That 2005 model headlight also has a much shorter lifespan than most LEDs (assuming proper cooling in their enclosure). Up to 1,000 hours for a traditional headlight, and up to 50,000 hours for an LED headlight.

Really depends on the cop, since they can pull you over and/or ticket you for any or no reason. Whether it stands in court is another story, but you gotta take it to court for that to matter. And if they just say it was on when it wasn't, it would be difficult to prove.

My cars are older with not LEDs and I just drive with my brights on all the time. Still dimmer than everyone else's lights and helps my eyes

Yeah mine is 30 years old, but I got LED replacements for it online.

Transparent yellow filter tape time

It's a lowered 1989 Mercedes E-Class. Sitting in the car my level of sight is at about 110 cm.

In place of that, just put a mirror.

Isn't there simpler self-calibrating? Like just the level?

Don't blame LEDs, it's because of the alignment of the headlights. Any type of headlight can be misaligned.

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.

Yeah, but the LEDs really.... highlight the situation.

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.

Mild unlevelness is taken into account with my aiming, obviously I can't do anything about us going opposing directions on a steep incline, but that's true of any headlight type.

Prevailing thought on social media seems to prefer demonizing technology over discussing how to use it better.

...which is exactly why you shouldn't be allowed to have the intense, blinding lights on your vehicle.

"It's unavoidable but fuck y'all, i like the bright lights" is a wild stance to take.

Incandescant headlights are not dim, the tyranny of the inverse square law is unavoidable. If you stare into them head on, say, as a product of a hill, you will be unsighted regardless.

And this is ignoring the fact that just because LEDs can be brighter doesn’t mean they have to be. Trying to attribute this issue to technology instead of insufficent regulation is harmful.

It’s mostly limited to expensive cars because until recently the regulations around them were super complicated. Things are finally simplified a bit and North America has finally started allowing them as well.

As I mentioned, that's true regardless of light type. I am just as blinded by the people with standard lights on an incline as they are by my LEDs. That's just part of driving on an incline at night. People that have driven at night more than once in their life just learn to hold up one of their hands on a steep incline.

It's less I like the bright lights and more the whole there is no other source of light anywhere near me. I'm on a rural highway and I would like to be able to see the deer before I'm on top of them.

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).

Yep every little hill and it is blinding.

Yeah well. That might be the price of lowering. Cool ride though.

Oh and fuck SUVs 😑

True, I don't even want to know how bad it would be in a MX-5, SLK or even a Smart Roadster.

I still like that MX-5 though.

Just build your own sodium bulb how hard could it be

in super high-end cars

I'm looking at the specs of a VW Polo here and it has matrix led headlights. Not the base model, but one above it, at 23k eur. I know Polo's aren't available in the states, but if a small entry level hatchback suited for first car owners can have them, I struggle to find the reason why others can't have them too. Unless its proprietary technology?

Adding a yellow tint to your glasses massively helps with cutting the glare out, makes computer screens less headachey as well.

Add a border of that 3M high reflective silver tape and they'll notice real quick

Sadly I have a big ass head and everytime I try to wear glasses it makes me get a migraine.

Luckily nobody outside of a car has eyes or this would be pretty terrible.

"What do you use for your creative design stuff?"

"Canva"

I was driving my friend's car at night yesterday, first time in years, and it seemed like over half the people just don't flick off their brights when approaching these days?? I understand it's kind of impossible to see the road without them now, but I was still shocked at how g much shittier a drive in the dark was than I remembered. It's intolerable!

So this is why I feel like I'm being attacked whenever I go up a slight incline with incoming traffic?

go custom or eat the loss. at least tint the housings and lenses.

this is your problem because it's your vehicle, don't make it everybody else's

bare minimum, yeah

If they are wearing reflecting clothing (which they should if they are on a road after dark) , they will be detected.

If they are not, they have much bigger problems to worry about than leds.

Tried having a look at prescription safety glasses?

They're usually built for people that are built bigger, and are mostly cheaper than buying off the shelf.

Also the increasing height of lights, even low beams travel fucking long

They were saying lots of words to make their point seem a lot more salient than your actual lived experience proves

You’re right.

If I illegally modified my vehicle in a way that made it worse, it would be.

This is a factory vehicle from the dealership with no alternative light options. I'm not responsible for anything with regard to the lights on it unless I'm running around with my brights on, which I don't use.

Not sure how you think the law works, but that's not it.

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.

They should be behind diffusers to break up the laser like focus of them.

States are reducing inspections so I see this getting worse.

There is a lot of "my freedom!" bullshit when it comes to cars.

Good thing I hold up my hand at night to stop from being blinded ensuring I can't see your oncoming superbright truck.

Why do people feel the need to have headlights so bright they can see to the horizon?

you shouldnt do that.

You have a warped view here, I have to say.

I've looked all over for aftermarket options, and asked the dealership repeatedly for options for 4 years.. And I have no responsibility because I won't go spending inordinate amounts of money to try and engineer a potentially worse solution...

Right... Great viewpoint you have there.

there are still enough people who aren't very conservative and still just shrug and say "nothing I can do about it", instead of y'know owning up to their shit