Lights too bright?

Johnmcl7

My car came with an auto-dimming rear view mirror and it's superb, it doesn't sort the problem entirely as obviously it doesn't affect head on cars and the wing mirrors are still bright but it still makes for a big improvement not being blinded looking in the rear view mirror. I don't know if they can be retrofitted as it's not something I've looked into.

John

d0nkeyk0ng

Xenons are quite bright and these are the bulbs that reportedly cause dazzling. There are no level dials - they're meant to have auto-levelling sensors. On normal vehicles, they're fine. On 4x4s, they do come in at windscreen level which makes them dazzle. Thankfully my mirrors are anti-dazzle but I can see how they're a nuisance.

Iceweasel

Nasqueron wrote: »

I don't believe mine is "high end" but it does have self adjusting lights - you can see the beam move left and right as you turn, might be coming to cheaper models as the technology has got cheaper.

What you have I think is usually referred to as adaptive lights which swing right and left.

In earlier posts what was mentioned most was self levelling.

You likely have both.

Halogen lamps usually have the little thumb-wheel to set the height/level.

Xenon and LED are normally self-levelling.

When I start the engine the lights move up and down once to get the level right according to the load.

Nasqueron

Iceweasel wrote: »

What you have I think is usually referred to as adaptive lights which swing right and left.

In earlier posts what was mentioned most was self levelling.

You likely have both.

Halogen lamps usually have the little thumb-wheel to set the height/level.

Xenon and LED are normally self-levelling.

When I start the engine the lights move up and down once to get the level right according to the load.

Quite likely yes, thanks for the clarification

Mine has LEDs and the website says

The Bi-Xenon headlamps with pivoting Adaptive Front Lighting System (AFS) are just one of the Mazda3's advanced safety features.

My old 206 had the little dial

reeac

The powers that be acknowledged the stance of a dazzle problem way back and introduced a wattage limit for road use - 60w/55w. That was ok until HID lights appeared , and now LEDs which produce several times the amount of light per watt as do quartz halogen. About time they changed from a wattage limit to a lumen limit or maybe we have to wait until we all have LEDs to level the playing field.

bartelbe

Allot of people are illegally fitting the wrong bulbs. Standard headlight fittings are not designed for HID bulbs, but people still fit modification kits so they can have the brighter bulbs.

Not only can that damage the headlight unit, because the reflectors inside the unit are not designed for HID bulbs, they can lead to oncoming drivers being dazzled by the modified unit.

Some motorists are unaware of this, others are just selfish c**ts.

Iceweasel

I actually doubt if any cars with factory fitted DRLs or with Xenon or LED lights are causing dazzle - unless of course they are incorrectly fitted/adjusted or have a fault in the self-levelling system.

It's more likely the numpties who fit aftermarket DRLs and don't wire them to go off when other lights are switched on cause problems.

I see loads of cars with DRLs AND headlights on - that is simply not correct and will cause dazzle.

Likewise those who don't use the little thumb wheel to compensate for a load in the boot or back-seat passengers will cause dazzle.

Then there are those who fit non-OE bulbs/lamps in an attempt to update their car - or as many desire - to give the impression that they have the latest type of lights.

I see little point in complaining about improved light technology when it's humans who are using it incorrectly.

Nasqueron

Add the 2000,4000,6000 etc lumen bike lights from cheap Chinese manufacturers flogged on ebay for 20 quid which don't taper and shine in your eyes because people don't fit them properly (they even dazzle us riders coming the other way). Saw some guy the other day with 2 of them, one on bike, one on helmet pointing forward, I couldn't even look at the road ahead properly because they were so bright and the head height one was pointing directly in the eye line

Tammykitty

When I got my last set of glasses, I got distance night vision lenses as I had found my vision very bad when driving at night and facing oncoming traffic.


The glasses cost £15 and an extra £30 for the special lenses, and best money I have ever spent, driving is no longer a pain!

almillar

Also, a lot of higher end cars have self levelling headlights

That's how it started, but it's actually Xenon headlights that MUST have self levelling. And also headlight washers. That's part of the reason that retrofitted ones may/may not (let's not get into that) be illegal.
If you think you have Xenon lights, and you have a levelling wheel, you have a problem.