- cross-posted to:
- fuck_cars@lemmy.ml
- cross-posted to:
- fuck_cars@lemmy.ml
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It’s not because they’re LED. It’s because they’re aftermarket: illegally colored, and poorly aimed or not aimed at all.
And are 5 feet off the ground because of your stupid truck
This isn’t always correct. I have a 2021 Toyota and the lights are factory installed and way too bright. I’ve had the lights lowered by a mechanic, but I still blind oncoming traffic and frequently get people flashing their brights at me. I feel terrible, I don’t want to blind anyone. I had someone yelling at me about my aftermarket lights and I had to tell them they were factory, he was still mad at me. It drives me crazy, I hate these lights too! Replacements are over $1,000.
Bullshit, Tesla headlamps blind everyone else on the road straight from the factory.
Yeah, he already covered “poorly aimed or not aimed at all.”
Unless they were aimed poorly from the factory (with how bad their cars are built I’d lean towards that being very probable) they should not be blinding. I know someone with a very early model 3 that had poorly aimed headlights, but he eventually got it fixed. But the 5 other people I know with Teslas are not at all blinding. My Outbacks slightly fucked up headlight is more blinding than their cars.
That’s because there is no governance for aiming headlights properly. It’s usually done by dealers who don’t care.
Most headlight issues are because people have retrofitted improper lights into their factory casings. different light sources project light in different patterns so if you put an LED or an HID bulb in a halogen housing it will blind the fuck out of everyone.
But at the same time if headlights aren’t aimed properly they’ll just blind anyone anyway regardless of the light pattern.
On top of that really tall vehicles, even when aimed properly, still aim their headlights directly into your eyes just because of how high above the ground they are.Very little of the blinding headlights issues are due to the source of the light.
Yes, my Tesla came from the factory with the headlights pointed at the sky. Was getting flashed all over the place. Fortunately they have an easy GUI in the MCU to aim them. But I’m sure many drivers are not smart enough to figure that out or even realize it’s possible.
“tesla” and “build quality” do not match, even before the cyberstuck
I don’t understand how LEDs were ever allowed with the same sockets. What legitimate use could that be.
… plus this has somehow gotten so popular that my garage, part of a major regional chain, offered to replace my headlights with LED replacement bulbs
… although I can see the personal motivation. When everyone else seems to be causing so much glare, you need all the help you can get
On the basic end: because they’re cheaper, use less energy, are more reliable, and last longer.
On the fancy end: have you seen demonstrations of Audi’s matrix LEDs? They have the ability to dim specific areas dynamically, so that they can track incoming traffic and keep them in a dim-zone while still keeping the road and shoulders well lit.
Keep in mind that there is nothing special about LEDs that make them brighter; they can make LEDs dimmer and they can make halogens brighter, but the manufacturer has chosen not to.
Sure, but making them with the same socket, so they fit in the same place, despite having different beam shape and reflector requirements, is entirely wrong.
My car has LED headlights and they fantastic. They also have a very sharp cutoff meant to keep it from blinding others, assuming correct alignment. It also claims to have the hardware for active matrix and will turn that on as soon as they get approval
My older car that I keep for my team has noticeably dimmer lights. I’d really like to convert to LEDs and I know there are some that fit and are sold as replacements. But I know they’re not. Those manufacturers need to be fined for every kit sold like that
1000% this. Aftermarket, fucked colors, and/or no alignment is the cause of the problems. I would add that a lot of aftermarket lights are also way too bright. Sure, the owner can see (a tiny bit) better but everyone else gets blinded. Even then, it’s not bad unless they’re not aligned properly. (Well, it’ll still blind you if it’s a truck directly behind you but that’s just trucks.)
I own a '97 Honda. The last owner had LEDs in it. The lenses weren’t designed for LEDs, they were designed for halogens. So one of the first things I did was revert the headlights to halogen bulbs. And they work perfectly fine. I drive in a suburb so the streets are already fairly well lit. I don’t need to cast a beam 5 miles out to see where I’m going.
Also, it’s that soft yellowish white light. Not that harsh daylight bluish light everyone and their mom is obsessed with. I don’t get it. Anyway, the best thing you can do in 99 times of 100 is to consider what equipment you have and stick to OEM spec.
You don’t want blue light anyway because it messes with your night vision.
Anyway, the best thing you can do in 99 times of 100 is to consider what equipment you have and stick to OEM spec.
Or if you do legitimately want to upgrade, consider swapping in something that was OEM spec on a higher trim level/fancier related car model (e.g. Acura stuff on your Honda).
In Europe, this is hardly a problem. I’ve recently been on the road more in the US, and it sucks. But I think it’s more so due to cars being ridiculously big and their lamps being way off the ground.
