This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
In my experience, while Tesla is a prime offender, it isn't only Teslas headlight that are too bright. Honda Prologues are another specific model that blinds me all the time.
While we're at it, I'm convinced auto-headlights and the general dumbing down of drivers mean a lot of people are simply driving around with their brights on all the time. Don't know how to fix that one though.
Back when I still used Nextdoor, I once posted a picture of the regular (green) headlight dash icon and the blue high beam icon, and spelled out what they’re used for and that people should know the difference. I got flooded with hearts or whatever the Nextdoor equivalent of upvotes is, I’m sure all from people who already knew and were also frustrated. There are definitely some people who are either ignorant or oblivious; I wonder if any of them saw my post and learned something? Can’t say the problem got any better.
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I hate Tesla cars as much as the next guy, but this goes for every brand out there.
Literally everything about cars has enshittified, including headlights. Those were a problem solved back in the 1930s and we quickly understood that you need lights that give enough to see, but don't blind the other side.
Then came the 2000 era engineers who forgot everything we learned in the 1900s and refused to relearn them and everything has been going to shit ever since
I blame the Internet tbh. Vast amounts of information at your finger tips with no real curve to learn any of it, skipping official books and documents on the subject and the learnings of the past.
Quick answers no friction and no learning
Good, include the other blinding shits too.
It didn't use to be this way.
I'd very much like every truck out there to have the headlights pointed away from my eyes and be less bright thanks.
I'm very close to putting a mirror over my rearview window to shine the light back at them.
Trucks need to have semi levels of regulations for headlights
I see plenty of trucks with headlights well above semi trucks, and I've yet to be blinded by any semi headlights, even the stupid white blue colored ones due to their regulations of height and angle actually being enforced
Mirror doesn't work, hang emergency visibility jacket over your seats. Sometimes those do when they reflect back and catch their eye, and they won't net you a ticket
In older cars, where you could manually flip the rear view mirror to dim it, my dad would flip it back and forth trying to flash the person behind him so they’d get the hint about their high beams. Not sure it ever worked…
Presumably the mirror was angled toward his eyes so he was just flashing himself
That's probably legal, I say go for it. Get the largest retroreflector you can find. I think they make reflective tape that should do the trick.
I hope they ban loud exhausts and aftermarket noise exhausts next.
I have an EV that predates the external white noise requirement, it's weirdly quiet if the AC is off.
I love how quiet it is. But I wish it didn't startle cyclists.
Edit: someone at work gave me a deck of cards and a clothespin and said it was a "loud exhaust" for my car. 😆
China has mandated electric scooters now. They ride on the sidewalks frequently though so when I was there I'd have the crap scared out of me when a scooter would silently blow a few inches past me.
Its not mandated here in Oklahoma of course, but a lot of people are starting to commute on scooters and e-bikes. I don't know if this is because of gas being too expensive or cars being too expensive.
Having had to drive Vail Pass at night, I'd say the bright headlights are the most dangerous thing I have encountered in years of driving, way ahead of drunk drivers and speeders.
yep. there's a route I drive regularly that has hills and turns. it's so fucking dangerous at night because of these assholes with blinding headlights.
A thought occured to me the other day: there is absolutely no reason that headlights have to be on the upper part of the front grille. Mount them as close to the ground as possible. (Like busses and some cargo trucks) At least it will address a situation where pickup truck / SUV headlights are at eye level for drivers of anything smaller.
This is completely wrong. Higher mounting means they can be pointed more down, which gives a bigger buffer to them blinding people when the back of vehicle squats. Bus and truck headlights arent an issue because their suspension doesn't squat under normal loads.
Vehicle manufacturers in the US have to meet the new headlight requirements. Which require headlights to be bright as fuck and basically parallel to the ground. Then rear suspension is left soft to improve ride quality in all suvs. Put some weight in it and the front of the vehicle points up. Pickups are usually bad because the suspension is modified or it's overloaded.
A quarter of drivers i swear leave their highbeams on. I have stopped caring and just installed blind people highbeams. 10x brighter than a high output halogen usually gets them to turn off their highbeams.
