Headlight Regulations are Finally Changing

[Intuit]

Not talking about all the little changes that make it illegal to have anything other than what came on the vehicle originally. Here it's basically illegal to have LED if the vehicle didn't already come with them. This came at the same time that they eliminated the front license plate requirement that half of us didn't bother to follow anyway. (It was finally eliminated after decades of complaints about how this was selectively enforced... only for them to replace it with something else LoL...)

https://www.slashgear.com/1476201/modern-headlights-bright-explained/
<<...............Relief from the blinding lights of oncoming vehicles is on its way, with the NHTSA recently approving the first substantive update to the lighting standards since the 1970s. The new regulation allows adaptive driving beam (ADB) headlights, also known as smart headlights, which use cameras and sensors to assess road conditions and detect the position of oncoming vehicles, adjusting the direction and intensity of the headlight beams accordingly. ...............>>

So based on the above article, it looks like we're catching up to the Europeans a bit.


<<..... They do this by automatically dimming certain parts of the beam to avoid shining directly into the eyes of other drivers. Improved road safety is arguably the most important benefit of using ADB headlights. Their ability to reshape the light they emit in real time could help reduce glare-related accidents at night. It'll be a few years before ADB technology is widespread in cars throughout the United States, but at least we know it's on the horizon. With these smart headlights, drivers will be able to see the road clearly without blinding others. ....................>>

That sounds a fair bit different than what I was thinking. The Euro model lamps for our cars have little motors in there that dynamically aim the headlamps. The above sounds different. Just hope it's not another something that has to be fixed or maintained because, Murphy.


The article does repeat a lot of *itching about lights being "too bright" and some if not many are but what I've noticed is, it doesn't matter how dim we make the headlamps, they're always going to be "too bright" if they're obviously mis-aimed; and I notice that quite often. I intentionally obtained the dimmest LEDs I could locate to go in my Euro projectors and got honked at a few weeks ago because I was going over an uphill hump which would unavoidably place anyone's headlights in someone's face.

There's a lot more to the article than the little excerpts posted. (like SUVs vs Cars) See the link.

 

[XanRules]

As this - and other - forum's resident curmudgeon about proper automotive lighting, I do feel compelled to point out the part of your post where you note that you bought halogen projector headlights and then installed the dimmest possble LEDs in them so that you wouldn't blind other people. Incredble stuff.

Now that that's out of the way, I believe I read that Nissan is also working on a cheaper version of this technology not unlike what's already being used in halogen and HID systems, where there is, for lack of a better word, a glare shield installed within the headlight housing: https://www.theautopian.com/headlights-are-too-damn-bright-and-nissan-has-a-solution/
https://usa.nissanstories.com/en-US...-how-nissan-is-countering-a-headlight-dilemma

a neat little trick, to be sure. We still have a long way to go before we catch up to the rest of the world, who have been absolutely smoking us in headlight technology for decades, but both of these are improvements!

 

[TwiSTFiesta]

This is great news for new vehicles but I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I wonder what they’ll do about the damage that’s already been done. It not only affects on coming drivers but the ones they’re driving up behind as well. It drives me nuts when some numb skull pulls up behind me at a light and I’m blinded by my side view mirrors. Do people not understand the ramifications of bright lights in the dark?

I still think the end user should be held accountable to some degree on general vehicle safety and education. Like how the blue light indicator in your cluster means the high beams are on, and so on, etc., etc.

I know, I’m preaching to the choir but this is one of my greatest pet peeves.

 

[XanRules]

This is great news for new vehicles but I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I wonder what they’ll do about the damage that’s already been done. It not only affects on coming drivers but the ones they’re driving up behind as well. It drives me nuts when some numb skull pulls up behind me at a light and I’m blinded by my side view mirrors. Do people not understand the ramifications of bright lights in the dark?

I still think the end user should be held accountable to some degree on general vehicle safety and education. Like how the blue light indicator in your cluster means the high beams are on, and so on, etc., etc.

I know, I’m preaching to the choir but this is one of my greatest pet peeves.

The number of people I see just driving around with their high beams on at all times is baffling.

