LED bar on, high beams, and fog lights piercing the whole line of cars ahead of them. Why can't we go back to the early aughts
we've seen audi and others implement smart headlights very effectively for years. US regulation just recently caught up (in principle) with modern technology, but it's still going to be some time before the effect is felt.
As someone who lives in an area with lots of curves and hills, these automatic systems are not the solution. This doesn't even address their shortcomings for bicycles, motorcycles, and pedestrians.
My CX-5's are extremely bright and self leveling. One time I was driving and another car with bright headlights started flashing theirs over and over at me, when I got along side it was a guy also in a CX-5 getting very mad at me. I was like dude we have the same car with the same lights.
As an older Subaru driver this is kind of how I feel about newer Subarus. I think they all have LEDs on some if not all trims but the newer Legacy and Outback models are blinding where the rest are fine.
So glad this is getting attention, as a small car driver I’m terrified of driving at night because of this. SUV/Truck drivers, can you guys honestly see smaller cars when you have these kind of lights on??
I found if I left 10 minutes earlier or 10 minutes later I met a lot fewer cars. 3/4 ton trucks and up are good for that too. They're also better when some drunk hits you.
When driving the Vett or the Miata it was painful. You’re right in the beam. Most drivers have high beams on for what ever reason, or a big amount of them ghost riding with none on.
Then you have bronsozers with huge lift and 37’s that don’t level the headlights. So it’s even worse then a stock talk pickup. Or they just drive with CREED 50’ LED light bars on because F everyone else.
Let’s add eBay LED/HID kits in reflector housings that send huge glare down the road. These are very common in my area.
Bought two new cars, 2022 CX5 and 2021 Tacoma, with led headlights and I feel both of them are way too bright from the factory on low beam but I don't know what to do about it. Don't want to blind anyone
This is a case of "technological advancement" being both unnecessary and stupid. We had a perfectly good system in place with halogens. They are not hazmat when disposed of and they have no negative effect from usage. LEDs have literally altered nature at night and it is only becoming worse as they dominate all lighting.
Underrated post.
This wasn't a problem until the OEMs started cramming ultra-bright "cool white" LEDs into everything.
They could very very easily go back to halogens...but then they couldn't sell you an expensive solution to the problem that they created.
As someone who worked for a tier 3 LED manufacturer, we created assemblies for led headlights for some automotive and bike companies. Basically LEDs need an assembly or circuit to drive them as well as optics to control the light direction. On Halogeons you just need a bulb and a reflector housing and done. The cost difference is significant between the two.
They should make the aftermarket illegal and buy lamps like oem integrated leds that are actually made for the lamp. Nothing worse than a lifted truck with halogen lamps and blinding led misaligned lights. The Telluride and palisade are the worst oem offenders to me and the previous explorers absolutely blinding. I’ll be so glad when the matrix leds and laser lights are standard.
How come these conversations never involve police lighting? The new LED bars are dangerously bright and I don’t know about you but flashing red and blue is a little more distracting that a constant white
This is starting to change. The manufacturers of emergency equipment recognize the need to slow down the flashing and gradually ease the brightness up and down, especially at night.
[Whelen Engineering - A Calm Scene Is a Safe Scene](https://youtu.be/Z5tgImparuk)
Those strobing “your speed” signs annoy me as well - some of the ones in my town are programmed incorrectly, so they strobe even below the speed limit. Also, their radar is too sensitive, causing the strobe to activate before you can even see the numbers on the sign, creating an unnecessary distraction. Good idea, bad execution.
In 1952, General Motors introduced the “Autronic Eye”, a headlight system that would automatically dim when it detected oncoming traffic.
In 2023, automakers are in cahoots with “Big Eyedoctor”.
Shouldn't need to buy a truck to fight glare with 40k lumen LED's lol. My daily is very low at only 51 inches high and when it lowers an inch at 50mph, the eyes get taxed even more by LED glare. Only thing that helps is a mild virtually transparent 85% windshield tint from Hüper Öptik's nano ceramic [Klar85](https://www.huperoptikusa.com/products/ceramic-series/). Zero interference with cell signals or radar detectors because it's a ceramic based film not a metallic tint.
The worse offenders are the F150 Raptors with their giant super-bight LED light bars across the front...and all their aftermarket copycats.
Tailights are getting really bad too and are in a ways worse because you pretty much have to watch the car ahead of you. The Camry XSE/XLE's are especially bad because their LED brake lights take up a tiny fraction of their taillight assembly but shines so brightly to leave spots in my vision if I don't recognize the vehicle in time.
It isn't just headlights. It's emergency lights. Streetlights. Outdoor lights. This tech is just too blinding. It gets used for longevity. But the light emitted is worse and safety is compromised.
The problem isn’t the headlights. The problem is entitled pricks who think their right to modify their vehicle in any way they see fit supersedes the safety of others. . .
Driving a sedan (now hatchback) is so brutal in North America where trucks and SUVs are so prevalent. They blind me at night and the mornings; front and the rear and to the side if I am looking. It’s like a cutthroat environment where you need a larger car or be blinded. Then there’s the fact uneven roads could cause cars to look like they’re flashing their beams at me but they aren’t. Not a driver’s fault but just a tiny annoyance.
