Why is America stuck with bad headlights? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#201

Post by spanhandler » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 4:18 AM UTC

ShamelessC wrote: post #135

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.

Is there some other feature you can use to find your car in a parking lot? I have pretty bad ADD so this happens to me a lot, but I assume it happens every now and then to most people in any case.

The alarm. Not good for anything else, so may as well use it for that. Or pop the trunk if you can, and if it'll pop up high enough to be noticeable, and if you don't have anything in there someone might walk off with. Or that iPhone feature where it makes pretty decent guesses about when you're parking a car and tells you where it is.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#202

Post by kube-system » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 4:19 AM UTC

alkonaut wrote: post #85

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.

The range of the key should be tiny, so it should be easy to see the lights flash even in daylight (and often rearview mirrors fold).

Depends on where you're parked.

https://i.imgur.com/9UsaZ.jpg

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#203

Post by mberning » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 4:21 AM UTC

partiallypro wrote: post #138

I get the criticism, want, and need...but comparing a $120K+ Porsche to a $20K average car isn't exactly a fair comparison, even when it comes to headlights. The replacement cost on that headlight is probably astronomical, where I can replace a bulb for $40. I don't even know if the Boxster which is around ~$60K comes with these headlights. A quick lookup and those Porsche headlights cost ~$2K EACH.

It’s a really poor argument and also very misleading. They make it sound as if this is something special that is not found on this continent. Many manufacturers have excellent LED headlamps. They just have a static beam pattern. I’m sure over time as cost becomes less of a factor and as regs change these adaptive units will become more common.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#204

Post by acituan » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 4:26 AM UTC

aaomidi wrote: post #54

dominotw wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

> what is with this gross authoritarianism? most of these people using these bright LEDs dont realize how bright it is for the other drivers

There are wishes for gross authoritarianism because US has problems with lesser, appropriate regulations. The way other countries handle this is periodic vehicle inspections - just like smog checks but with more points - which also measure from the lumens and angle of your headlights to whether your wipers work properly, failure of which bars your car off the public roads. If this was suggested in the US eyes would roll, heads would turn, nanny state arguments would be invoked. In the absence of reifying such moderate measures, people let go of their pent up frustrations of failing to be a cooperating society in the form of wishing imprisonment or worse onto each other.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#205

Post by kube-system » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 4:27 AM UTC

spanhandler wrote: post #190

kube-system wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A vehicle in the US that would be colloquially referred to as a 'truck' almost certainly does not . Headlight level controls are extremely rare in the US.

Been driving about 20 years in the US, owned eight or nine cars (mostly small to mid-sized sedans and minivans) over the years between me & the wife, and I can't recall ever seeing headlight level controls.

I'm an enthusiast who has owned dozens of vehicles and driven around a hundred. I have only seen this feature on a couple of euro luxury cars.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#206

Post by WWLink » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 4:28 AM UTC

I would ask why America is stuck with bad tail lights.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#207

Post by tmaly » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 4:28 AM UTC

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 base price of the car in the article is $217k. I would expect it to have superior lights.

The xeon light addon for a porsche in 2013 was $2k.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#208

Post by PhantomGremlin » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 4:33 AM UTC

mcv wrote: post #92

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…

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?

Does the oncoming bike have a headlight?

My car doesn't have matrix headlights (since I'm in USA) but it does have a necessary tool. It has a camera which detects oncoming vehicles.

In my experience the camera works quite well. It dims my headlights more quickly than I can react manually. It also dims them when there's a lot of overall lighting (such as street lights).

I can't attest to the specific situation of a bicycle. Around here, riding a bicycle after dark is a dangerous thing to do.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#209

Post by ShamelessC » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 4:35 AM UTC

spanhandler wrote: post #201

ShamelessC wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there some other feature you can use to find your car in a parking lot? I have pretty bad ADD so this happens to me a lot, but I assume it happens every now and then to most people in any case.

The alarm. Not good for anything else, so may as well use it for that. Or pop the trunk if you can, and if it'll pop up high enough to be noticeable, and if you don't have anything in there someone might walk off with. Or that iPhone feature where it makes pretty decent guesses about when you're parking a car and tells you where it is.

I'm confused. Isn't the whole complaint that the honks are too loud? Isn't an alarm worse?

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#210

Post by leviathant » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 4:36 AM UTC

anchpop wrote: post #10

boring_twenties wrote: post #3

I installed the (OEM) European headlights on my car. It's, well, a night and day difference. It's been 8 years and no one has noticed.

I didn't know this was possible! Something to keep in mind if I ever buy a nice car.

My first 'new' car was a 2001 Hyundai Elantra, and while they're economy compact cars with minimal features in the US, they have a lot of upgraded features in Korea. One of the silly things I did in my early 20s was to swap out US parts for Korean parts - and I was able to sell my US parts for more than it cost to import their Korean upgrades.

So, for no good reason, I had an econobox with OEM wood-look dash and trim, chrome handles, OEM gauges for oil pressure, voltage, and fuel economy, upgraded stereo and suspension, leather trim, etc. It's silly what kind of hobbies spring up when you're living in central Pennsylvania and maybe aren't using your free time as productively as you could be.

Point is, definitely check out the factory options available in your car's country of origin - but also make sure you know they'll definitely be compatible with the increasingly computerized systems you're swapping them in to, and make sure you're not doing anything that's going to end up failing annual inspection.