I really hate badly aimed LED headlamps and automatic brights.
Posted by SuperSathanas@reddit | driving | View on Reddit | 85 comments
Took my family out to a haunted trail thing about an hour from home on Saturday. In order to get on the highway that'll take us most of the way, I had to spend about 20 minutes on windy, completely unlit country roads after dark. I was getting assault by brights and badly aimed LEDs the whole way there and back. I of course also had my brights on when there was no traffic to close in front of me, but I flip them off once I'm a few hundred feet away from oncoming traffic.
What was happening over and over, though, was that either oncoming traffic's brights would not turn off, I'd flash my brights a couple times when they were way too close with them on, at which point they'd turn off pretty quickly, or I'd flash my brights a couple times at someone with some just bright as hell lights only for them to then flash their barely brighter actual brights back at me, meaning their low beams were aimed too high if I was mistaking them for brights.
I'm going down these 45 and 55 mph roads, but having to go 15-20 under the speed limit because I'm trying to see the curves in the road and avoid road kill with all these bright lights right in my face.
I decided to start experimenting, trying to determine which of these cars had auto brights that just weren't turning off as we approached each other due to how dark it was outside. Some cars would flip their brights off at a reasonable distance, so either their auto brights aren't crap or the driver is manually flipping them off. For the other ones that still had them on when they were way too close (and if it wasn't the case that I was just mistaking badly aimed lights for brights), without fail, if I flashed my brights, theirs would turn off within a fraction of a second, faster than a person would react. So at least there was one solution to that problem. Just blind them back a little bit and trigger their auto brights to turn off.
But then there were the hills. I'd be coming up on a hill with my brights on, and I'd see a big ball of bright light emerging from the other side of the hill. I flip my brights off in anticipation of the other car coming over the crest, but theirs stay on. I flash mine a couple times to try to let them know I'm on the other side, but they stay on still. Either auto brights, they can't see my brights flashing because of how bright their lights are, or they just don't care. So, no matter the case, I have to get a face full of brights at close range until they either come over the hill, see me and turn them off, or I flash them once their over to trigger theirs off, which was basically useless anyway considering how close we already were to each other.
There's deer out here, other animals, road kill, pot holes, tight curves and other stuff we need to watch for, but I can't see anything for most of the drive down these roads because of all the damn bright lights. I used to prefer driving at night back before all the LEDs and auto brights. Usually less traffic, but more also because I have sensitive eyes and it was less draining and painful than driving during the day in the sun. Now, driving at night is just a guaranteed headache.
Intelligent-Fox66@reddit
I really hate having barely enough money to live
SuperSathanas@reddit (OP)
That also sucks.
Suitable_Boat_8739@reddit
Automatic high beams are terrible for the car with them too. I had it on a rental and it was the most buggy thing ive ever dealt with. Drove 3 hours through a pitch black night before i figured out how to turn it off. Constantly got triggered by a speed limit sign a mile away but it couldnt figure out when a car was coming around a curve the other way.
Feels like a feature no one needed or asked for.
Tychonoir@reddit
It's gotten ridiculous. Just the other day I had a car a ways behind me with six (!) extremely bright headlights, and then a long seventh (!) headlight? bar thing across the grille.
Each of these fuckin lights were so bright that I couldn't even see the car and it wasn't even dark yet. They were the brightest things I've ever seen. Horrendously distracting. How bright does a light in your rear-view have to be to blind you in the daytime?
There needs to be a complete update (and enforcement) of the laws regarding this. I know someone is going to say, "But what about all the lights people have bought and companies has spent money designing?"
My answer: Tough shit - under the not-made-up-at-all legal doctrine of, "You should have fucking known better."
Barbacamanitu00@reddit
LEDs just cast light very strangely. I remember being pretty excited when LEDs started being used for actual lighting and not just for small lights on gadgets. I knew how efficient they were and knew that they'd save a ton of money.
What I didn't know is that they were going to look awful. I remember how night time used to feel cool and warm when I was growing up. There were amber street lights and headlights were warm. LEDs only give off a single wavelength of light and that causes it to look... weird. And harsh.
Plus, most LEDs used for lighting are white or kind of blue. They're so harsh. Going outside at night time now feels like going to Walmart. All the charm of night time has been destroyed by LEDs.