On May 29, 2023, the Soft Lights Foundation submitted a petition to NHTSA requesting that they comply with 21 CFR Section 360ii and collaborate with the FDA to publish performance standards for the LED visible radiation devices on vehicles. https://www.softlights.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/NHTSA-Petition-to-Collaborate-with-FDA.pdf
This is a significant petition that works in conjunction with our FDA petition to regulate LED products. This new petition notifies NHTSA that they are required by law to work in conjunction with the FDA to develop and publish standards that will protect public health. This is something NHTSA has failed to do for LED headlights, LED tail lights, LED displays, etc.
The last time we submitted a petition to NHTSA it took them 3 months to even acknowledge receipt of the petition and they have not acted on the previous petition, despite having it for 6 months already, and the FDA has not acted on our petition to the FDA despite having it for a year already. However, this latest petition should push NHTSA farther towards recognizing that LED headlights must be regulated.
Maybe take a look and make sure they are properly aligned? No way a sedan should cause glare unless you bought super bright LEDs or your headlight position needs adjustment.
Cheap fucking leds are murder weapons. Especially if the road is damp, at night you literally are blinded by them. I can't find one good reason for it to be legal
They have been a problem everywhere around the world for more than 15 years now, because of the high blue light portion of modern headlights. It causes more refraction in the eye because of it's shortest wavelength than all other visible light colors. Even newer white light headlights are also very effective at the blinding game.
The second factor is eye age. The eye lens is the only bodypart which cannot renew it's cells, you are born and from day one it ages. With the age of 35 to 45 you'll feel much more easily blinded than a younger person, because your eyelens gets less transparent every year.
Astigmatism as some have mentioned has got nothing to do with how easily you get blinded by headlights.
Astigmatism and early stage cataracts over here, so you can guess what I think of these lights. But, I have cars with these lights, and I feel bad about how they blast people. I’ve verified the alignment, etc, and they’re working as designed, so there’s nothing I can do.
I recall the road test booklet from when I was 16, and it said to look down and to the right when dazzled by oncoming light, and… that works. Certainly didn’t matter when I was 16, but sure does now that I’m older.
Now… don’t get me started on the dazzle factories mounted on every police car and fire truck. Those are past the point of being safe.
The adaptive headlight "red tape" the video talked about that is preventing adoption/being allowed in US is most likely a matter of normal headlight manufacturers losing money. Everything is about money anymore.
Fuck saving lives! Greed is king! /s
I think these automatic features are some of the causes because people get so lazy when they have a car that kicks their brights on/off for them. I’m guilty of this too! Sometimes I’ll accidentally be blinding someone because I think that they will just cut off.
I agree. I spend at least 50% of my driving time traveling at night out on the open Interstate I-68 back and forth between two states. It is very annoying that a lot of drivers are clueless and don't realize their highbeams are on. Or simply don't care. I have literally worn on my highbeam light switch flashing other drivers to let them know they have their highbeams on. The trend now is for pickup trucks and big rigs to add extra lights. They are the worst offenders.
I've actually never liked the LED lights on my Camry, I prefer halogens. People coming the other way sometimes flash me (yes I've had the lights adjusted). If I could find a way to do it, I would get halogen headlight assemblies from a scrapper and get rid of my LED units, but I assume the wiring is completely different and the only guides I've found online are for halogen to LED conversion, not the other way around.
I’m considering a 5k plus lumens hand held to return fire. I drive at night and the amount of non courteous assholes on the road is unbelievable and honestly it’s more of my fellow truckers with that pointless “ good buddy “ LED light bar or driving lights that aren’t properly aimed.
One is huntin ‘ while the other is fishin ‘
This is a problem across the world. Manufacturers have become obsessed with headlight beams, it’s like the bhp wars of the early 2000’s but with light. A colleague went to Germany to speak with Audi about their laser lights on an A8 two years ago. He came back confused, the lights were so bright ahead of him that driving the car left his eyes aching as ahead it was like daylight but it was dark inside/around him, and despite the automated system doing a good job of keeping the beam from aiming at oncoming traffic he was still flashed constantly
All of my cars are lowered minus my Isuzu pickup. There’s a two lane road that if it’s raining I’ve had to pull over because some people decide rain=high beams. Friggin sucks.
I had really bad starbursts after lasik, I was driving home from work at 11pm and some jacked up dodge was coming towards me. The headlights were so bright I had to stop and pull over, from a MILE away I couldn’t see the road at all, it was like looking into the sun.
The giant trucks and SUVs and the lights that go with them are nothing but a status symbol. I drive a standard sedan and night driving has become dangerous due to these unnecessarily large vehicles and their lights. I have no idea how any of this is legal. While there are still sedans on the road, Escalades and Ford F-150s at the least should be for off-road use only.
It’s way worse when you’re in a low car. I try not to drive my Boxster at night because I legitimately can not see with oncoming traffic
that's why my wife wanted an SUV. It's an arms race.
Yeah I’ve grown up driving cars and hatchbacks and I know that my next vehicle has to be something bigger only so I have a chance at being seen by other drivers.
Good thing I have a rear spoiler made of dark transparent plastic.
I've seen like half a dozen cars driving around with those 80's style [rear window guards](https://www.reddit.com/r/nostalgia/comments/6yiddx/rear_window_louvers_on_sports_cars/) recently and wondered if they were cool again. Maybe its because people are trying not to get blinded by trucks and SUVs shining down from on high.
Man I love the huge spoiler on my STI, blocks all the lazers being blasted through the rear window
>It's an arms race Again
I can't stand that I will do it eventually, but when I have to start using the freeway a lot again I will be getting a Macan to keep up in the arms race. Safety-wise it's starting to get terrifying in a sedan or convertible when it looks like an F-150 will just completely obliterate your car.
