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Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

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Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#381

Post by pete1302 »

ErroneousBosh wrote: post #359

I think a huge part of the problem also ties into the problem of modern "Angry Robot Face" designs. Car manufacturers are trying to make headlights the size of a penny that emit as much light as "proper" ones. In the 1980s my dad had a Citroën GSA (and indeed I had one in the mid-2000s, when it was about 20 years old) which was a low-to-mid-spec family saloon. It had headlights about a foot wide and 5" high with a bo…

This has been a really huge problem in India lately, gone are the days of cute cars with minimal edges (Volkswagen Phaeton looked amazing IMO), now everyone is buying Cybertruck Clones offered by Mahindra and TATA Example: Mahindra BE 6, New Thar, and endless other examples

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#382

Post by kulahan »

Wistar wrote: post #324
njarboe wrote: post #147

One of the main reasons people want/need brighter headlights is that there is much more light inside the car from screens. These don't let your eyes adjust to the dark properly. Older cars had dim green lighting for the gauges and even had a knob to adjust the brightness up and down. You could create a very dim interior instead of the huge amount of white light you get with modern cars and the multiple screens. I'm h…

Lately, I see a lot of drivers who turn on their brights and just leave them on and this includes cars with the older halogen and even incandescents. This is a change in behavior. As for LEDs, to me, the Tesla Model 3 headlights are the worst offender, but not all of them, just the majority. I can look down a column of oncoming cars and pick out the Model 3s from a few blocks distance. I suspect that the Model 3 head…

I remember, when shopping for a car, the salesman told me about an Alpina model he had with laser headlights so intense they weren't even legal for new builds anymore. It's a selling point in some vehicles.

Still, the idea that you should give headlight illumination control to the idiot behind the wheel is insane to me. Is it not a regulated height? Maybe that explains why it's a nightmare to drive at night anymore.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#383

Post by fodkodrasz »

ErroneousBosh wrote: post #359

I think a huge part of the problem also ties into the problem of modern "Angry Robot Face" designs. Car manufacturers are trying to make headlights the size of a penny that emit as much light as "proper" ones. In the 1980s my dad had a Citroën GSA (and indeed I had one in the mid-2000s, when it was about 20 years old) which was a low-to-mid-spec family saloon. It had headlights about a foot wide and 5" high with a bo…

Also, the plastic headlight “lenses” on many cars tend to get cloudy and develop micro-scratches over time. This reduces the efficiency of the low beams, and instead of fixing the problem, many drivers of older cars simply drive with their high beams on, which creates even more glare for everyone else.

Nothing is really repairable, of course, so replacing these parts is out of the question — it’s prohibitively expensive for many owners of older cars to replace the whole headlight units, especially since there are no penalties for driving around like this. Polishing the lenses is risky and usually only a short-term solution.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#384

Post by IncreasePosts »

Lio wrote: post #33
nikanj wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out in the country: moose and other animals

Moose are less of a problem in the UK than you might expect. ;) (I'll give you other animals though.)

No thanks, I have no where to keep them.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#385

Post by spike021 »

xeromal wrote: post #21
spike021 wrote: post #9

It's also like this in America. Earlier in the year I got a replacement rear-view mirror with an anti-glare coating and it's paid dividends. It helps so much at night on dark sections of road when newer cars with bright headlights are around me. Finally decided to also replace my side mirrors with ones that have a similar coating.

My old 2003 Lexus has some sort of anti-bright headlight feature for the rear view mirror that was a gamechanger when I got it. I always notice when I drive another car.

yeah, some cars have powered dimming. most have the little tab/switch at the bottom you need to flick whenever you want to use the dimmer angle. in my last car that would always mess up my optimal rear view mirror angle and position, which would get annoying and turn into a hassle.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#386

Post by Zak »

whitehexagon wrote: post #267

The curse of modern super bright LEDs. Add to that list; super bright red brake lights, and a new trend for animated turning lights / indicators. Looks like something we'd have installed as teenagers after watching Knight Rider. Really distracting. Some of the towns here also started scattering flashing LEDs over every road sign they can find. Some areas feel like driving through Blackpool Illuminations. The worst of…

Another problem is LED lights using low-frequency PWM to control brightness. If they're moving in someone's field of view, there's a strobe effect.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#387

Post by Zak »

jlarocco wrote: post #367

As a cyclist and pedestrian, these new headlights and the cars with the "auto brights" are just terrible. When you're in another car their car's sensors might detect your headlights and dim a little bit. But as a pedestrian? You basically just get blinded - from low light right to 10000 lumens straight in your eyes. It's overpowering. Can't make them illegal fast enough, IMO.

The obvious solution is to carry a 10000 lumen[0] flashlight and use it to trigger the auto-dim[1].

[0] Most flashlights that advertise numbers like this are lying, but a few aren't

[1] This does present a risk of impairing the driver's vision

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#388

Post by zzyzxd »

njarboe wrote: post #147

One of the main reasons people want/need brighter headlights is that there is much more light inside the car from screens. These don't let your eyes adjust to the dark properly. Older cars had dim green lighting for the gauges and even had a knob to adjust the brightness up and down. You could create a very dim interior instead of the huge amount of white light you get with modern cars and the multiple screens. I'm h…

Teslas are the worst offenders in my area. I don't own one but I looked up online out of curiosity, and saw many owners complained because they got flashed a lot. Turned out the factory settings for the headlight angle was too high. They went to the menu and adjust the angle down by "2-3 clicks" and they reported never got flashed again.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#389

Post by toast0 »

adolph wrote: post #361
robertlagrant wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but then looking ahead it didn't look like they had their high beams on, I was just in a short car. You were in a normal car, and the SUV manufacturer has mounted the lights higher just for aesthetic reasons.

Seems like it would make sense to mandate a specific height for headlamps. I wonder why this hasn’t been done.

Edit: sorry, I shouldn't post US rules on a UK topic. For penance, a fact about lighting in the UK, reverse lights weren't required until 2009!

There are rules. FMVSS [1] says lower beam headlamps must be mounted between 55.9 cm and 137.2 cm above the ground, and upper beam headlamps must be mounted not less than 22 inches nor more than 54 inches. The height ranges match, but are specified in different units

But that's a big range.

These rules end up being the stick used to regulate vehicle lifts and lowering; you could lift a vehicle higher, or drop it lower but very few people will do the work to relocate the lights.

[1] https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/subtitle-B/chapter-V/p... Table 1-A, seach in page for 'Expand Table' cause I couldn't find a good way to navigate.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#390

Post by lucianbr »

1718627440 wrote: post #231
lucianbr wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> whatever lights you want For the cars I owned, only one set of official lights existed. Aftermarket would be nearly guaranteed to be worse quality and poorer alignment. And no changing them in the warranty period either. Car parts are not like PC parts, where you can buy your own and mix-and-match. No, things with car lights are not as you think. In many modern cars there are no bulbs, but laser diodes and complex…

> I wouldn't trust anyone to fiddle with mine and do a good job, including the dealership. Evidently that includes the manufacturer, since he wasn't able to give you proper lights to begin with.

What part of my comments tells you my lights are not proper?
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