I want my amber colored nights back.
kstorm88@reddit
Led's absolutely do not just give off one wavelength. We can have 95+ cri leds that will be indistinguishable with the human eye from a halogen light. In fact, the lights you praise and miss (high pressure sodium street lights) did give of, basically a single wavelength.
beige_cardboard_box@reddit
Too bad they still suck with cyan.
outline8668@reddit
I have HPS lights on my yard. I seem to recall the box the bulbs came in showing they cover a reasonably wide swath of wavelength.
kstorm88@reddit
They absolutely do not. Unless super peaky wavelengths over like a 20nm range is wide for you lol. High CRI LEDs have a relatively flat output between 450-700nm. It's okay to be wrong. If you take a picture under a hps light and then filter out 490nm wavelength, the picture will essentially be black and white.
beige_cardboard_box@reddit
I'll comment on newer vehicles. The laws around headlights in the US favor low beams that push everything to the limit. The brightness and the angles are both pushed to the limit. This gets the vehicle a better insurance ratings.
We also don't truly allow dynamic headlights that can stop light from being projected on just the windshield of the oncoming cars. This technology exists and is used in other countries. Well we sort of allow it, but my understanding there is some stipulation in the law that is causing automakers not to sell it in the US.
And the new safety systems that are in cars can malfunction is the owner of the vehicle decides to tilt there lights down a bit. Some manufacturers offer a re calibration for this, many do not.
We need better legislation around this. One that understands how the light source, spectrum, angles, adaptive components, and everything else affect other drivers on the road. And once that passes, you will need to wait another 10 years before most of the cars start using those new regulations. With how effective the the auto lobbying industry is, it might be a while.
Aromatic-Rhubarb-676@reddit
Now imagine this with light sensitivity and migraines. Fuck those people
SuperSathanas@reddit (OP)
I don't get migraines, but my wife does often enough. They'll keep her in bed for days at a time. Seems pretty miserable.
Instead, I get cluster headaches, and the lights can trigger them or make them worse if I've already got them going on.
Mizke420@reddit
I hate people who swap bulbs into housing for halogen bulbs those are what blind you.
Do what I do, I drive a full sized truck and it still blinds me. So I get behind them and sit there with my high beams on.
Projector lens are for hid/led bulbs because it has the eyelid inside that gives the cut off line to avoid blinding people.
eks789@reddit
This is a daily occurrence for me as well and it’s annoying as fuck. I have a 20 year old Lexus with halogens that are kind of bright, but nothing crazy. People with insanely bright lights have the audacity to flash ME, as if their normal lights aren’t way brighter than my brights (even though my brights aren’t even on)…
https://imgur.com/gallery/vv3nJ2g This is from just a few days ago, first car had their brights on and I flashed them (no change). 2nd car was fine, 3rd car had led brights on and decided to flash me back. People suck and LEDs headlights should not be legal
SuperSathanas@reddit (OP)
It kind of boggles my mind that LEDs as they are now are legal. In a vacuum, they benefit the individual driver of the car. I've driven many cars with LEDs, and I am able to see what's in front of me at night better with them... so long as the road isn't wet, because then it just makes it harder to see the road itself what with all of your own light reflecting back at you.
They're 100% objectively a detriment to other traffic around you though, and I don't get why so many people deny and are even upset about that assertion. White light has a bigger impact on your ability to see in low light environments than more yellow-ish light. Brighter lights of course also negatively impact your ability to see while the the lights are visible and for some seconds afterward as your eyes readjust to the darkness. Whiter and brighter lights cause eye fatigue/strain faster than dimmer, more yellow lights.
I was driving home at night, in the rain a couple weeks ago, and the LEDs were making it near impossible to see anything more than several feet in front of me. The bright lights were reflecting off of the water on the road, making it harder to see the lights or reflectors, and turning the mist being kicked up by tires into an almost opaque curtain of reflected light that essentially destroyed any ability to see beyond the front of my own car. The LEDs made driving conditions so much worse that I couldn't help but take note that it was much easier to see with a big lifted truck's headlights shining right down into my face as they passed by me than it was when properly aimed LEDs were passing. The trucks' lights were bright and much higher, but even with them right in my face, I was able to see down the road. With the LEDs reflecting off the water on the road and in the air, I couldn't see shit.