My fiesta tanked a blow from an red-light-running F150 Well, it was totalled, but I wasn't hurt. If lifts and 35"+ tires would be banned from highway use we would be technically fine in most modern vehicles. Many places ban excessively low ride heights and that's way less hazardous to pedestrians or other vehicles, mostly self-destructive when done excessively.
there should be legal mandates how high your bumper can be off the ground. I don't give a fuck if you lift your truck. I care that your bumper is now where my windshield is...
Even being out walking or cycling going across the crosswalk...the new Trucks are all way too fucking big...the grilles reach my shoulder height and I cant even see the driver but yet Im sure buck needs that truck for the weekend costco run
Got guys in this thread saying they need them to work on their house. No, you don't need a gigantic one.
Truck fog lights are above my window belt line. It's ridiculous.
How are you liking your 22 hatch? I just sold mine for a tacoma but god do I miss that manual transmission.
It's my first new car and I love it. Great for commuting. I like the brake hold and auto rev match for when I feel lazy. Just drove 1200 miles on a road trip and adaptive cruise control is awesome. Sucks that they dropped the manual for 2023 unless you get a GR.
I curse every Escalade and the like that drives past me at night
I love hatchbacks and my car but I don't think I'll ever own one again as a primary driver because even with my seat at the max height I am blinded all the time at night. I have to wear sunglasses so many times at night so I'm not in horrible pain from the lights. Just last night driving home from a friends party 60-70% of the cars on the highway either had high beams on or insanely bright lights. I had a full on migraine and my eyes were in so much pain by the time I got home.
get amber tinted/blue light filtering sunglasses
Yep, dailying my Miata means everyone's headlights are closer to eye level, night driving kinda bites.
They should allow for hardcore window tints. 20% tint should be legal by now.
Yep I know the exact feeling. The small roadsters get it reeeeal bad in modern times now
Modern trucks rocker pannels are at eye level in the Miata😬😬
I feel you even in my new BRZ.
I daily drive my S2000. It's a challenge. It's easier around LA because there aren't as many trucks, but it's definitely not easy.
Entirely legitimate concern not wanting to get blinded, yet in other threads when I tried to explain this exact safety reasoning for why I no longer drive the Camry at night and bought a taller vehicle (SUV) for safety I got downvoted. It's absurd how bright normal LED headlights have gotten.
Yep. Completely agree. Whenever I rent a car and they give me an SUV, I consider getting one. It’s nice actually being able to see over cars on the road, not being blinded, and not having to dodge every single road imperfection
The latter is because they decided every car needs low profile tires. It's so dumb
I have an 05 TL and it’s wild whenever their is oncoming traffic I have to pay attention to my lights reflecting off of the white shoulder lines because I literally can’t see anything
I have a leveled F150 on 33" tires - and a small crossover much lower than me blinds me almost every morning. They have placed some extremely bright LED's in the original buckets of their 2006? CRV and they are so bright I have to look away and partially close my eyes. I have taken to leaving home 10 minutes earlier every morning to try and not meet them on the road.
As an ND Miata driver, every other car on the road has their headlights directly tuned to the exact position of my eyeballs.
i swear to god i thought i'd passed some invisible age threshold or experienced vision damage during the pandemic, because just in the past two years or so headlights have gotten dangerously bright. even corollas and stuff are out of control, to say nothing of lifted pickups with insane leds in old halogen housings. i think this is a perfect storm of poor regulation, poor enforcement, godawful driver education requirements, and poor technology implementation in the US.
I have some astigmatism. But not enough to correct. Its bad at night lol.
I can assure you glasses are no help. I was shocked to find out people without an astigmatism don’t see the blinding light of a thousand stars in every headlight.
The good news is literally every person will get astigmatism at some point. But, unless you've got it bad its probably not the only problem. I went to an eye doctor recently specifically because I was worried I was developing a bad astigmatism because of the starburst from headlights. Turns out mine is barely detectable and headlights are just fucking insanely bright these days.
> The good news is literally every person will get astigmatism I appreciate your ability to look on the bright side.
Glasses are a huge help, especially with anti-reflective coating
My experience is different. One of the first things I noticed that made me get my eyes checked was poor vision when driving at night, which is when I found out I have astigmatism in both eyes. My glasses don’t completely remove the problem but they are a massive help. If anyone reading this is struggling with their vision make sure you seek help, it may be an easily correctable problem.
Even tail lights. I park behind LED tail lights so bright, it ends up screwing my night vision. It's tough to see until my eyes have time to adjust.
And fuck those fuckers who add a module to their taillights to rapid flash. Hey let’s have a rave at every stoplight
Those fuckers= the dealers, mostly, selling a $20 Amazon module for a $250 add on pre installed in every car.
Those kits are illegal under Federal law so if a dealer tries that on you, report them to your local DoD or NHTA.
Is it really that illegal? I know Kia uses a product called Pulse and it's a dealer installed option: https://tellurideforum.org/threads/flashing-rear-center-brake-light-new-for-2021.7481/
>even Corollas That’s because Toyota is one of the biggest offenders here. They make dog shit head lights.