It's tough because on the one hand I would want stronger enforcement of obvious violations of the laws - bright purple HID kits, huge light bars blasting everyone with daylight, etc - but on the other hand I don't see a way to push for that that doesn't just turn into giving cops another blank check to harass people. We all know that big lifted truck with the grille full of off road spotlights and the thin blue line punisher sticker isn't getting pulled over.

 

[Intuit]

This is great news for new vehicles but I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I wonder what they’ll do about the damage that’s already been done. It not only affects on coming drivers but the ones they’re driving up behind as well. It drives me nuts when some numb skull pulls up behind me at a light and I’m blinded by my side view mirrors. Do people not understand the ramifications of bright lights in the dark? ................................................

I was thinking the same. It'll take about 1.5 decades of sales I suspect, before a significant portion are replaced. Although if some attractive aftermarkets appeared on Amazon, that could accelerate things a tad bit. Couldn't tell you what vehicles they were but on, but on rare occasion see some seemingly high coin vehicle with just a slither for headlights, but seems to still light up the roadway quite well. Very easy on the peepers. So it's possible to light up the roadway without miniature stars bulging off the front-end. I think that approach would help in addition to the dynamic block-off.

The number of people I see just driving around with their high beams on at all times is baffling.

It's tough because on the one hand I would want stronger enforcement of obvious violations of the laws - bright purple HID kits, huge light bars blasting everyone with daylight, etc - but on the other hand I don't see a way to push for that that doesn't just turn into giving cops another blank check to harass people. We all know that big lifted truck with the grille full of off road spotlights and the thin blue line punisher sticker isn't getting pulled over.

Re high beam, my Mom's Honda has auto-brights. I've noticed she just keeps them on now. They automatically deactivate the high-beam, I assume in direct response to the presence of on-coming headlamps. It re-activates the high beam as soon as that presence is gone. Since finding out about hers, I've noticed others using that too. Seems to work pretty well... I've rarely encountered a case where the delay was "too much" or too long... and even in those rare instances the delay wasn't troubling at all.

As this - and other - forum's resident curmudgeon about proper automotive lighting, I do feel compelled to point out the part of your post where you note that you bought halogen projector headlights and then installed the dimmest possble LEDs in them so that you wouldn't blind other people. Incredble stuff.

Not sure I get what you're saying? Elaborate? I had actually tried them in the reflector housings but the light control was just too sloppy no matter what I did, short of masking the housing. So I dropped a healthy chunk of change to get the OEM projectors. The projectors on the other hand have been way better; Euro beam pattern aside.

I believe I read that Nissan is also working on a cheaper version of this technology not unlike what's already being used in halogen and HID systems, where there is, for lack of a better word, a glare shield installed within the headlight housing: https://www.theautopian.com/headlights-are-too-damn-bright-and-nissan-has-a-solution/
https://usa.nissanstories.com/en-US...-how-nissan-is-countering-a-headlight-dilemma

a neat little trick, to be sure. We still have a long way to go before we catch up to the rest of the world, who have been absolutely smoking us in headlight technology for decades, but both of these are improvements!

Sport bikes have two headlamps but run the left one for low-beam, the right one for high-beam. If I run one, people seem to be more likely to misjudge and turn in front of me. I used a couple layers of window tint to mask off the upper portion of the high beam lens so I could run both 24x7. What I've noticed is, an odd, weird, unexpected "hole" in the beam pattern as a result. Though the "hole" is not in a useful spot, it seems the idea is similar to what the first article was elaborating on.

 

[XanRules]

Not sure I get what you're saying? Elaborate? I had actually tried them in the reflector housings but the light control was just too sloppy no matter what I did, short of masking the housing. So I dropped a healthy chunk of change to get the OEM projectors. The projectors on the other hand have been way better; Euro beam pattern aside.

Putting LEDs in halogen projectors is a downgrade.
Putting the dimmest possible LEDs in halogen projectors is a double downgrade.
Putting the dimmest possible LEDs in halogen projectors with the wrong beam pattern means you "dropped a healthy chunk of change" to have headlights that perform worse than stock by at least three metrics - you are using dimmer light sources to scatter less useable light in more of the wrong directions, reducing your own night vision, while still blinding other motorists.