Bean_Boy@reddit
People defending these lights are just going to say that it's the fact that they're badly aimed. They forget that not every road is a perfectly level salt flat. The lights are just too bright. They're just too bright.
Cool_Owl7159@reddit
anyone who needs headlights that bright is visually impaired and should not be driving in the dark at all
ximyr@reddit
Nice thought, but you have effectively eliminated much of the population over 40.
Our eyes unfortunately do not have the dynamic range (ability to see what's in the dark when there are also lights around) they once did when we were younger. Also, our eyes do not adjust back to seeing in the dark as quickly anymore after being flashed by a bright light. So led bulbs are helpful, even at the same time they are probably more of a hindrance to us when on other cars.
Led bulbs are factory installed in almost all cars, so we are not changing our headlamps to these, they are already on our vehicles.
Bean_Boy@reddit
Right! Who cares if other people can see! As long as old people can blind everything in front of them, we are golden. The brands that have these stock cater to people who think only of themselves.
ximyr@reddit
Not sure why you are being so angry, elitist, and agist here. I said nothing about having them on with oncoming traffic.
I mean, kind of like what you did when you ranted about driving a low civic? I drive a small car too, and the bright lights affect me, and as I said elsewhere it is my biggest pet peeve while driving (yes, even more than tailgaiting and left-lane slothing), but only when people have them on continuously shining into other cars in front of them (LEDs or not). But even as they affect me, they also help me. High beams and brighter LEDs have a purpose, because they truly do help people see the road ahead of them better.
I'm glad that your eyesight is apparently the peak of evolution and will never degrade, ever, but no, I am not just making stuff up. 😒
https://www.essilor.com/br-pt/blog/olhar-por-idade/night-driving-at-40-years-old/
Your issue should not be with LED lights. They should be with people who drive with their high beams on with oncoming cars. And idiots with emotional support trucks, especially carolina squats.
Bean_Boy@reddit
My issue is with bright regular headlamps. Most people can see with normal headlights, no problem. That article is some spam saying that some eye conditions become "more common" after 40. So get your eyes checked and wear contacts / glasses, don't think it's ok to blind others.
TT-w-TT@reddit
It's crazy seeing how bright light should look like vs. what my astigmatism causes.
I get wanting your brights on while on winding roads like that, but I always feel it's safer for everyone if we can all see the road. I never use my brights bc I don't want to blind people.
QLDZDR@reddit
I am going to have a WILD guess that your car is an SUV and your headlights (even on low beam) because higher than passenger cars is shining directly in the face of incoming traffic.
When you are behind cars at the traffic lights do you ever wonder why your low beam headlights is illuminating the interior of the car in front?
BUT, if you really believe that your headlights are pointing at the road in front and you have a cut out shield installed to stop light bleed above 1 metre height, then you can stick a vanity mirror (use the plastic ones) to the side of your sun visor that faces the windscreen when it is down.
That allows you to reflect some of the oncoming headlight glare back at them.
SuperSathanas@reddit (OP)
I daily drive a 2016 Altima with a ticking time bomb of a transmission. Before that, I drove a Camry. The Camry was recently put to rest by an old guy who was high as shit and decided that driving into my trunk at a red light would be fun. We actually replaced the Camry with a Dodge Journey, and one of the first things I did after we brought it home was lower the aim of the headlights because they originally aimed basically straight forward.
Believe me, I am 100% aware of the aim of my headlights and I consider whether or not I'm blinding other traffic while driving. I've had this little rule for myself since I started driving that at night I wouldn't follow any closer than where I could see my headlights fade away on the road, which is usually at least a good 4-5 car lengths.
AtYiE45MAs78@reddit
So. All jeeps.
SuperSathanas@reddit (OP)
You know, I'm doing my 30 minute drive to work this morning, it's only recently been dark enough in the mornings to warrant having your headlights on, and I couldn't help but notice (or rather, remember) how seemingly every Jeep Wrangler has the big, bright as fuck lights. I don't understand how those are allowed. There are laws concerning when you shouldn't have your brights on, and you can get ticketed for improper usage of your brights, but these Jeeps have bright ass LED lights that are pointed straight forward, drowning out everything else around them, and they're apparently deemed acceptable.
rrhunt28@reddit
I had an old third that had auto lights and auto brights. It worked pretty well. But in a situation where there are tight curves and hills auto isn't going to work because the sensor isn't getting the light on it till it is right in your face.
lets_just_n0t@reddit
Stick to the lit streets, city slicker.