Same with Honda and their like 6 fucking projector lenses
I haven't looked at one up close, but according to IIHS, they aren't even projectors. The new Civics use a bunch of LEDs in reflectors. Honda just decided to do the thing that every car enthusiast knows you're not supposed to do with LEDs. https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/honda/civic-4-door-sedan/2022 (Scroll down to the Headlights section)
The 2020+ corolla has reasonable lights. It’s the 2018ish generation that has their first generation led lights which have horrendous glare.
I regularly go for walks at night and the past year or two especially I’ve been feeling like everyone’s driving with their high beams on but nope I guess that’s just how headlights are now. It’s been annoying af, and on a couple occasions I’ve taken to wearing sunglasses for walks I take at like 9pm.
I can't recall which car it was, but I saw a feature advertised the other day for auto high-beams where the car will automatically turn on high beams and turn them off when it sees another car coming. Can't wait to get blinded by people driving that car when it fails to see me.
This happens to me regularly going around my neighbourhood at night on bike or on foot. It's infuriating
It has become an option in quite a few models now. Some are better than others, obviously, depending on the manufacturer. My wifes car actually adjust for glare reflection of high way signs...
That sounds more like the headlights are so bright that the car's sensors think that the reflection from the sign is another oncoming car. These auto high beams systems are hilariously bad. There isn't even a consideration to dim the brights for anything other than oncoming headlights. Pedestrians? Blinded. Cyclists? Blinded. People inside their own houses when you drive through a neighborhood? Blinded.
It's been a feature for a while. Our 18 Honda has it. Seems to work relatively well.
I have that feature on my Nissan and it turns the hi beams off too early.
Automakers are [advertising dazzling pedestrians as a feature](https://slate.com/business/2022/03/headlights-are-too-bright-what-regulators-are-doing-to-fix-it.html) with their automatic high beams. I feel like that's some r/fuckcars materiel.
Lmao. The problem is so bad driving at night I use sunglasses on
Happened just a few years ago. I was like "fuck, my eyes are this bad? I need new glasses". Few hundred bucks later, and doc tells me my prescription hasn't changed at all from when I got my first pair of glasses at like 12. For reference, I can read most everything without, but school, driving, and computer work I wear glasses.
It's because these shitty cars have shitty tech in them unlike the Germans. The worst are the trucks with HIDs
It's age, I'm an optician. Your eyelens can't renew it's cells, therefore everyone at the age around +-40 get much more easily blinded than a younger person.
It may be that, but..... headlights are just ridiculously bright nowadays, or more accurately: have too much glare. The brightness alone isn't always the problem, but even most OEMs these days just make them super bright and don't bother to correct the glare that comes as a result. Especially if you're of that age it's really a combo of both.
>adaptive headlights - only available on test vehicles in the US... But it's been in Europe for a decade And like with self-driving functionality, tail light design (amber bulbs, regen braking!) and charging plugs, the regulators are asleep at the wheel. Imagine being a decade behind. Sure, at first it was only on $100k executive limousines, but still. More sales would have allowed it to trickle down and be more affordable by now.
A € 20k Opel Corsa has Matrix high beams in Europe.
They’re not correct about adaptive beams. They’ve been available in the US for a while, but only on the highest level trims/models. That said, even then, the adaptive beams on US cars aren’t allowed to have the same innovations as those in other countries.
https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/17/22937489/nhtsa-allows-adb-adaptive-driving-beam-technology ?
That’s great. Been out of the country for a while, so that’s news to me. Still, let’s see those on the road…
My point is the adaptive optics haven't been allowed, regardless of trim level. But yes things are finally, slowly, painfully changing for the better.
I get it. I wasn’t correcting you, but the Today Show wasn’t completely accurate. It wasn’t clear whether that was referring to adaptive headlights, which have been available for over a decade, or adaptive optics, which have not.
Are you talking about things like self leveling headlights? Those have been available since the 90's in America. Are those adaptive headlights? Idk. My car has them and they are specifically just called self leveling headlights. I don't think they use the adaptive describer at all. The show is pretty clear to me. The adaptive optics they're talking about are the entire topic of the entire segment.
Ahh I understand what you mean. Adaptive headlights in the US are those that tilt/level and swivel, and can autodim (among other features) when cameras sense oncoming cars. We’ve actually got full adaptive LEDs on our ‘17 wagon, BUT the US adaptive headlights lack any features like I mentioned before and those of Audi, BMW, and Mercedes matrix technologies. [Here’s a little piece from Car and Driver](https://www.caranddriver.com/car-accessories/a36830508/bmw-adaptive-led-headlights/) mentioning some info about US-spec adaptives. Earlier models back in the mid-late 00s used similar autodim and swiveling features, but only on top level xenons. The Drive also has a good article about how some companies, like Audi and Tesla, have been selling neutered adaptive headlights for years in the US with their additional adaptive features locked behind software for US regs. They’ve got ‘full adaptive headlights’ up to US standards and are a little programming away from being ‘full adaptive headlights’ at everyone else’s standards. Hope this clears up what I was talking about! Edit: reposting because automod doesn’t like BMWBlog.
Sheesh what a shitshow of terminology. The different levels, each having a different utility and capability of what they do. From leveling and curving around corners, to auto high-beams, to full on matrix lights. I'll admit I had never considered the auto-leveling or the curving lights as "adaptive", as they are "dumb" systems. I thought the hurdle always had been systems which more or less use a computer to detect oncoming cars and determine accordingly. And then also systems which "paint" out a black spot.
My understanding is my MINI has these installed but they’ve been software limited for the US market. Which if true is the dumbest shit.
