Dazzling LED car headlights

sevenhills

AdrianC wrote: »

HIDs and LEDs are different things. Not all HIDs are bi-Xenon
LEDs are a more recent development - but even they've been around for nearly a decade and a half. 2007 Audi R8 and Lexus LS.

Just pointing out that some, maybe older, drivers do have a problem, and have done for quite some years.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYmx3Uy4rAk

almillar

Now no-one cares about anything except selling massively expensive and short lived LEDs with their higher colour temperature and point-source intensity, and having a sort of arms race to make the cars "safer" by being the only visible object on the road.

LEDs have a far longer life than regular filament bulbs that they are replacing. Not sure about their lifespan versus Xenon discharge bulbs, but I imagine they beat those too.

Unless UK law has changed, dipped beam still means dipped beam - the lights have to point down and left. You should only be dazzled by these lights rarely, coming over hills or round corners.

There are certainly plenty of people driving around in cars with badly adjusted lights (having a load in the back and not adjusting the settings), badly aligned lights, fitting Xenon or LED lights to cars not designed for them, driving around with full beam on.
These are nothing to do with LED, the technology.

I think seeing and being seen is a really good idea. Being dazzled has always been a problem, and the advice is to look away, not straight at the problem. I'm amazed you can tell LED is the problem, to be fair.

I found that the HID lights on my car are very sensitive to dirty lenses.

Ever noticed that all cars with HID also have headlight washers? Another reason why fitting them after market is bad.

It was the EU that killed of dim/dip, maybe Boris is the man to solve this issue.

What? News to me. Is this to make way for the auto dim/dip systems? And therefore, still not part of the problem.

Can we just establish for a moment, that the vast majority of cars on the road DO NOT have LED headlights? IF a car has LEDs at the front they're sidelights or Daylight Running Lights (DLR). LEDs bright enough to be used as headlights are still an expensive option, mostly, although that's changing fast.

You are not the only one, they are a !!!!ing nightmare, on the motorway when its dark, if I have one of those !!!!! behind me, i slow down (foot off accelerator, not braking) and wait for the !!!! to overtake.

Dip your mirror, or get an auto dimming one.

I also have a problem with day time running lights being used at night. Noticed a lot of cars don't have the rear lights on at night. When I pass them, it looks like either just their fog lights are on or parts of their headlights

Now here's a real problem. if you were driving round with no lights on, that was, of course, dangerous, but you would soon know about it because your dashboard was dark. Now with DRLs and all the screens and permenantly 'on' dashboards, people can drive around unilluminated at the rear for ages! When I see this happening, a high ratio of the cars are dark coloured too!

Being blinded from the front is another matter. I'm pretty sure my LED matrix light are blinding other drivers, as I get flashed on motorway by lorries coming from other direction. Especially in Europe. Can't do anything about it. Lights were standard equipment on the car.

This is the kind of lights we're meant to be talking about. I imagine a lot of the dazzled people were not dazzled by these.

Seems to me the automotive industry operates in its own bubble of marketing unreality rsther than living in the practical outside world which motorists have to inhabit!

It operates internationally, and our bumpy roads and tiny parking spaces are not much of a problem for them. They do also try to sell us small cars, but we keep buying bigger ones. Not their fault. Audi Q7, BMW X7 and all those pickup trucks as a few examples. When did they buying public forget they had to PARK their vehicles?!

Whenever I've driven a hire car with LEDs I actually fine them pretty horrible to drive with anyway. The harsh white light is really tiring on the eyes and doesn't show as much detail as a normal halogen bulb.

What was the car? Were you trying to see in the dark with DRLs?!!

Really? No one seems to have told Honda.

What car are you suggesting is being illegally sold in the UK? HIDs must have auto levelling and headlight washers.


I drive a high car, and a low car, and get dazzled in the low car plenty, but it's part of driving, you have to deal with it, and that's not going to change. If you think you're going to have a crash, if someone is driving towards you and they've forgotten to turn off full beam, you really shouldn't drive. Really.

Have they stopped training people learning to drive NOT to look at oncoming lights.....
Look slightly away from them and they do not blind you. Simple really.....

Yep, it's uncomfortable, you're tempted to look AT it for some reason, but it passes. And if you think it'll cause an accident, get off the road. Don't have an accident and blame someone else for it.

It's not distracting once the rear view mirror has been inverted.

Excellent! Someone else has found out what that little tab below the mirror is for!

These headlights are so bright the while cabin is filled with light, including bright reflections from side mirrors.

What car are you driving, and what vehicle is behind?! This really sounds like a height, not brightness, problem. As in, the headlights are above the height of your boot, so the light comes straight in your rear window. I drive a 350Z which puts me (my eyes) below the height of lots of car's headlights, oncoming and behind.

The RAC Opinion Panel survey of 2,061 motorists found that six in 10 (58%) motorists think modern vehicle headlights are so bright they risk causingother motorists to have accidents.

I bet they all thought everyone else's lights are too bright, whilst their own aren't bright enough. I imagine very few people have actually seen their own car's headlights oncoming!

building_with_lego

born_again wrote: »

Have they stopped training people learning to drive NOT to look at oncoming lights.....

Look slightly away from them and they do not blind you. Simple really.....

I trained a few years ago and was taught to look at the white line at the edge of the road if being dazzled and use my peripheral vision to drive until the vehicle passed.

I now drive mostly on urban roads, and have developed a particular hatred for new Minis, which have very bright blueish lamps pointing straight into my eyes, and for the vans/ SUVs which want me to exceed the speed limit and therefore dazzle me in all three mirrors on the 20mph roads on my way home. (I find myself crouched over my wheel, squinting, while they try to 'encourage' me to exceed the limit.)


For the record, I am early 40s, get my eyes tested annually and do not need glasses