Icy-Kitchen6648@reddit
I'm sick of the stupid Audi matrix lights or whatever bullshit they call them. The ones that supposedly keep the brights on but turn off just the spot of the car in front of you. That shit doesn't work, no matter how much Audi drivers insist that they aren't blinding you. I'm sick of being flash banged by every Audi coming over a hill or around a corner. Turn off your brights its pretty fucking simple.
hx87@reddit
Matrix lights are great, it's just that our special snowflake US headlight regulations differ from the rest of the world so there is a separate and slower learning curve here
SuperSathanas@reddit (OP)
I wasn't even aware that that was a thing. I just went and looked them up, watched a video of them in action, and it seems like a potentially useful thing if done correctly, but the video trying to showcase how great they are definitely makes it look like there's still way too much light while oncoming traffic is passing.
This might explain why I keep seeing so many cars out there that seemed to have one side of their brights "stuck on". One normal looking light, and one that's just very obviously way brighter and still blinding me.
PeterPDX@reddit
Bmw has had this on non-us cars for 10 years now and it works great. Beam shaping wasn't allowed on us cars until very recently. Although some of us enable it since the hardware is all the same. I have a 2020 X5 with it enabled and you can clearly see the dark spot when it detects another car. It reacts pretty quickly as well.
Icy-Kitchen6648@reddit
Yeah they are popping up more and more. I suffer from an astigmatism so even if they aren't beaming directly into my eyes I still get the lines across my vision just from having bright lights on. The matrix lights are harder to spot with oncoming traffic but when someone behind you has them its pretty obvious.
JamesUpton87@reddit
Our headlight regulations are a joke. Sadly it's so baked in now that'll it'll likely never be fixed.
hx87@reddit
Agreed. FMVSS 108 is an abomination (and arguably has been since 1940 when sealed beams were mandated) and should be replaced with UNECE.
moistdragons@reddit
This is my life every single day. I live on a dark windy backroad and it seems like everyone else on the road has those unnecessary bright LED lights aimed right at the windshield of my tiny ass car. When they’re behind me the entire inside of my car lights up and I can’t see shit. When they’re in front of me I have to look away from them because if I look at them for eve en just a second my eyes will get spotty and I can’t see to drive. Who the hell gave the ok for lights that bright anyways ?
Why the hell do they even need nights if they can see 20 miles ahead of them with just their low beams?
Dagdandris@reddit
I have a 2021 Toyota Corolla SE and the automatic brights are VERY good at turning off. They're actually a bit too sensitive and turn off when I don't want them to sometimes. There's road construction near my house and the reflectors on the barricades cause my auto high beams to turn off.
Ok_Pirate_2714@reddit
The brights on my Equinox are like that as well. They will turn off on a country road because of the reflection from a deer crossing sign.
SuperSathanas@reddit (OP)
Yeah, there are definitely good implementations of auto brights out there, but there are also pretty bad ones. I encounter them all the time now that I live out in corn country where many roads between towns are unlit. Some turn off at a reasonable distance, others will stay on until you're only a second or so away from the other car. It happens often enough, too, that I'll have someone driving behind me with their brights on, but they won't turn off until they get pretty close to me or they're triggered off by oncoming traffic's lights, only to turn back on after that traffic passes. I'd hope that it isn't the case that the people behind me are turning them on and off manually and just don't realize or give a shit that they're blinding me from behind, but it's entirely possible that that is the case.
melissam17@reddit
As it’s been said before, the only people to benefit from the new lights are the drivers. They do not benefit anyone else
claurbor@reddit
As do we all.
US regs on headlights are significantly worse than in the EU. I moved UK>US a decade ago, and spending some time back in the UK confirmed it for me. Don’t misunderstand, I think it’s a problem in both places but there’s way more dazzle in the US.
