The Future is Here, Today. (Headlights)

[SubLGT]

I don't know much about headlights but I am sick and tired of the newer headlights blinding me at night when I drive. I don't understand how NHTSA can consider them safe. Sure they help the driver see but oncoming traffic is blinded.

Have you seen this:

Sign the Petition

Ban Blinding Headlights and Save Lives!

www.change.org

 

[Audiman]

The Germans love to do this. How about a $700 core charge on a $80 temperature sensor. Part prices are getting ridiculous.

Ive never had anything like this before. I change a lot of parts that I’m surprised are not exchange. VAG doesn’t even ask for engines or gearbox’s back.

Also typically headlight control units are one part number for a model and the coding aspect isn’t for the vin but to tell it what it’s fitted to.

 

[Owen Lucas]

Ive never had anything like this before. I change a lot of parts that I’m surprised are not exchange. VAG doesn’t even ask for engines or gearbox’s back.

Also typically headlight control units are one part number for a model and the coding aspect isn’t for the vin but to tell it what it’s fitted to.

Maybe it's a US thing. It was odd that they wanted the sensor back, which was destroyed due to a collision. I've seen core exchanges on headlight housings and bumpers, so that they can't be purchased by reconditioners, but a sensor was weird. Had to call the dealer and get documentation to be 100%.

 

[AlphaOmega]

You forgot to mention how newer LED headlights are VIN encoded, so you need to go to the dealer for programming.,

typically headlight control units are one part number for a model and the coding aspect isn’t for the vin but to tell it what it’s fitted to.

 

[zzyzzx]

Also typically headlight control units are one part number for a model and the coding aspect isn’t for the vin but to tell it what it’s fitted to.

So a headlight still needs to be programmed at great expense at the dealer?

 

[Audiman]

So a headlight still needs to be programmed at great expense at the dealer?

There’s numerous aftermarket diagnostic systems on the market that can code control units meaning an independent repairer can perform repairs.

This is typically at a lower price point than a main dealer. It will cost you about £140 at the dealer I work at for a control unit to be coded. I would not say this is a great expense. If additional work is required like headlight adjustments or ADAS system adjustments then this costs more.

One size fits all control units are part of how a vehicle’s build cost is kept down. You would pay far more for a vehicle if all the control units were different for every model spec.

The only way around this is used parts. Find a car thats the exact same spec as yours. It MAY be plug and play in that case. Component protection can also require resetting on things like gearbox, engine and infotainment control units as this reduces the resale value of stolen parts.

People who DIY will always have an issue with parts needing coded, immobiliser systems and any other system that generally improve the customers enjoyment, satisfaction, safety and security of the vehicle.

 

[AlphaOmega]

There’s numerous aftermarket diagnostic systems on the market that can code control units meaning an independent repairer can perform repairs.

This is typically at a lower price point than a main dealer. It will cost you about £140 at the dealer I work at for a control unit to be coded. I would not say this is a great expense. If additional work is required like headlight adjustments or ADAS system adjustments then this costs more.

One size fits all control units are part of how a vehicle’s build cost is kept down. You would pay far more for a vehicle if all the control units were different for every model spec.

The only way around this is used parts. Find a car thats the exact same spec as yours. It MAY be plug and play in that case. Component protection can also require resetting on things like gearbox, engine and infotainment control units as this reduces the resale value of stolen parts.

People who DIY will always have an issue with parts needing coded, immobiliser systems and any other system that generally improve the customers enjoyment, satisfaction, safety and security of the vehicle.

I find it a tad bewildering and amusing that on a car enthusiast forum, a perfect car is a Trabant — the 2 bolts, 3 screws, 4 nuts type of child kit car, that semi-deaf, quarter-blind invalids can assemble in a dark dungeon and still not make a mistake . Any complex engineering seems to be heresy for some here.

The perfect bobistheoilgiy car where any repair costs 5 cents:

 

[Audiman]

I find it a tad bewildering and amusing that on a car enthusiast forum, a perfect car is a Trabant — the 2 bolts, 3 screws, 4 nuts type of child kit car, that semi-deaf, quarter-blind invalids can assemble in a dark dungeon and still not make a mistake . Any complex engineering seems to be heresy for some here.

The perfect bobistheoilgiy car where any repair costs 5 cents:

But can it go 500,000 miles with the only maintenance being 3000 mile oil changes and a set of tyres?

 

[AlphaOmega]

But can it go 500,000 miles with the only maintenance being 3000 mile oil changes and a set of tyres?

And be repaired with a bubble gum and $10 worth of knicknackery

 

[SubLGT]

A very good recent article (and video) from NBC News about headlights and glare. The international OEM lighting industry has criticized NHTSA for mucking up the implementation of adaptive headlights in the USA, and making it inferior to what is available in the rest of the world. And after all these years, NHTSA still does not require vehicle manufacturers to check headlight alignment.