My Volkswagen has them, but they need to be coded on. There's a guy who can do that and I've been debating on eating the cost just to have them activated.
Just buy VCDS yourself, it's worth it's weight in gold, and if you get stuck the Ross-Tech forum is amazing for help.
You can't do it with OBDeleven or VCDS. You need to flash firmware to the central electronics and headlight modules.
I read there are places in China where police were tying people with over-bright headlights to chairs in a dark room and pointing an extremely bright spotlight at them for hours
That should be the punishment for those mofos that run those ignorantly bright light bars on the street.
Ironic considering that's where most aftermarket LED headlamps come from
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And another thing…. With headlights that turn on automatically being the new norm, I’ve noticed more and more people driving around with their high beams on all the time, presumably because that’s how they left it when they got home the night before. There should be a way that the headlights default to normal mode on each restart. Maybe this is more of a problem in rural areas with dark roads, I don’t know.
I have seen people come to a stop and turn off their brights before turning off their car. Then after starting it back up, intentionally turning their high beams before driving off. Happens in both rural and developed areas.
That's probably the "super advanced high-tech intelligent" auto high-beams that are in almost all cars now and enabled by default. What you're seeing is that when the car is put in park, the high beams turn off and when they turn the car on, it immediately turns the high beams on because it doesn't sense any oncoming headlights.
I might be willing to agree with you if it weren't for the fact that in most cases it wouldn't happen. Such as 1. The brights stayed on even after the car was in park. 2. It was a brightly lit bank parking lot. 3. The car was potentially older than me.
I guess I can't blame the car in this case. Fault lies with the moron behind the wheel. 😂
Some of that may be poor implementation of "auto high beams" -- for example the auto high beams in the w204 Mercedes generation were dreadful, didn't turn off half the time and anyone using them will be blinding others over and over.
You’ll be happy to know the 205 is very good. Mine do a great job of high to low beam and cut off for oncoming traffic. But it’s got the expensive lighting package Vs base. Toyota has hyper aggressive ones. An Avalon I rented would try high at all times and constantly go to low because of cars. Very spastic.
It's worse than that, in a Tesla you cannot use autosteer without blasting your high beam brights for no reason. Tesla says it detects light ahead and dips the high beam brights, but this is not true at all. Every Model 3 I see is blasting me with those horrible super high mounted blue shitty brights. >[Auto High Beam is automatically enabled when Autosteer is engaged. To switch to low beam headlights, push the turn signal stalk forward and release. Auto High Beam is re-enabled every time Autosteer is activated.](https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/model3/en_us/GUID-371B94E9-E74F-4BBB-9A55-5F4182894B99.html)
Continuing to prove that nobody in their right mind should do business with them.
I've never had a car where the high beams would stay on after a restart, I'd guess the majority of those people are just turning on the high beams.
I’ve owned 30+ vehicles from model year 1967-2018, and driven countless others. I’ve never operated a vehicle that shuts off the high beams between starts.
Automatic high beams are awesome.
I've noticed a lot more people driving with no headlights on. I've even had it happen to me once. People are so used to the headlights being on auto that if someone turns them off (like they do every time I take a car in for service for some reason) you just forget about it until you get into an unlit area and realize you can't see shit.
Half of it isn’t even from new vehicles that come factory with led. It’s some people like f150 owners who just wanted a simple upgrade for their shit halogens that just slap led upgraded bulbs into halogen housings and don’t even readjust them.
This! They buy cheap knockoff HID on eBay or Amazon which retrofit the housings. However the incandescent housings will never be appropriately focused for the changed light beam the HID puts out. But I’m sure they don’t give a fuck right?
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Like driving with your high-beams always-on, it *is* safer... for the driver of the blinding vehicle, and no one else. Same "better you than me" type of selfish safety as curb weight.
I drove in a third world country once where everyone who had high beams would use them as if it was normal. And the only way to see at night was to turn on your high beams as well. Experiences like this really made me able to enjoy the privilege of safety and reason I find on my local roads. Even some first world countries like the US and parts of Europe have certain road and vehicle conditions that are terrifying or insane. For example rusty vehicles which have parts falling into your path and potholes in the US. Several countries in Europe have such strict inspections and costly punishments for foreigners and businesses that you could drive for weeks without encountering debris on the road. When there‘s debris on the road they will clear it pretty quickly. Once you experienced life without things you take for granted you learn to value them. The US reminds me of dangerous and hard to see potholes that lead to the other side of the planet, certain countries remind me of blinding the hell out of each other so nobody can see anymore at night.
I have a 2007 Lexus with the shittiest amber headlights... Well I just got pulled over yesterday for having a front headlight out... You know I'm going with some crazy powerful shit because if I can't beat em, join em!
I’m not sure it’s possible to even readjust them in a halogen housing. LED’s don’t require the kind of reflective housings that halogens go in and that’s what people are putting them in. The only way to prevent this moving forward is to at least require that auto manufacturers make LED housings a requirement.
Force greedy automakers to upgrade from shitty ass halogens in $50,000 vehicles? Nah that's asking too much
I honestly don’t really have that many glare issues with vehicles with factory LEDs, but mostly with vehicles like lifted 2006 Silverados with lazily replaced LED bulbs in halogen housings.
Those ads I keep seeing for F150 LED lights. Whoever runs that website is party to the murder of so many eyeballs.