Big-Beat-1443@reddit
You’ll be aight
SuperSathanas@reddit (OP)
No, I wouldn't be complaining about them if the affect of the bright, white LEDs wasn't having a significant negative impact on my ability to actually see and drive at night. The brightness and greater contrast between the dark and light is objectively more fatiguing for your eyes than halogen bulbs... or just good LEDs in decent housings. Toward the end of the drive, it was legitimately becoming difficult to focus my eyes on the road ahead of me. The lights were causing my vision to become blurry and unfocused and gave me a great headache, which is not great when driving. Admittedly, my eyes are sensitive to light, and so it affects me more than your average person, but it's still a more detrimental affect for everyone compared to dimmer lights.
Big-Beat-1443@reddit
But you survived, so I’d say you aight
SuperSathanas@reddit (OP)
Yes, my drive was made potentially more dangerous and I was physically affected by it, but no one died so it's all good and completely acceptable.
theres-no-more_names@reddit
It was actually safer if you actually were going 15-20 under like you said
Big-Beat-1443@reddit
So you get it now, good for you. Glad I could help
wyliec22@reddit
I drive a lot of two-lane, rural highway and probably half the cars have LEDs. Yes, they're brighter than incandescent or halogen but stock LED headlights certainly don't blind me. Yes, auto-dimming is a bit slower than I would normally dim my brights, but not by so much that it gets too close.
I'll never drive anything without LEDs.
I will concede that aftermarket and/or poorly aimed LEDs are bad but so is pretty much any badly aimed headlight technology....
sm0keasaurusr3x@reddit
That’s what most people mean when they say led lights suck. It’s really just either the poorly aimed ones or they “upgraded” their lights but didn’t get the proper projector for it.
Nova17Delta@reddit
The correct solution is to install a military spotlight on top of your car. Someone comes too close with their high beams on? Turn on your even higher beams.
Or drive an unmarked Crown Vic/ Ford Explorer
SuperSathanas@reddit (OP)
I've entertained the the spotlight fantasy many times over the last couple decades, but I don't think I'd like the citations should a cop see it.
Nova17Delta@reddit
see what? all they see is the sun driving down the road
ximyr@reddit
Here's the thing....
For all the people complaining about the auto brights on cars, they were not designed for the people who already turn their brights on and off with oncoming traffic. They were designed for the people that drive around with their high beams always on. They are literally trying to correct the problem that is the complaint here.
LED lights are not necessarily brighter (although they can be). But they are much bluer/whiter than traditional lights (so they appear brighter) and they don't fade, and have a tightly controlled pattern to maximize the low-beam light. Also, many LED enclosures (like in my car) actually do not have a separate high beam light, but actually just block the top part of the high beam to make the low beam pattern. So when the street isn't level you will get that fully in your face.
And yes, people who drive around with their high beams on ALL THE TIME absolutely suck. It is my biggest driving pet peeve.
SuperSathanas@reddit (OP)
If the auto brights were designed for the people who drive around with their brights on all the time or otherwise just forget to turn them off for oncoming traffic, then I think we've potentially mitigated that problem by some amount, while also creating a problem in that they are being turned on or left on automatically for people who otherwise wouldn't be using them, so I think in the best case there was a net 0 change in the misuse of high beams.
In reality, though, I've been getting blinded by high beams way more often since the auto beams have become a common thing.
xaulted1@reddit
"Fk everyone else. I can see slightly better."; LED lights owner.
Random-life-772@reddit
I bought a pair of yellow night driving glasses a few years ago. They really do help.
SuperSathanas@reddit (OP)
I'll have to look into those.
Bean_Boy@reddit
I'm tired of people saying it's just badly aimed lights. If the road is not completely flat 100%, it doesn't matter where your lights are aimed they're going to go right into the cabin of another car. If your normal headlights will blind the freaking person from a mile away, then they shouldn't be allowed on cars. A car comes over a hill half a mile away from me and it looks like they're blinding me already and they're still like 10 seconds away from even being close to me.
DaJohnnyB23@reddit
Oh man, you’d be infuriated in a proper sports car. My buddy wasn’t kidding when he complained about it. In my WRX, probably similar to a civic, I could deal with it thanks to window tint but still sucked especially oncoming traffic. In my BRZ I was so thankful I opted for an auto dim mirror when a massive truck stopped behind me. Based off the quick look at my side mirrors, I would probably be blind now.
