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

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#431

Post by mumblemumble » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 1:50 PM UTC

dhimes wrote: post #426

mumblemumble wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also fog lights being left on at all times. When I'm being followed by an SUV with a relatively high chassis and a set of fog lights that the owner blithely keeps turned on, it can be very nearly physically painful for me.

Fog lights? Mine are mounted and shine low. I thought they all were so they don't bounce back into the driver's eyes when there is actually fog.

What's low relative to the height of the driver in the kinds of vehicles that typically come equipped with fog lights can be quite high relative to the kinds of vehicles that typically don't. Also, a lot of fog lights don't, from what I can tell, seem to be anywhere near as focused as headlights.

Granted, I'm no expert on fog lights, so I could be misunderstanding the details of the situation. I've never owned them, so I haven't had occasion to know how they're supposed to work. All I really know about them is that they regularly blind me when I'm driving at night.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#432

Post by spanhandler » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 1:53 PM UTC

ShamelessC wrote: post #209

spanhandler wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

In, say, a major shopping chain suburban parking lot, anyone annoyed by a car alarm going off for five seconds is just looking for something to be annoyed by. Different story on a city street or in a neighborhood, sure.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#433

Post by nullc » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 2:00 PM UTC

Taek wrote: post #260

beenBoutIT wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Fast and Furious franchise is, not unlike the late 2pac, a reflection of the community. A percentage of America has always been modding their cars and an even larger percentage enjoys dreaming about modding cars - the films draw from that, not the other way around.

It's a mutual thing. The Fast and Furious franchise draws from the car culture in America, but the car culture in America also draws from the Fast and Furious franchise. If the director had chosen to highlight slightly different aspects or de-emphasize certain aspects, car culture in America would be different (though stray too far, and F&F is potentially no longer the same mega-hit).

The street races in San Jose looked pretty much just like F&F long before the movie came out.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#434

Post by pandaman » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 2:12 PM UTC

nullc wrote: post #359

pandaman wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Such system could work in moderate conditions, though it's doubtful. As soon as you get water "dust" in front of the headlight the only thing this tracking can do is to shut off the light entirely, there is no way isolating separate droplets and the cloud of "dust" will disperse the light further into the medium.

Well, if you don't mind the driver having to watch via a HUD there is range-gated imaging which does exactly the thing you're assuming is impossible. :P

I assume you either don't understand what range-gated imaging is or how the headlights work.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#435

Post by mdtusz » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 2:12 PM UTC

kube-system wrote: post #216

partiallypro wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you can replace your bulbs for less than $100, it would appear due to the housing mechanics, etc you'd have to replace the entire headlight unit if one went out for this particular setup. Also the quote I looked at was used, someone else here posted it might cost more like $5K each, new.

No, I can't. There are no replaceable headlight bulbs on my Toyota either. Just like this Porsche, you replace the entire unit if it goes bad. This is the norm for OEM LED headlamps -- they're considered lifetime parts, not wear items.

I'm not sure why you think this but it is very incorrect. I can't speak for your Toyota, but most car headlight assembly's absolutely allow for replacing the bulbs inside them.

Your dealership may not tell you this because they're incentivized to sell you that 2k housing, but do some research and you will almost certainly find that you can replace the bulb for $50 or less.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#436

Post by jaclaz » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 2:22 PM UTC

mschuster91 wrote: post #296

lvspiff wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 gla…

> 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 In Germany, headlight aim is checked at the 2-yea mandatory inspection, dito for exhaust stuff. Is that not a part of US checks?

I think it is more or less the same in all EU:

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX%3A...

Here (Italy) you have the first check/inspection after 4 years (for a new car) and from then on every 2 years.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#437

Post by aidenn0 » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 2:24 PM 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…

Don't forget people with raised pickups that now have their headlights above the height of your eyes. I've had to point my rear-view mirror at the ceiling with those behind me.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#438

Post by CivBase » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 2:28 PM UTC

dave_aiello wrote: post #179

CivBase wrote: post #174

> Each of the 911's lighting units includes 84 individually controlled LEDs that allow the car to continuously morph the pattern of its beams. When a car approaches in the oncoming lane, the 911's headlights dim around it while leaving the rest of the pattern bright. [...] Porsche would also dim the right side if road signs on the shoulder were overly reflective. The article never mentions, but how does the Porsche d…

> I also assume a system like that would probably be very expensive.... Couldn't that also have been said about anti-lock braking systems (ABS), if you go far enough back in automotive history?

Yes. I just wanted to know if this was a ubiquitous feature in Europe or just a new tech that hasn't yet left the luxury market. The article title implies that the US is significantly behind the times here and I wanted more info to gauge how true that is.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#439

Post by minkzilla » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 2:29 PM UTC

seer wrote: post #278

ramenmeal wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've noticed newer Toyota headlights's are really bright and angled too high up. That or Toyota drivers leave their brights on more.

Isn’t there a knob to control the angle of the projectors? So that if you have heavy cargo at the back you can adjust the angle? In the country I live in you’ll get honked to oblivion if you mess with that and blind the other drivers.

Two of the five cars my family has owned in the last 20 years have had that feature.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#440

Post by jaclaz » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 2:45 PM UTC

bonzini wrote: post #58

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

No, it was only France, where they were mandatory.

In other EU countries they were however allowed up to a certain date (in Italy they are accepted only for vehicles built before 1993, and in the same date France made them not mandatory).

The yellow is not "a" yellow it is a very specific one, called "Selective Yellow":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_yellow