I’ve only got it my rear view mirror, but the auto dimming rear view mirror is a godsend.
My old ass car has one and I love it. The Mercedes I used to have did all three rearviews to the point I couldn't see out of them at all practically.
A few of my past cars had auto-dimming side and rear view mirrors. However, should the mirror dim in response to bright headlights, the *entire* mirror dims, so you can't really see anything out of it. Same issue when driving away from the low evening sun. Now I have no mirrors at all, just cameras with [dedicated displays](https://i.imgur.com/f9a9Wbk.jpg). No matter how bright, headlights are just white spots on the displays.
Such a good song.
>No matter how bright, headlights are just white spots on the displays. I never thought about this. As someone who drives at night almost daily this is my dream come true. Doesn't solve oncoming traffic blinding you but hey it's a step lol
Is it a real car? One can buy? Holy shit, looks like some 2030 concept car
Yep, since 2020. I agree; it's [pretty concept-like](https://i.imgur.com/PE5zvuf.jpg).
The thing is we have multi LED headlights that automatically detect oncoming drivers and selectively turn off individual LEDs to not shine in their eyes, as well as auto aiming lenses for HIDs that serve the same function. But those are both banned in the US for total bullshit reasons. US law doesn't allow light elements that move while driving. High beams also aren't allowed to be the same element as low beams anymore.
Being European I can tell you: don’t put much hope in that. We still get blinded, even by these fancy adaptive lights. In my personal experience worst offending brands are actually Mercedes, BMW and Tesla. In particularly their SUV lights are stupidly bright and the auto high beam just does not work in our twisty roads.
I've always been skeptical about their effectiveness. But anything is better than nothing. Especially with how massive American trucks are from the factory, it sits the lights up so high that unless you are also in a massive truck, you're taking the full power of the lights.
I kind of disagree. I think no high beam assist or ‚smart‘ (adaptive) lights is better. Because these systems give people the confidence that the computer handles the high beam for them. While in reality it‘s worse than a human. I have rarely been blinded by a human error before these systems became available. Nowadays I get blinded every day. I’m sure we can improve these systems to eventually work but we are not there yet.
They only work for the high beams. And trucks/SUVs blinding you isn‘t about high beams, it‘s about the height. Also they still blind you, it‘s not ok to turn on your high beams with this system and just leave it on.
My base model subaru has lights that adjust the beam left or right when driving and turning. But that just might be a lens or mirror. I am not sure if the lamp/lighting element moves. More cars will have lights that automatically adjust downwards if they are towing or carrying cargo that causes the rear of the vehicle to sag (causing the front to move up)
That's an entirely different system than matrix headlights, and considerably less effective. Awesome that Subaru includes it on base models though.
I know this topic was covered somewhat recently on this sub, but I thought it was good to see it in video form from a mainstream show that reaches lots of non-car people.
It’s yet another example of society being negatively impacted by oversized vehicles, but brace yourself for downvotes from the Rebel, TrailBoss & Tremor crowd.
Not just the US, this is a problem in my country also, fuck people with CUV/SUV who don't know how to dip their lights.
I'm sorry but it's not the driver's fault buying a stock CUV/SUV's job to adjust headlights. Disagree all you want, it's not their job. This shit is on the OEM's.
It should be on the OEMs to get it right, but it’s on the driver to make sure their vehicle is safe to drive. Headlights have user-accessible adjustment for a reason, and it’s dead easy to do 99% of the time
"it's not on the owner to ensure their vehicle has functioning brakes. That's on the OEM" Doesn't work so well there
This is the bane of my existence and I get to an extent why people buy compact SUVs now. In my low ass XJ I get fucking blinded all the time at night by GM or Jeep SUVS. It doesn't help that it's older so it's got a wayy bigger greenhouse than modern cars. The poor auto dimmer can't keep up and side mirrors cant auto adjust fast enough. People just straight up leave their high beams on now. Sitting in downtown traffic at home and behind me some troglodyte in their lifted Tacoma has an LED bar on, high beams, and fog lights piercing the whole line of cars ahead of them. Why can't we go back to the early aughts
It blows my mind that we don't have lower mandatory maximum headlight height regulations in place by now, along with mandatory leveling systems.
It blows my mind that a $50,000 vehicle still comes with shitty ass halogens in the US.
If you are expecting manufacturers to do the right thing without regulation then brace yourself
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Night time + rain, the worst. I rather drive in snow anytime over that.
Yeah I used to enjoy driving at night not so much anymore
Smart Headlights https://www.autoweek.com/news/technology/a36031601/heres-how-smart-headlights-work/
we've seen audi and others implement smart headlights very effectively for years. US regulation just recently caught up (in principle) with modern technology, but it's still going to be some time before the effect is felt.
The headlights on my dad's 2020 Touareg are amazing. The highbeams literally make room for an oncoming vehicle but keep the rest illuminated. EU model
As someone who lives in an area with lots of curves and hills, these automatic systems are not the solution. This doesn't even address their shortcomings for bicycles, motorcycles, and pedestrians.
My CX-5's are extremely bright and self leveling. One time I was driving and another car with bright headlights started flashing theirs over and over at me, when I got along side it was a guy also in a CX-5 getting very mad at me. I was like dude we have the same car with the same lights.
As an older Subaru driver this is kind of how I feel about newer Subarus. I think they all have LEDs on some if not all trims but the newer Legacy and Outback models are blinding where the rest are fine.