Bean_Boy@reddit
It used to be once in awhile. Now it's like a parade of f** blinding f**** lights.
DaJohnnyB23@reddit
Seriously! I started noticing it like 5 or so years ago and thought maybe I’m just crazy. Then gradually it got worse and worse and worse to the point I even questioned my own eyes!
ThePocketPanda13@reddit
Emotional support truck is a great term. I will be using it thanks
Herbisretired@reddit
In 2022, the NHTSA finally agreed to the adaptive headlight system that has been used in Europe for over 10 years. The system allows the headlights to turn with the steering wheel, plus it can lower the beams for oncoming traffic. Hopefully, this will help.
ximyr@reddit
"lower the beams for oncoming traffic" is the auto brights that are already on the cars today.
Herbisretired@reddit
It does more than that, it lowers the beams so that they aren't shining towards your vehicle.
shana104@reddit
Yay!!! Progress!!
FunRutabaga24@reddit
Auto high beams make me mad and I hate them. People leave them turned on in city driving doesn't make sense to me when streetlights exists. Plus it's pure evil to keep brights on when you're pointed at a house.
Z34HR@reddit
People have no clue that their headlights can be adjusted. Honestly, they lose visability when their lights are aimed too high. I hate it too.
xangbar@reddit
I really hate big trucks with LEDs. I drive a Honda HR-V and the lights of all these big pickup trucks is eye level with me. I’m glad I drive backroads to work at least where there is minimal traffic but holy cow these LEDs are getting out of hand.
outline8668@reddit
Awful are the guys who put those levelling kits in the trucks. Only lifts up the front of the truck. They never reaim their headlights to compensate.
Secondhand-Drunk@reddit
I have astigmatism in both eyes and hate night driving. It's only worse now with all the cars that have white lights on them, and most of them are big trucks. He'll, I'm blinded sometimes in my own SECOND STORY home from cars on the fucking street, and I'm offset from it by about 30 feet. What the fuck?
666-3629@reddit
idk when I put the bulb in, but it is just that bright there is no option to adjust the brightness I believe most users feel the same way consider tinting the windshield if it bothers you instead of blaming :)
SuperSathanas@reddit (OP)
Yes, I should tint my windshield and make it overall harder to see at night.
No. The only real solution is for have dimmer, properly aimed headlamps and decent implementations for automatic brights. Much of the problem is that replace their headlamps with aftermarket bulbs or assemblies and don't properly aim their lights afterward. Many LEDs are just too bright in general, and it's annoying when everyone's lights are aimed too high, but it's even worse when the bright ass LEDs are aimed too high.
justacrossword@reddit
That’s weird. I love them. I thought everybody else did as well.
purplgurl@reddit
As a person with astigmatism in both eyes this makes driving so hard at night. It's so bad I don't flash anymore (flashed a cop once, he pulled me over) so I don't "ask" to turn them off anymore.. I just block the flash as best I can and slow down if I need to. I wish I would've opted for the rocket launcher on the front of my car though but hindsight and all that...
IndependentBrick8075@reddit
My Subaru with LEDs and automatic brights is, admittedly, not as reactive as a person is taught to be for lowering the lights. When I learned to drive I learned to lower my high beams before cresting a hill if I saw light from another car reflecting off the power lines, the system that triggers the auto high beams does not sense that and will wait until it can see the lights themselves.
Additionally, there are situations where it will dim the high beams when a driver wouldn't normally. The entrance to my apartment complex is 1200 feet from a traffic light, but the last 3/4 mile of the road before the light is straight and relatively flat, the car can 'see' the traffic light and thinks it's another vehicle (two red lights look like brake lights) and won't trigger the high beams on that stretch even if there are no cars. It's also sometimes 'tricked' by lights on the side of a building or if a house has a light on a pole at the end of their driveway.
My point - these systems aren't perfect, sometimes in favor of that car, sometimes not...
SuperSathanas@reddit (OP)
I'm pretty on the fence about whether or not I think auto brights should even be a thing. On one hand, they're nice when they work correctly and turn on when appropriate. In a perfect world, no one would be driving while tired, but we're in the real world with real demands and obligations, and people drive while tired all the time, and it's possible to just not think to turn your brights for a while after entering a dark area. There was an instance where I was having to make an overnight drive for work, and at about 2 am I took an exit off the highway to find a gas station. The road it put me on was a straight flat shot and it looked completely pitch black on the sides of the road. After a few minutes, I finally realized I couldn't see shit and turned my brights on. Deer just fucking everywhere on the sides of the road that I couldn't see until my brights were on. Auto brights would be nice in instances like that.