Blinded by the light: U.S. cars still lack glare-reducing headlights

Adaptive driving beams have been used in Europe since 2012. They are now available on vehicles sold in every major automotive market worldwide, except the U.S.

www.nbcnews.com

That combination of risk factors makes it all the more important to get adaptive driving beams on U.S. roads, automotive safety researchers said. But the new rule’s testing requirements [from NHTSA] are so detailed and cumbersome that automakers say they would have to redesign the systems, potentially delaying implementation by years, despite the already available European technology. Safety researchers cautioned regulators against creating that kind of red tape years ago.

A number of industry groups and companies, including Ford, Honda and Volkswagen, asked the NHTSA to reconsider its requirements, and the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group representing automakers, petitioned the agency to do so.

“The final rule contains several requirements that are either not practicable or not reasonable,” the group wrote in its petition. “If not adjusted, parts of this rule stand as an obstacle to the deployment of this important safety technology in the US market.”

For Bullough [ program director at Mount Sinai’s Light and Health Research Center], misalignment is the biggest issue. His research has found the majority of vehicles on the road have at least one mis-aimed headlight.

“Headlights aren’t like a flashlight, where they just throw out a beam of light, there’s a very sharp horizontal cutoff. So there’s a line below which headlights are very bright,” he explained. “When you’re 100 feet away, a little change in how that headlight is aimed can make a big difference in putting your eyes in that bright part of the headlight beam.”

.......but even brand new vehicles may have misaligned headlights, because federal law does not require manufacturers to check alignment once headlights are mounted on vehicles. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which tests headlight aim annually, has repeatedly asked federal regulators to add the testing to its requirements.

“If there’s a single issue with the regulation that we discovered [by testing] that needs to be fixed, it’s this issue of aim,” said Matthew Brumbelow, a senior research engineer at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

 

[2heeldrive]

I don't know much about headlights but I am sick and tired of the newer headlights blinding me at night when I drive. I don't understand how NHTSA can consider them safe. Sure they help the driver see but oncoming traffic is blinded.

That's why I wear my sunglasses at night.

 

[2heeldrive]

Back in the day, all we had were sealed beam headlights... and we liked 'em.

They could be purchased for a few dollars just about anywhere.

It was a big deal when halogen sealed beams came out in the 70's.

 

[hrv]

Back in the day, all we had were sealed beam headlights... and we liked 'em.

They could be purchased for a few dollars just about anywhere.

It was a big deal when halogen sealed beams came out in the 70's.

I remember those. I put a set on my 1980 Chrysler Cordoba and just installed one first and wow the difference...one was yellow and the newer halogen was white... It was a big improvement when they came out with the seal beam halogen....

 

[PimTac]

Back in the day, all we had were sealed beam headlights... and we liked 'em.

They could be purchased for a few dollars just about anywhere.

It was a big deal when halogen sealed beams came out in the 70's.

Yep and it was a good thing they were available everywhere because you never knew when they would go out or get broken. Then they got replaced quickly but didn’t get aimed properly so the lights were cockeyed

 

[AlphaOmega]

It was a big deal when halogen sealed beams came out in the 70's.

Bet there were old timers complaining about that invitation back then too, the way some here are offended by LED headlights

 

[97prizm]

Who could have thought headlights could get to this level 15 years ago? I remember thinking around 2008 that HIDs are the end of the road for headlight technology for a foreseeable future. Then a few years later LEDs started to defuse through the automotive landscape, and I thought: “how could I not have foreseen that” - haha; and that now, for sure no new advancements are possible until 2050. Yet here we are and it’s bonkers. In 5-10 years, these systems will be available on “Corollas” and “Elantras” of the world.

I just saw an X5 that had the optional Laser headlights. Freaking awesome.

 

[SHOZ]

I wouldn't expect more than ten years out of a modern car full of electronics before some sort of major failure,

 

[WeyounDS9]

I loved my Xenons/HIDs on my 2004 350Z.
But LEDs are in the same class of performance ( actually even slightly more but too little differnece for most to notice) but longer lasting and cheaper to repalce.
And not so sensitive to frequent on and offs.
So I prefer the LEDs on my Armada. (and they are night and day compared to the Halogens on my Pathfinder)

 

[meep]

Back in the day, all we had were sealed beam headlights... and we liked 'em.

They could be purchased for a few dollars just about anywhere.

It was a big deal when halogen sealed beams came out in the 70's.

Man… halogens were indeed a game changer. My 7” sealed beams put nothing on the road when i was approached by vehicles with halogen lights back then. But with no traffic they were super-easy on the eyes and very pleasant.

i think streets have become brighter nowadays - more and better street lights and signage - I don’t think sealed beams would have a chance. and they were useless above 45-50 mph.

i still greatly prefer halogen lighting for eye fatigue and texture recognition. I’ve got the lowest color temp I can find for the HID projectors in my car and installed halogen fogs with yellow tint. I am trying to hold off on led lighting as long as we can.

 

[Owen Lucas]

I just saw an X5 that had the optional Laser headlights. Freaking awesome.

How could you tell, were the headlights brighter or a different color?