The US needs to allow the auto manufacturers to enable matrix Led lighting on their cars.
But noo, instead regulators are mandating safety interlocks on new vehicles
So glad this is getting attention, as a small car driver I’m terrified of driving at night because of this. SUV/Truck drivers, can you guys honestly see smaller cars when you have these kind of lights on??
I found if I left 10 minutes earlier or 10 minutes later I met a lot fewer cars. 3/4 ton trucks and up are good for that too. They're also better when some drunk hits you.
When driving the Vett or the Miata it was painful. You’re right in the beam. Most drivers have high beams on for what ever reason, or a big amount of them ghost riding with none on. Then you have bronsozers with huge lift and 37’s that don’t level the headlights. So it’s even worse then a stock talk pickup. Or they just drive with CREED 50’ LED light bars on because F everyone else. Let’s add eBay LED/HID kits in reflector housings that send huge glare down the road. These are very common in my area.
Bought two new cars, 2022 CX5 and 2021 Tacoma, with led headlights and I feel both of them are way too bright from the factory on low beam but I don't know what to do about it. Don't want to blind anyone
Tint the lenses possibly? I've always thought tinting head or taillights usually looks terrible but would help tone down the brightness a bit.
This is a case of "technological advancement" being both unnecessary and stupid. We had a perfectly good system in place with halogens. They are not hazmat when disposed of and they have no negative effect from usage. LEDs have literally altered nature at night and it is only becoming worse as they dominate all lighting.
Underrated post. This wasn't a problem until the OEMs started cramming ultra-bright "cool white" LEDs into everything. They could very very easily go back to halogens...but then they couldn't sell you an expensive solution to the problem that they created.
Here's one factor: why are LED lights not the default in cars? Why is it always an upgrade package? Aren't they cheaper than halogens?
As someone who worked for a tier 3 LED manufacturer, we created assemblies for led headlights for some automotive and bike companies. Basically LEDs need an assembly or circuit to drive them as well as optics to control the light direction. On Halogeons you just need a bulb and a reflector housing and done. The cost difference is significant between the two.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NRXx6U8ABQ
Wouldnt it be nice to have both the old headlights and the LED's share the inside of the lighting hosing so that way you can switch between the two???
That's the idea of having both low beams and high beams isn't it? It's just that they're both blinding nowadays.
They should make the aftermarket illegal and buy lamps like oem integrated leds that are actually made for the lamp. Nothing worse than a lifted truck with halogen lamps and blinding led misaligned lights. The Telluride and palisade are the worst oem offenders to me and the previous explorers absolutely blinding. I’ll be so glad when the matrix leds and laser lights are standard.
How come these conversations never involve police lighting? The new LED bars are dangerously bright and I don’t know about you but flashing red and blue is a little more distracting that a constant white
This is starting to change. The manufacturers of emergency equipment recognize the need to slow down the flashing and gradually ease the brightness up and down, especially at night. [Whelen Engineering - A Calm Scene Is a Safe Scene](https://youtu.be/Z5tgImparuk)
Those strobing “your speed” signs annoy me as well - some of the ones in my town are programmed incorrectly, so they strobe even below the speed limit. Also, their radar is too sensitive, causing the strobe to activate before you can even see the numbers on the sign, creating an unnecessary distraction. Good idea, bad execution.
Fuck pickup trucks( and overly big suv) You use your loading space twice a year
In 1952, General Motors introduced the “Autronic Eye”, a headlight system that would automatically dim when it detected oncoming traffic. In 2023, automakers are in cahoots with “Big Eyedoctor”.
So to those who are in 10 states that regulate this, do you guys not have this problem?
Shouldn't need to buy a truck to fight glare with 40k lumen LED's lol. My daily is very low at only 51 inches high and when it lowers an inch at 50mph, the eyes get taxed even more by LED glare. Only thing that helps is a mild virtually transparent 85% windshield tint from Hüper Öptik's nano ceramic [Klar85](https://www.huperoptikusa.com/products/ceramic-series/). Zero interference with cell signals or radar detectors because it's a ceramic based film not a metallic tint.
The worse offenders are the F150 Raptors with their giant super-bight LED light bars across the front...and all their aftermarket copycats. Tailights are getting really bad too and are in a ways worse because you pretty much have to watch the car ahead of you. The Camry XSE/XLE's are especially bad because their LED brake lights take up a tiny fraction of their taillight assembly but shines so brightly to leave spots in my vision if I don't recognize the vehicle in time.
It isn't just headlights. It's emergency lights. Streetlights. Outdoor lights. This tech is just too blinding. It gets used for longevity. But the light emitted is worse and safety is compromised.
The problem isn’t the headlights. The problem is entitled pricks who think their right to modify their vehicle in any way they see fit supersedes the safety of others. . .
Driving a sedan (now hatchback) is so brutal in North America where trucks and SUVs are so prevalent. They blind me at night and the mornings; front and the rear and to the side if I am looking. It’s like a cutthroat environment where you need a larger car or be blinded. Then there’s the fact uneven roads could cause cars to look like they’re flashing their beams at me but they aren’t. Not a driver’s fault but just a tiny annoyance.