On the other hand, the implementation is tricky to get right and a human could more appropriately decide when the brights should be used. From the perspective of someone who doesn't know what goes into making them work, it probably seems pretty simple: have a threshold of ambient light at which the brights turn on or off, and also turn them off when bright light sources are detected in an otherwise dark environment. But you have account for things like the sensors not perceiving light the same way as a human eye, what is or is not a legitimate light source to dim the brights for, how bright a light source should be to trigger the brights off, you have to dry to determine how far away a light source is, which can be hard considering how much headlamps differ in brightness, aim and coverage...
It can get it right most of the time with a competent implementation, but there will still be instances in which it's acting in a way that a human driver would not.
ThePocketPanda13@reddit
I'm sorry I didn't pick my headlights, I had limited budget and no credit when I bought my car so my options were very limited, I picked the best option and I stand by that choice but the asshole headlights came with it. I don't even use my brights, even in situations where I should because these fucking headlights are so bright the brights don't make a difference and I feel really fucking bad every time I blind somebody and IM SORRY.
SuperSathanas@reddit (OP)
You can't really blame the owner when manufacturers are defaulting to bright LEDs. You'd have to go out of your way to either find older or the rare newer cars with halogen bulbs or actually decent LEDs, or otherwise replace your entire headlamp assembly. You essentially don't get a choice. The best you can do is make sure that the lights are aimed correctly after the fact and be aware of whether or not you have misbehaving auto brights.
ThePocketPanda13@reddit
When I say I don't use brights I mean I don't even fuck around with auto brights. Those sucker's are set to low beams permanently.
I also have no idea if they were manufacturing standard or aftermarket, it's a 9 year old car. Either way I can't justify spending the money on replacing them, my household doesn't make enough to be creating extra expenses like that and the car already has enough ways for me to dump money into it because it's almost a decade old
Creative_School_1550@reddit
Aftermarket LED bulbs aren't focused properly by housings made for tungsten filament bulbs. And some automakers have poor designs & the OEM LED setups have (what should be) unacceptable amounts of spill light. It's apparently very difficult to design LED headlights with good vertical cutoff, much different tungsten filament designs.
Monochronos@reddit
I have auto bright LEDs on my newer mazda and I haven’t been flashed once. I was expecting to honestly cuz they are pretty bright but the way they light the street doesn’t seem like it blinds others at all.
SuperSathanas@reddit (OP)
You can definitely tell when someone has aftermarket LEDs in improper housings. You get a big halo of unfocused light in your face that destroys your ability to see even further out to the sides than lights that are just too bright or badly aimed in general.
The thing that gets me is that there are definitely some really good LED headlights out there, that are bright white, but not too bright and properly focused, so someone knows how to implement them in a way that benefits the driver while not blinding other traffic. It makes me think that other manufacturers are either going with the worse implementations due to cost or otherwise just selling the worse lights because that's what people seem to want more.
gazingus@reddit
I miss our leased Mirai.
It had the most awesome LED stadium-lights, they put the LAPD Helicopter's "Night Sun" to shame.
I don't know how they were legal. They were probably 20x brighter than standard LED high-beams.
Its probably a good thing they're gone.
The temptation to use them might eventually go down the wrong path.
handicapparkin@reddit
I've been saying for the last few years that these new LED highlights car manufacturers put in vehicles can't be legal.
A few months ago I purchased a new Civic. Automatic high beams are always on when I start the car. I was able to work around that by just leaving my headlights on all the time. They shut off by themselves after 30ish seconds after I lock the car.
Any way the amount of times I get flashed during the day is bananas. It's about 5x worse at night... It doesn't help that the 2 low beam lights come from the far left of the car(the fender side) and the far right (the grill side). The middle area I'm assuming is for the high beam.
I may be a dick but when someone does give me the high flash I'll give it back to them. If they legit don't turn the highs off. Guess what I'll return the favor and melt their retinas