My newish car has LED headlights, but it's a CAR, and is low to the ground. I hope it doesn't blind oncoming cars like these fucking trucks that are 3,000 feet tall.
this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2026
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LEDs in projection housings that are properly aimed aren't an issue at all, the issues arise with 1)poorly aimed lights and 2)installing LEDs in reflector housings not meant for them
Tip: DO NOT install LEDs if you had halogen previously.
They make LEDs specifically meant for halogen housings that shouldn't blind you. They also make "off-road use only" LEDs with 10x the lumens that go in the same bulb sockets and guess which ones people will buy
I don't blame the individuals, no one is recomending shops to their friends on how to get these adjustments.
The fact that no one believes in regulation, or MAINTAINING regulation depending on our needs, that these things happen.
Wish I could blame the assholes, but I leave that for the people who commute in big fucking truck 1000 because they are too insecure to buy anything else for their commuting machine.
There is a bill before the US congress right now that would mandate a study to gather hard numbers on safe luminosity and proper mounting of vehicle headlamps. I've written my rep asking them to support, if not sponsor, the bill:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/7772/text
I fucking hate those things. I saw somewhere that it's almost always an alignment issue, but I feel like with today's technology it should be self-correcting if it's going to otherwise blind people. We have phones that can photograph an ant's asshole at 300 meters. they could fix this shit if they cared. They'll only care if they lose billions in a class action lawsuit.
It's super easy to adjust in most cars that don't do it automatically. There is usually a slot near the lights and you use a philips or flat screw driver and turn the adjustment nut either up or down depending on need. Instructions are in the manual or you can look it up online for every vehicle I've owned.
There is an exact method but generally line the car up facing and super close to a wall, turn the lights on, the center of the beam should be about 2-3 inches below the height of your headlights. If you have space the beam should hit the ground 7.5m or about 25 ft from where your car is parked.
A common issue in my hick town is people lifting vehicles and never adjusting the light angle. Any time you put bigger tires on a car or lift the body you should adjust the lights.
Edit: I just wanted to add, if you get brights flashed at you a lot it's time to adjust your lights.
You're not going to tell me that some of them aren't adjusting them to be blinding on purpose. In certain segments of car culture, obnoxiousness is a virtue.
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Don't blame LEDs, it's because of the alignment of the headlights. Any type of headlight can be misaligned.
Yeah, but the LEDs really.... highlight the situation.
To be fair, depending on the housing, alignment is nearly impossible. Many housings are simply not designed to have a sharp cut off. As far as I'm concerned, LEDs should only be allowed in projector housings with projector lenses. Those are the ones that have a damn near razor blade level of light cutoff, so when you aim them to just below the windshield level of most vehicles, it's not going to blind them at all.
That is what I have done with my car, I have LEDs brighter than the sun, but I have them in projector housings with projector lenses, and I have them aimed to be below the windshield level of a typical sedan, not a stupid SUV or truck. So nobody ever flashes me or gets annoyed and I have tested by having a friend Drive towards me on a road in the car while I am in a different car
It has the added benefit of my high beams are still mostly road level rather than up in the trees like many peoples so for like a mile in front of me it is just daytime which is very helpful out where I live in the middle of absolute nowhere rural where streetlights are just a myth and the deer are plentiful.
I really appreciate your attention to properly aligning your lights... but doesn't that only help with very level roadways? Where I drive with lots of gentle hills, a car with a razor thin cut-off looks like its constantly flashing its high-beams at me. I feel like a headlight with a gradual transition would be less blinding for other drivers.
Yep every little hill and it is blinding.
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LEDs are so point source and intense that any misalignment, which is very common, is going to be an issue. Plus they blind you much more when a car's nose is elevated relative to you. Put HID or LED lights on trucks and they are always in your face, and it feels like 50% of the vehicles are massive trucks.
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Headlights didn't use to blind me.
Then came LEDs.
Now headlights blind me.
I blame LEDs.
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Also the increasing height of lights, even low beams travel fucking long
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Yeah, as an owner of a vehicle with these fucking things. I hate them but there's literally nothing we can do. All vehicles sold have them now, and the manufacturers have no options for softer lights. I've tried for months.
Do what I did and write your MP. This needs to be legislated.
Yes you can! You can get them adjusted at a mechanic, or get the internal reflector swapped out
One problem is the manufacturers have made headlights into assemblies that cannot be repaired or really disassembled, forcing you to replace the entire thing if anything goes wrong. Also they can be expensive.
https://daxstreet.com/cars/419253/10-cars-where-a-headlight-assembly-costs-2000-dollars/
Also sometimes the new headlight needs to be programmed by the dealership to work correctly
Wtf, on my 2005 car changing the lights costs 30 bucks. They are purposefully low price because you don't want people around going without lights
Yep, driving around without lights is dangerous, it could get you pulled over. The people designing these setups know this and want to force you back to the dealership.
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Add a border of that 3M high reflective silver tape and they'll notice real quick
I think that’s yellow reflective tape already, though a tasteful border wouldn’t go amiss.
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Riding a motorcycle against LED's sucks. There is a moment of blindness.
Damn that is some fine tape lettering. Great effort.
You know, I've thought about getting one of those obnoxiously bright, completely unfocused LED lights bars.
And mounting it on the back.
Do it. I did and it's fucking hilarious getting revenge on these people. They get so mad lol
Just don't make the mistake I did and do it to a cop (it was at night so I couldn't see what kind of car it was; all I saw was tailgating headlights). Thankfully he had a sense of humor about it.
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Why do people feel the need to have headlights so bright they can see to the horizon?
The problem isn't really the brightness, it's that they don't bother aiming them.
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Good thing I hold up my hand at night to stop from being blinded ensuring I can't see your oncoming superbright truck.
I'm in Japan and I get blinded by lights by a lot of cars these days. It shouldn't be aiming as we have bi-yearly inspections that check that (both for regular and highbeams). It is possible, though, that people change the lights for inspection and swap them out after (though this is not legal).
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I saw a new truck that had them FACING-BACKWARDS in the wheel well and bumper. We're fucked.
Poorly installed aftermarket headlights. Being LED has little to do with it.
Not just aftermarket. Teslas are notorious for having overly bright, misaimed headlights.
People keep telling me that acktually Tesla headlights have hi-tech sensors that avoid blinding people. And I’m like “I’m people, and they blind me all the time!”
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There is no US regulation on headlight brightness, so it's a little of that and also new cars maxing out what they can put on the car. Add to that the height of trucks and SUVs.
LED lights are far brighter though, and the worst color wavelength for vision.
Yeah, I think a good amount of the issue with them could be resolved simply by using warmer color LEDs - it seems so obvious that I don't get why they don't.
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No way, stock leds are everywhere and they're bullshit.
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I am enthused by the anti-led headlight comments in this thread
it's nice to see people recognizing the danger for what it is and not just making false claims about how it's only illegal headlights that are dangerous and stock LEDs are fine
I'm proud of all you people shitting on LED headlights. keep up the good work
edit: to the guy who respectably tried to find alternatives for their blinding headlights and couldn't and wrote their MP about it - good work. but that's not enough. it's your vehicle, and you as the owner and operator are responsible for its safety. you chose that vehicle. you were aware of the headlights. you made that trade off of blinding headlights for the rest of the package. that was YOUR decision. don't fuck my life up as a result and say "whoopsie, nothing I can do, not my fault". that's disgusting. have some responsibility for your actions. yes the manufacturers fucked you. don't use that as an excuse to fuck the rest of us.
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