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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?

#91

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

sandworm101 wrote: post #76
a2tech wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My parents live near Lake Michigan (although decidedly NOT on the lake) and I made the mistake of visiting them last weekend and driving home on Sunday night when everyone was migrating from their lake house back to the city. I think I spent roughly half the drive back with stars in my eyes from people in Audis and BMWs blowing by me with their ridiculously bright headlights. If I made the mistake of checking my blin…

Lake country + Sunday night = high beams. When people improperly load vehicles, especially when towing things like boats, the headlights tip upwards. You were probably seeing overloaded vehicles, trailers with high tongue weights because they pushed everything to the front rather than center the cargo over the axle. That pushes the back of the truck down and the headlights up.

All it takes is aftermarket lighting with the cutoff in a different position and nobody willing to bother reaiming the lights. I see this a lot. The low beams are notionally not too bright but they are pointing forward without any effective cutoff.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#92

Post by mcv »

I know very little about headlights, but I do know that too many cars have a certain kind of extra bright, blue-white headlights which hurt my eyes. I don't know why they are allowed, but I'd love to see them banned.

They may be great for the driver, but getting blinded isn't much fun for oncoming traffic.

> "When a car approaches in the oncoming lane, the 911's headlights dim around it while leaving the rest of the pattern bright."

And what if it's a bike in the incoming lane? Or on the separate bike path on either side of the road? Will it detect that?

Because too often, clever car technologies don't properly account for other traffic than cars.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#93

Post by philwelch »

sandworm101 wrote: post #76
a2tech wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My parents live near Lake Michigan (although decidedly NOT on the lake) and I made the mistake of visiting them last weekend and driving home on Sunday night when everyone was migrating from their lake house back to the city. I think I spent roughly half the drive back with stars in my eyes from people in Audis and BMWs blowing by me with their ridiculously bright headlights. If I made the mistake of checking my blin…

Lake country + Sunday night = high beams. When people improperly load vehicles, especially when towing things like boats, the headlights tip upwards. You were probably seeing overloaded vehicles, trailers with high tongue weights because they pushed everything to the front rather than center the cargo over the axle. That pushes the back of the truck down and the headlights up.

This reminds me of the “not sure if bumpy road or literally everyone in the oncoming lane is flashing their lights at me” phenomenon.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#95

Post by alkonaut »

rootusrootus wrote: post #79
chrisseaton wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say there is almost certainly a little wheel somewhere on your dashboard to adjust them. My Land Rover has this.

Not if they are halogens. I've only seen manual adjustment on HID-equipped cars, and only older ones. Most anything modern is auto-leveling.

I have only seen manual adjust on halogen and only auto adjust (because it's a requirement in Europe at least) on Xenon.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#96

Post by tnuc »

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.

Putting in orange lights costs auto makers money. Please think of the poor auto companies.

Saving lives is less important than a companies bottom line.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#97

Post by xondono »

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.

That’s one of the things I miss the most of driving through america.

Being able to make your car honk from your remote is magic to someone like my that always forgets where the car was parked. I’ve tried to see if I could turn that feature on on cars in Europe but so far, no luck.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#98

Post by alkonaut »

01100011 wrote: post #51
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.

Is blinding that big a problem? Assuming the lowbeams are well adjusted, they should never blind anyone. The number of times each winter that I forget to switch off my high beams for an oncoming driver and blind him is between zero and one.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#99

Post by bstar77 »

detaro wrote: post #62
bstar77 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Too annoying to look at the car for the 2 seconds it takes to see the indicators flash, which seems to be the common alternative?

yes

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#100

Post by bstar77 »

crooked-v wrote: post #59
bstar77 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

http://vehiclesecurity.co.nz/blog/keyless-block/
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