Probably because Europeans have largely solved this problem with laser/Matrix headlights that can identify oncoming traffic and turn off only the lights that are specifically pointed at that vehicle, but these are illegal in the US.
it is a problem in europe too. all new german SUVs, and many others, have front beams around the height of others drivers eyes so they blare right into internal rearview mirror, car is lit like ufo is here to take us, and when meeting those cars coming from opposite direction, it’s again at the height of eyes to burn the retinas. the regulation of headlights is obviously fucked.
Adjust the mirror to send it right back to them.
Headlights definitely need more regulation but this issue is very amplified in SUVs which are much underregulated. They have mismatched bumper heights to other cars causing more damage, they drag pedestrians underneath causing more injuries. I personally see no point for modern SUVs existing at all, but let’s at least make sure they are safe on roads.
When an SUV with floodlight headlights is tailgating me, I ask the passenger to use the rearview mirror to reflect their light back into the eyes of the driver. When that fails, we flash them a few times with one of those stupid 5k lumen mega-flashlights. They always seem to back off.
“when an SUV drives with its headlights on I then try to blind them and take away my own rearview mirror so I can’t see behind me. When that doesn’t work we blind them with high intensity flashlights. No, your honor I don’t think I’m a complete sociopath that risks everyone’s lives with careless and petty behavior”
I would throw banana peels and turtle shells if I could
I drove past a car that had its headlights flickering about 15 times every second last year. No clue if it was intentional but it was distracting as all hell. (and probably dangerous to epileptic people)
This is typically someone who installed LED lights in a car that was designed for incandescent most DRLs run at a lower voltage than when the actual headlights are turned on. So when you run lower voltage to run those daytime running lights when using an LED bulb instead of filament that wasn’t meant to be dimmable they Flickr or flash.
I’d say this ‘chat’ should go to GM and their stupid ideas to point fucking headlights straight into the mirrors of cars ahead of them. Only one of the few hazards they cause on the road today.
There was nothing wrong with the halogen and I’ll die on that hill. Ever since they abandoned it, it’s been an arms race, and the aftermarket drop-ins are the worst offenders. I’ve resigned myself to never seeing anything on the highway shoulder because of the intensity of oncoming traffic’s headlights.
I like LEDs over halogens because they’re more energy efficient. I just wish they’d said “Cool, we can use fewer watts for the same number of lumens” instead of “Cool, we can get more lumens out of the same number of watts”
I’ve never had a LED headlight go out. I’ve had many halogen lights go out.
That’s good because now the heights have integrated LEDs so you’re replacing the whole lamp unit.
That too, the ridiculous lifespan of LEDs, to the point where it didn’t even occur to me to mention it.
I also agree with you: power efficiency is rad.
Realistically, on an ICE vehicle, the power efficiency gain from halogen to LED is negligible, but still. Electric vehicles, that difference becomes important.
Very true! Thought I had no idea how ridiculous the battery capacity was on some electric cars was until Technology Connections ran vehicle-to-load to his kitchen and powered his phone, laptop, and all his cooking stuff for 24 hours straight, simulating a power outage. I think it drained like 17%.
Still, when driving, every bit of efficiency helps!
Some of the really inefficient EV trucks are shipping with 200 kw batteries.
We need regulations. It is dangerous to operate a vehicle if oncoming traffic makes it that difficult to see anything in your own lane.
The problem isn’t LEDs though. The technology isn’t what’s making it bright.
The regulation needs to be specific about what they want the end result to be, not about the specific technology used.
Like: there should be a mode of operation where oncoming traffic at x distance, seated at y height, on level roads should not experience more than z brightness.
Or maybe actually enforce our existing laws on this, and make actual punishments for when people modify their cars and don’t align their headlights.
Going after random people is harder and worse than going after the manufacturers of products.
Unless you want police shooting black people because their lights were “misaligned”
In the Europe we have the regulations, it still sucks. Especially OEM “active-matrix” LEDs.
How? We only read the good things about active matrix headlights, not how they behave in the real world
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned the horribly distracting flicker that they make.
I’ve never noticed a flicker.
It depends on the make and what PWM frequencies they use. Essentially everything LED flickers.
Did CRTs bother you? Most people weren’t perceptive enough to notice CRT flickering either.
CRTs were horrible, the flicker was unbearable at times.
And, I’m also really bothered by LED brake lights / tail lights.
I had an interlaced monitor once. That was horrible.
If it wasn’t him it just would’ve been someone else
Not to mention HIDs can be just as bright… Which was first introduced on the 1992 BMW 7 series…
Related, but are most people unbothered by LED tail lights / brake lights? The flicker drives me nuts.
That, and the fact that a lot of them are too small.
Too small to see? Or too bright because they’re really small? Or what?