So, just, the revelation that, "yeah, I upgraded my headlights, but then I put really dim bulbs in it because they were blinding people" was funny to me. Like, that's not an upgrade, man.

 

[Dialcaliper]

The number of people I see just driving around with their high beams on at all times is baffling.

It's tough because on the one hand I would want stronger enforcement of obvious violations of the laws - bright purple HID kits, huge light bars blasting everyone with daylight, etc - but on the other hand I don't see a way to push for that that doesn't just turn into giving cops another blank check to harass people. We all know that big lifted truck with the grille full of off road spotlights and the thin blue line punisher sticker isn't getting pulled over.

I swear lately it’s gotten awful, and the worst culprit is almost every Tesla on the road. They all run automatic headlights, and either the drivers simply leave the high beams on all the time, or there’s some design flaw in the LED pattern (or maybe a new software update)

The other crappy thing is the newer “slim” row LED headlights - even since HID’s, regulations never caught up with the fact that glare intensity that blinds people is not a function of total lumens output - it’s flux density - a tiny bright spot like an undiffused LED emitter will blind you to surroundings by saturating your eye’s dynamic range (basically, your “night vision”), whereas a high output but low density light (like a fluorescent tube) does not appear blinding.

 

[Intuit]

Putting LEDs in halogen projectors is a downgrade.

Whether it's a downgrade is complicated, not just hinging on lumen output but also factoring color temp, housing design, placement of the lightsource within the housing and other personal priorities or preferences. My personal priorities were beam pattern, appearance. They also had the benefit of turning fuzz into virtual christmas trees, lighting up the reflective letters/stickers on their vehicles. They weren't good on wet roads but adapted.

So, just, the revelation that, "yeah, I upgraded my headlights, but then I put really dim bulbs in it because they were blinding people" was funny to me. Like, that's not an upgrade, man.

No, that's not what was communicated LoL. 🤦‍♂️ If something sounds odd to you, maybe ask for clarification? First, neither stated or implied my OEM PROJECTOR housings or the LEDs I bought were blinding people. Pay attention to context. People are often really only complaining about alignment and not brightness. They often conflate and confuse the two separate issues. LED or old halogen bulbs, those with varying levels of cataract will find oncoming headlights dangerous. It's a valid safety issue.

From prior experiences with the OEM reflector housings, I bought lowest lumen LEDs outright for the projectors. Though the stock halogen can be poor, I have excellent night vision and do not personally require additional brightness. It's actually for the white(er) light appearance... same reason I got the Spec-D rear lights... same reason I replaced the turn sigs (added resistors) and interior lighting... among the same reasons I chose the awesome looking FiST to start with. Second, they haven't been failing like the whiter halogens. (note: https://www.fiestastforum.com/threads/delayed-wipers-turn-signal-flash-wiper-stop-resolved.29473/) With exception to wet roadways which is primarily due to color temperature, even the "dimmer" LEDs light up reflective surfaces way better than the old halogen filament bulbs. Particularly in my younger days well before LEDs, the standard halogens were "bright"; not in a blinding sense, but more of an annoyance that I eventually adapted to. (and quit *itching about 😉)

 

[M-Sport fan]

I swear lately it’s gotten awful, and the worst culprit is almost every Tesla on the road. They all run automatic headlights, and either the drivers simply leave the high beams on all the time, or there’s some design flaw in the LED pattern (or maybe a new software update)

I know EXACTLY what you mean, as Elon's shit is THE most common actual car around here (the way that Camrys, Corollas, Accords, etc., were way back before the road tank 'boom') even rivalling the huge SUV 'required vehicle' status of the Muricun driving public nowadays.

The only thing worse is when some lifted, coal rollin' asswipe gets behind you with their effing light bars on full, blindingly, right/directly into your rear view mirrors, solely for 'intimidation' purposes (on well lit main roads).

Luckily, there are very few of them around here, but very annoying nonetheless.