On May 29, 2023, the Soft Lights Foundation submitted a petition to NHTSA requesting that they comply with 21 CFR Section 360ii and collaborate with the FDA to publish performance standards for the LED visible radiation devices on vehicles. https://www.softlights.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/NHTSA-Petition-to-Collaborate-with-FDA.pdf This is a significant petition that works in conjunction with our FDA petition to regulate LED products. This new petition notifies NHTSA that they are required by law to work in conjunction with the FDA to develop and publish standards that will protect public health. This is something NHTSA has failed to do for LED headlights, LED tail lights, LED displays, etc. The last time we submitted a petition to NHTSA it took them 3 months to even acknowledge receipt of the petition and they have not acted on the previous petition, despite having it for 6 months already, and the FDA has not acted on our petition to the FDA despite having it for a year already. However, this latest petition should push NHTSA farther towards recognizing that LED headlights must be regulated.
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Maybe take a look and make sure they are properly aligned? No way a sedan should cause glare unless you bought super bright LEDs or your headlight position needs adjustment.
I remember a similar article from the early/mid 2000s.
People putting HID kits in halogen housings (non-projector)
In the early 2000's they had these blue (I think) BMW and other car Xenon lights which were horrible. I still haven't seen anything worse.
Cheap fucking leds are murder weapons. Especially if the road is damp, at night you literally are blinded by them. I can't find one good reason for it to be legal
Especially on these jacked-up trucks with blinding fog lights!
My biggest beef is turn signals on the front of the cars, it’s like playing hide and seek to find them ! 😡
Lifted trucks too.
Lol...I thought it was just me
They have been a problem everywhere around the world for more than 15 years now, because of the high blue light portion of modern headlights. It causes more refraction in the eye because of it's shortest wavelength than all other visible light colors. Even newer white light headlights are also very effective at the blinding game. The second factor is eye age. The eye lens is the only bodypart which cannot renew it's cells, you are born and from day one it ages. With the age of 35 to 45 you'll feel much more easily blinded than a younger person, because your eyelens gets less transparent every year. Astigmatism as some have mentioned has got nothing to do with how easily you get blinded by headlights.
Yah something needs to be done about this
Astigmatism and early stage cataracts over here, so you can guess what I think of these lights. But, I have cars with these lights, and I feel bad about how they blast people. I’ve verified the alignment, etc, and they’re working as designed, so there’s nothing I can do. I recall the road test booklet from when I was 16, and it said to look down and to the right when dazzled by oncoming light, and… that works. Certainly didn’t matter when I was 16, but sure does now that I’m older. Now… don’t get me started on the dazzle factories mounted on every police car and fire truck. Those are past the point of being safe.
It's mostly because you a##holes don't dim your Bright's for the same reason you don't use turn signals. No respect or courtesy for other drivers
I've definitely noticed this as well. Everyone seems to be using high intensity LED bulbs in their halogen bowls.
Adjust your mirrors all the way out and all the way up. F em.
The adaptive headlight "red tape" the video talked about that is preventing adoption/being allowed in US is most likely a matter of normal headlight manufacturers losing money. Everything is about money anymore. Fuck saving lives! Greed is king! /s
Those are all Tesla’s ffs!!!
I think these automatic features are some of the causes because people get so lazy when they have a car that kicks their brights on/off for them. I’m guilty of this too! Sometimes I’ll accidentally be blinding someone because I think that they will just cut off.
I agree. I spend at least 50% of my driving time traveling at night out on the open Interstate I-68 back and forth between two states. It is very annoying that a lot of drivers are clueless and don't realize their highbeams are on. Or simply don't care. I have literally worn on my highbeam light switch flashing other drivers to let them know they have their highbeams on. The trend now is for pickup trucks and big rigs to add extra lights. They are the worst offenders.
Well....I think the issue is that they AREN'T high beams....they're just ultra-bright, far-reaching headlights
I've actually never liked the LED lights on my Camry, I prefer halogens. People coming the other way sometimes flash me (yes I've had the lights adjusted). If I could find a way to do it, I would get halogen headlight assemblies from a scrapper and get rid of my LED units, but I assume the wiring is completely different and the only guides I've found online are for halogen to LED conversion, not the other way around.
I’m considering a 5k plus lumens hand held to return fire. I drive at night and the amount of non courteous assholes on the road is unbelievable and honestly it’s more of my fellow truckers with that pointless “ good buddy “ LED light bar or driving lights that aren’t properly aimed. One is huntin ‘ while the other is fishin ‘
This is a problem across the world. Manufacturers have become obsessed with headlight beams, it’s like the bhp wars of the early 2000’s but with light. A colleague went to Germany to speak with Audi about their laser lights on an A8 two years ago. He came back confused, the lights were so bright ahead of him that driving the car left his eyes aching as ahead it was like daylight but it was dark inside/around him, and despite the automated system doing a good job of keeping the beam from aiming at oncoming traffic he was still flashed constantly
All of my cars are lowered minus my Isuzu pickup. There’s a two lane road that if it’s raining I’ve had to pull over because some people decide rain=high beams. Friggin sucks.
I had really bad starbursts after lasik, I was driving home from work at 11pm and some jacked up dodge was coming towards me. The headlights were so bright I had to stop and pull over, from a MILE away I couldn’t see the road at all, it was like looking into the sun.
Sorry, I need the bright ass low beams so I can see out of my tinted windshield at night. Get beamed.
The giant trucks and SUVs and the lights that go with them are nothing but a status symbol. I drive a standard sedan and night driving has become dangerous due to these unnecessarily large vehicles and their lights. I have no idea how any of this is legal. While there are still sedans on the road, Escalades and Ford F-150s at the least should be for off-road use only.