The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is finally poised to legalize adaptive beam headlights in the US. On Tuesday, the NHTSA announced that it has issued a final rulethat will update the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, which currently only allow for "dumb" high- and low-beam lights. The US will finally allow adaptive beam headlights on new cars | Ars Technica PDF: https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/2022-02/ADB-Final-Rule-02-01-2022-web.pdf
While I'm skeptical about any headlight advancements, I sure hope there's some legitimacy to this... The newest cars on the road tend to be the worst offenders when it comes to blinding me when I'm trying to drive in the dark.
That looks encouraging. Welcome to the 21st century, NHTSA!! Of course, I'll be in a nursing home drooling on myself before there are enough of those on the road that my grandsons will be able to drive without getting blinded by oncoming 747 landing lights. How is it that the marix lights are banned but not having pickups with four search lights mounted four feet high?
And we don’t even get the brightest of lights. Europe’s nits limit is higher than the US. This just allows selective blocking of light such that the lights pointing in your direction is low beam but the lights pointing to the side or edge of the road remain high beams. This is possible because of the directionality of LED lights.
I know the ones you mean. They are NASTY. But I was referring to the factory originals. Back in 2020 Ford recalled about a quarter million F-150s because the headlights were too bright, but I can't see where it's done any good.
I'm still thinking about a really, really reflective chrome wing for the back of my cars. Maybe even one that can orient itself a bit like the JWST mirrors...
I won't be an early adopter. I'll pass on these systems. More expensive uptick in the price of a new vehicle, more expensive financing, higher insurance cost, more expensive dealer components and necessary repair equipment, while lightening the consumer's wallet. I remember how how they touted on how good HID headlights were supposed to be. I'm glad I stayed with halogens, which are easily upgraded to LED's for less than $100 or even less. Sealed beams were only $10 each. Now, the cheapest OEM quality headlight unit is around $300,
Yep, I've noticed headlights in Europe seem to be brighter...I hate getting blinded by them. People sometimes flash their lights at me in my 21 Prius because they think they are on bright but they are not. The worst lights are those light bars on pickups...they are usually mounted right at eye-level for cars so we get the full blast of them.
The vehicle code for commercial trucks has a maximum height for headlights. On new semi's they about the height of an actual car's. Maybe we need that for personal trucks. Sealed beams came up in the dumb car thread. They will not be that cheap if still used today. Cheapest halogen bulbs are now $10, and a sealed beam would add a reflector and lens to that. In the case of a crash, there won't be an expensive headlight assembly to replace, but there could be more body damage to fix. Those aren't road legal. They aren't likely enforced, and the companies CYA with off-road use only labels.
A universal mass produced DOT approved low profile lens and reflector module taking halogen bulbs would be advantageous. That, however, would not enhance but diminish auto manufacturers' profits. A cheap reflector and lens module would reduce all those aging cars on the road with fogged up degraded lenses.
I'm pleased to have "Adaptive Front Headlight System — LED Projector Headlights With Chrome Bezels, Automatic Level and Pan Controls, Automatic High Beams (AHB) and Auto On/Off". Note this extra cost feature on my '19 Rav4 Hybrid Limited includes automated leveling according to load so I don't blind you, automated shift from high to low beams when an oncoming car is detected so I don't blind you, and an automated expansion of the width of the beam in the direction of the turn as I make a turn so I can see the inside edge of the turn better. If I have an accident, the deductible I carry will be exceeded in 99.9% of the cases and it will not cost me personally if the light assembly is more expensive. Of course it factors into my insurance's yearly cost but it is noise compared to the reckless driving habits of my fellow NC drivers. I retired from a expensive urban area near DC where I commuted 5 days a week to a semi-rural NC area and, contrary to logical expectations, my rates went up significantly for the same coverage with no accidents in the last 15+ years.
Somewhat off-topic, but I wish more attention was paid to the proximity of turn signals to headlights. With some oncoming vehicles it’s nigh impossible to discern if a turn signal is on; it’s “lost” in the headlight glare.
Especially with DRL that is bright. Ford and also other manufacturers dim the DRL when the indicator is on so there is a larger difference in brightness. Toyota has chosen not to do that. The worst offender is a car not sold in North America, the Renault Talisman which has the turn signals right along the DRL strips and during the day you simply can't see the indicators properly.
Or if you're in China they could track you location Yes... I have this thought on every long road trip at night... If I had a mirror that'd allow me enough control to focus the light back on them they'd either back way off or speed up to get around me. Of course that might not go over too well if it didn't seem unintentional.
Reflective tape doesn't need any aiming, the reflection automatically goes back close to the light source. Hopefully the driver's eyes are close to that axis. I've added some such tape to all of my modern cars, after finding their OEM rear reflectors much too small (even just 1" x 2" per side) compared to a previous one with much more. Though I haven't (yet) added anywhere near enough to make them as bright as the roadside signs that reflect way too much high beam. When adding such tape, make sure that a good portion is placed high around the rear windows, where properly aimed low beams don't catch it, but high beams do.
When sealed beams were on new cars, there wasn't a universal one. There were different shapes and sizes. Even with just the bulb, there are dozens of models. A hypothetical new sealed beam won't be glass, but polycarbonate like today's headlight lens for weight and safety reasons. Since it would be easily replaced, it would likely have a thinner coating of UV protection, and haze up faster. Of course, manufacturers might just put the sealed beam behind another lens for aerodynamic and style reasons, which just brings the issues of current headlight assemblies back.
Ok that's a pretty good hack I already have a few lengths of red and white reflective tape installed inside the trunklid, and on the edges of my doors such that they become visible when opened. I love the idea of adding some more higher up on the exterior. Just glad we picked car colors that are also common colors for reflective tape...
I'm remembering just 4 shape-sizes: round or rectangular, and 1 large (combined beams) or 2 smaller (separate high and low beam) per side. All the other choices were for the lamp type: old incandescent, newer halogen, long life, etc. My oldest cars had 2-lamp systems. It wasn't until getting a 1-lamp rectangular car model that I realized how bad they were. Rectangular was worse than round, and single was worse than dual, and my fresh new night vision problem was a direct result of this new car using the lamp style with the most horrid light pattern of the bunch. That drove me to first adding fog lamps (well patterned, not the 'just a decoration' style of factory fog lamps built to be 50-state-legal) and then swapping the headlights to an off-road rally version with an improved pattern that wasn't offensive to oncoming drivers.
