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Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

caranddriver.com

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Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#51

Post by 01100011 »

cbg0 wrote: post #15

A friend of mine has this type of headlights on his BMW, and while they are very cool at night with the adaptive beams that light the road without blinding other drivers, I can't say that I find them to be a must-have, and I'd be hard-pressed to pay the premium to get them on my car compared to my current xenon lights that can only corner as I turn the wheel. Unless you're frequently driving at night, you'll be just…

I think if you asked the other drivers they might say that you having adaptive lights is a must have.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#52

Post by [deleted] »

coding123 wrote: post #4

Even more idiotic is my truck. I put a camper on it. I can't drive it at night because the weight of the camper tilts the entire truck back just a bit so that the head lights are aimed right at driver's eyes even on the lowbeams. Everyone flashes me and gets pissed off. Hopefully Adaptive headlights account for things like this.

[deleted]

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#53

Post by lvspiff »

serf wrote: post #14

groups like Audi/Porsche/BMW have trouble bringing their fancy LED setups to America due to laws pertaining to high / low beams -- meanwhile every Jack and Jill on the road has glaringly illegal aftermarket Xenon bulb setups in refractor headlight housings rather than proper projectors, blinding the hell out of everyone on the road, and the police seem to do nothing about it. I mean, hey -- i'm usually happy about au…

The worst thing to happen to America was Autozone and Fast and Furious. Cheap aftermarket modifications to your car being sold to people with no knowledge of what they were doing but wanted it too look cool cause they saw it in the movie. Its led to years of teenagers with no training putting things on their cars that turn them into obnoxious spectacles on the road.

I know I sound like an old coot but frankly I'm glad my dad showed me how to install/aim headlights and along with explaining the benefits of a working unmodified exhaust system and how it should sound.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#54

Post by aaomidi »

dominotw wrote: post #44
aaomidi wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what is with Americans and jumping up at just jailing people? jesus christ you don't need to jail people because they used bright lights.

shows basic lack of concern for other people's lives on the road, same as drunk driving. > because they used bright lights. Why are people doing this in the first place. I don't understand.

what does jailing someone achieve here? what is with this gross authoritarianism? most of these people using these bright LEDs dont realize how bright it is for the other drivers - it's probably just to make the roads brighter because driving in America is extremely different than the rest of the world (very very rural highways - with essentially no extra lighting)

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#55

Post by [deleted] »

dominotw wrote: post #44
aaomidi wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what is with Americans and jumping up at just jailing people? jesus christ you don't need to jail people because they used bright lights.

shows basic lack of concern for other people's lives on the road, same as drunk driving. > because they used bright lights. Why are people doing this in the first place. I don't understand.

[deleted]

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#56

Post by throwaway29102 »

decafninja wrote: post #27
serf wrote: post #14

groups like Audi/Porsche/BMW have trouble bringing their fancy LED setups to America due to laws pertaining to high / low beams -- meanwhile every Jack and Jill on the road has glaringly illegal aftermarket Xenon bulb setups in refractor headlight housings rather than proper projectors, blinding the hell out of everyone on the road, and the police seem to do nothing about it. I mean, hey -- i'm usually happy about au…

re: "aftermarket xenon bulb setups" Is this still a big problem? While I would have agreed with you, say, back in the 2000s when the whole "import tuner" craze was in full swing, I don't think this is popular anymore. The car mod scene seems to be close to extinct now, with whats left being a lot less crazy than those in the past.

The 2000s are just starting to reach the Dakotas and the rest of the Midwest.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#57

Post by bob1029 »

serf wrote: post #14

groups like Audi/Porsche/BMW have trouble bringing their fancy LED setups to America due to laws pertaining to high / low beams -- meanwhile every Jack and Jill on the road has glaringly illegal aftermarket Xenon bulb setups in refractor headlight housings rather than proper projectors, blinding the hell out of everyone on the road, and the police seem to do nothing about it. I mean, hey -- i'm usually happy about au…

I challenge you on the assertion that this trend of illegal lighting is many times worse than obnoxiously loud exhaust.

Life safety is certainly a bigger factor with the headlights, but all other aspects are orders of magnitude more disruptive on the acoustic side. Having bright-as-sun headlights driving around town at 3am is not going to cause a lot of trouble for most residents (as they would be indoors sleeping peacefully). On the other hand, someone driving around at 3am in a turbo diesel truck with muffler delete may be able to single-handedly rouse your entire town from its slumber.

Which one of these actors has the most adverse net impact on society?

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#58

Post by bonzini »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #43
decafninja wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

re: "aftermarket xenon bulb setups" Is this still a big problem? While I would have agreed with you, say, back in the 2000s when the whole "import tuner" craze was in full swing, I don't think this is popular anymore. The car mod scene seems to be close to extinct now, with whats left being a lot less crazy than those in the past.

We also missed out on the yellow sodium headlight craze in Europe during the 80s or 90s. Headlights in the USA must be whitish in color. Anyone know why?

As far as I remember that didn't happen in all countries. I remember seeing them when going on vacation to France (Corsica) in the mid 80s, but never at home.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#59

Post by crooked-v »

bstar77 wrote: post #48
heipei wrote: post #28

Even more importantly: Why is America still stuck with cars that honk when they're locked and that have indicator lights flashing in the same color as the tail-lights? One is a nuisance, the other one a straight-up safety issue.

When I lived in Canada we had to turn on the honk mode because there were too many people using devices that block remote vehicle locking. The honk is an obvious indicator that the car did, indeed, lock.

> there were too many people using devices that block remote vehicle locking

I'd be interested in more context on that.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#60

Post by acdha »

ejz wrote: post #16

Ah, it's our good old friend, regulation!

This is a great example of what Tyler Cowen referred to as the Libertarian Vice:

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2006/08/th...

Regulation is not intrinsically good or bad any more than, say, law or any other social convention. If you want to contribute to the conversation you need to discuss the different factors which make a particular example better or worse than alternatives — for example, you could start by asking whether the reason why this innovation from Europe is not available in the U.S. is because Europe does not have regulation or because the quality of that regulation is different.

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