I used to have a snall truck with seperate high and low beam bulbs. I installed normal halogens for the low beams, and I did something similar. It was fun. And it helped me spot deer along dark highways.
Those headlights are just improperly adjusted. Normal headlights point down, especislly on the driver side. Brights are often bright because they point forward.
Now, if you replace your headlight, for example, or decide to lift your truck, and don't adjust your headlights...well now you've just got your brights on all day long.
I see this excuse all the time, and yet I'm willing to bet that most people have never changed their lights. These are factory standard vehicles with way too bright headlights
I think they have to be kind of close to the drivers eye level for other vehicles reflektors to work.
I drive a giant motor home with headlights about five feet lower than my eye level.
Other cars’ reflectors work fine.
Sometimes it’s hard to read reflective signs above way over the highway, but retroreflective stuff at road level is definitely working
The bright headlight thing has been a pet peeve of mine for a while. So, I’m glad to hear that government is apparently trying to fix it. That being said, why would anyone assume that a company like Tesla would comply with this regulation? That company has a long history of violating and flouting laws without consequence. I just have no confidence that US society does “laws” anymore when it comes to corporations.
Saw a pickup on I10 not long ago had a light bar on the roof lighting up both side of the highway. It was fucking absurd. What a total and complete dick head.
In Colorado at least, you'd get a ticket for not having physical light covers installed on any lights other than your standard headlights and (possibly, I can't remember the details) fog lights. light bars and anything else had to be covered if you were on a public road. I know of at least one case of a person actually receiving a ticket for it. that should be a law everywhere.
For real. Those light bars are for when you are out back in Bumfuck, Mississippi. Not the damn interstate.
I don't know why the manufacturers have such a hard-on for super bright headlights. It isn't like anyone is basing their buying decision on it. I guess when you are an executive who never drives themselves you don't get blinded by them. I hope the NHTSA finally sets limits on headlight brightness and the gov bans aftermarket lights that exceed limits also. Now if we could just get enforcement to crack down on the a-holes who blast backward facing lights to harass other drivers also.
It’s an arms race. People are blinded by the glare of oncoming headlights in their old cars, so search for a way to safely drive their next car.
I was tempted for my older car because it was getting really difficult to drive at night with how dim those headlights were, relative to oncoming glare. I see replacement LED bulbs “for off-road use only” advertised as much brighter. Turns out replacing the bulbs (with new correct ones) and cleaning the windshield made some difference. Enough
It's a checkbox to put on the brochure for idiots who can't make a decision. Also big bonus for the ad-exec when they don't make any changes to the vehicle but still need something "new." Idiotic arms-race for sure. Same thing with how cars are so big now, no one wants to be the "small guy" at the car measuring contest. Because humans are stupid and easily manipulated.
I'm probably in a significant minority, but if I was buying a new car (~~lol why would I do that~~), I would specifically avoid anything which has blinding headlights.
LED head lights have to go until car manufacturers learn how to use them properly. It's perfectly possible to have non glare LEDs but the cheap mofos won't want to spend money to retool everything.
I found it weird there are about 20,000 vehicles of concern for models that sold millions. I wonder what happened, how are those relative few different?
That being said, they are really bright but now that we finally have the adaptive beams enabled, it seems to make a huge difference
Manufacturers supercede parts in the middle of a model's lifecycle all the time, sometimes doesn't even coincide with a facelift
Could be that they replaced the parts with a newer design already
Please don't mandate computerized light dimming
A bill introduced into Congress earlier this year—the LIGHT (Limiting Intense Glare for Highway and Two-lane) Safety Act—directs the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to study and establish an overarching maximum allowable brightness for low-beam headlights in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. Right now, there are rules around the intensity of headlights at different parts of the beam, but no limits on the overall brightness.
Oh, a good bill.
Brightness is obviously an issue ... Id be happy with them pointed at the fucking road, there is nothing at other drivers eye level you need to see
Oh god yes! I like to jog in my neighborhood at night and whenever one of these vehicles with super bright lights drives by I literally have to stop in my tracks because I can't see a damn thing in front of me. It's even worse when I'm driving!
