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

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#471

Post by kasey_junk » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 6:58 PM UTC

brianwawok wrote: post #381

justapassenger wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tesla’s lack tons of stuff that’s standard or an option on other high end cars. They need to catch up on things like ventilated and massage seats, HUD, CarPlay, bird view cameras and many many more. They’re effectively simple cars, with powerful computer and drivetrain. Adding localized and very complex feature is likely very low on their to do list, especially as their RD spending is ridiculously low, and trending d…

CarPlay is silly. CarPlay was made for legacy manufacturers who can’t make a decent UI. The UI on Tesla is generally ahead of CarPlay. Not even sure how you would do CarPlay.. a small pop-up window? It couldn’t take over the whole nav or you lose Energy display and a host of other good stuff.

New Subaru’s have the full iPad dash like Tesla’s and integrate CarPlay just fine. It’s a widget in a bigger ui.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#472

Post by dkn775 » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 7:28 PM UTC

kube-system wrote: post #166

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.

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.

They are usually in the bottom of the bumper as a little screw, or on the inside of the engine bay in the front near the top of the radiator. They are in most cars.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#473

Post by dkn775 » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 7:29 PM 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.

They have manual adjustments in the engine Bay Area on most cars

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#474

Post by gambiting » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 7:35 PM UTC

pythonaut_16 wrote: post #465

gambiting wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BMW is doing it right now - some of their US cars will come with features locked behind a subscription model. Want heated seats? They are $99 a year, you get a free 14 day trial to see if you like the feature. Same with adaptive cruise, with more advanced media features etc etc. Their argument is that vast majority of new BMWs in US are leased, so it's "better" for customers to lease a basic model for less, and then…

Having features like heated seats tied to a subscription crosses the line. It's one thing to install them in all cars as an additional feature that can be enabled, but charging a subscription for it is ludicrous. I don't mind soft-locked features too much since it can be cheaper for the manufacturer to just install it on everything than to build two separate models; plus it can be nice as a consumer to still have tho…

Well, Tesla has started some time ago - the most basic model 3(the one you can only order over the phone and in their centres) comes with heated seats disabled by software and you can pay Tesla to unlock it for a fee. But at least once you did they stayed unlocked forever*

*Well, there's been one case where a second hand Tesla lost all the extra features that were paid for by the previous owner and Tesla argued that the new owner had to pay again, but I think after media complained they backed off and reenabled it

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#475

Post by Shorel » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 7:54 PM UTC

Also: awfully designed signal lights.

They should be yellow, not red. And work independently of the brake lights.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#476

Post by nemo44x » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 8:06 PM UTC

Nursie wrote: post #460

nemo44x wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah that’s mainly correct I believe. The USA had an earlier electronic system well established by the time chip and pin was available. The costs to switch would have been greater than the amount of fraud prevented. We see this in other systems like NYC’s metrocard VS London’s Oyster. Metrocard was an early system that works reasonably well. Now the MTA is deploying a new modern system as metro gets near its planned…

>The USA had an earlier electronic system well established by the time chip and pin was available. So did many other places. > I think the USA has been far more innovative with credit cards that give rewards. US credit card schemes charge merchants massively more, so yes, these fees can then be used to give "rewards". EU cards have lower rewards because the fees are limited by law. It's not something to be proud of.…

I guess USA citizens tend to have higher incomes than Western Europeans which could maybe explain why Americans pay higher prices. But I’m not sure we do.

It’s weird though that 3x as many Western Europeans move to the USA than the other way around.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#477

Post by u801e » Tue, Aug 04, 2020, 11:45 PM UTC

Shorel wrote: post #475

Also: awfully designed signal lights. They should be yellow, not red. And work independently of the brake lights.

The reason that they're permitted in FMVSS 108 was to allow automakers to save money. Hence the reason luxury brand cars with LED tail lamp have them in the USA.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#478

Post by u801e » Wed, Aug 05, 2020, 12:32 AM UTC

peatmoss wrote: post #444

Reminds me of motorcycle helmet standards in the United States, where “DOT” is the minimum legal requirement. For people who want to live, ECE, Snell, or the new FIM standards are a must.

What's even worse are the standards for bicycle helmets which are governed by the CPSC (Consumer Products Safety Commission). At least there are better standards out there like Snell.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#479

Post by WarOnPrivacy » Wed, Aug 05, 2020, 1:03 AM UTC

wastedhours wrote: post #458

WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PSA: A situation is what it is, not what it could be. Another term for "What It Could Be" is "What It Isn't".

We have a number of tools at our disposal as drivers to minimise bad situations. Personally I think overuse of high-beams is more valid than under-use in quite a number of circumstances (and exceptionally bad in others). Your comment implied that drivers who instinctively switch on their high beams to get a sense of a situation where they need more visual input are "jackwads" which I tried to highlight isn't the reas…

Those points weigh in favor of someone who thoughtlessly high-beam'd a pedestrian, for the first time - which is reasonable. Also reasonable is considering their actions and realizing they gained no meaningful amount of safety by blinding a pedestrian.

If they've blinded countless pedestrians over an extended period, then they aren't considering anything. Inconsiderate people are jackwads.

Re: Why is America stuck with bad headlights?

#480

Post by kube-system » Wed, Aug 05, 2020, 1:48 AM UTC

dkn775 wrote: post #472

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.

They are usually in the bottom of the bumper as a little screw, or on the inside of the engine bay in the front near the top of the radiator. They are in most cars.

We were talking about driver controls, on the dashboard.

The manual adjusters on the headlight are not intended to compensate for daily variances in vehicle load.