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re: "aftermarket xenon bulb setups" Is this still a big problem? While I would have agreed with you, say, back in the 2000s when the whole "import tuner" craze

re: "aftermarket xenon bulb setups" Is this still a big problem? While I would have agreed with you, say, back in the 2000s when the whole "import tuner" craze was in full swing, I don't think this is popular anymore. The car mod scene seems to be close to extinct now, with whats left being a lot less crazy than those in the past.

tw04 6y ago
IMO it’s WORSE. The new craze are the LED light bars. I had one on my old truck for off-road use, but there are idiots that drive with them turned on driving down public roads. They’re so bright it can take 10+ seconds to see normally again.
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  LED light bars should immediately result in an attempted murder conviction.
TedDoesntTalk 6y ago
We also missed out on the yellow sodium headlight craze in Europe during the 80s or 90s. Headlights in the USA must be whitish in color. Anyone know why?
- bonzini 6y ago
  As far as I remember that didn't happen in all countries. I remember seeing them when going on vacation to France (Corsica) in the mid 80s, but never at home.
  - jaclaz 6y ago
    No, it was only France, where they were mandatory. In other EU countries they were however allowed up to a certain date (in Italy they are accepted only for vehicles built before 1993, and in the same date France made them not mandatory). The yellow is not "a" yellow it is a very specific one, called "Selective Yellow": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_yellow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_yellow
- laurencerowe 6y ago
  Yellow headlights used to be a legal requirement for driving in France and we had to put yellow film on when driving there until the EU standardized white headlights. Apparently it was to reduce dazzle and glare: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_yellow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_yellow
- chrisco255 6y ago
  I have no idea but could be related to use of the color yellow for caution / hazard lights, construction vehicles or turning lights.
throwaway29102 6y ago
The 2000s are just starting to reach the Dakotas and the rest of the Midwest.
vsareto 6y ago
You will see them far more often on large trucks in the USA these days. Especially true for midwest drives across long stretches at night where the brightness is much more annoying than in the middle of a city. If the truck is lifted, the brightest points of the light can hit you from further away, worsening the problem. It is also bad when someone is behind you with this setup, especially lifted trucks. Some cars have a rear mirror that can dim them to tolerable levels, but not the side mirrors. So you'll get flashes from them as you drive unless you lean forward or angle the mirrors away.
- ChainOfFools 6y ago
  I've started to see some of those lifted trucks (almost always white, for some reason) with LED strip arrays mounted into the front grill fascia at just the right height to glare directly at the eye level of passenger cars.
  - bradknowles 6y ago
    I’ve given thought to getting one of those strips of LED lights and mounting them on the back of my car. Then we can see whose lights are brighter.
- 29083011397778 6y ago
  > Some cars have a rear mirror that can dim them to tolerable levels, but not the side mirrors The US National Highway Transportation Safety Administration actually has a suggestion for eliminating the glare and reducing blindspots [1] https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/blindzoneglaremirrormethod.pdf https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/blindzonegla...
  - ComputerGuru 6y ago
    That's OK if you have a reverse camera but will make driving or parking in reverse absolutely impossible if you don't. Clever suggestion, otherwise.
extrapickles 6y ago
Its becoming more of a problem as aftermarket LEDs get more popular. The xenon kits were only installed by people who wanted to be 'cool', but LEDs are getting installed by people who want to save money or effort in replacing their halogen headlamp bulbs. What is worse about the LEDs is that they are sold as "compatible" to various vehicles, when that means they will work mechanically/electrically, but not optically (some actually try to put LEDs in the same spot as the filament). All of the units I've seen cause the car headlamp to put out light at higher angles than a halogen bulb will, causing more glare for opposing traffic.
throwaway0a5e 6y ago
>Is this still a big problem? No. Retrofitting Xenon bulbs is an expensive pain in the ass compared to dropping in some LED replacement bulbs for a marginal increase in light and little to no increase in glare or change in beam pattern because they're made to be geometrically equivalent to the halogen bulbs they replace (which they kind of need to be in order to work adequately in all possible applications for whatever bulb they replace) At the very high end you can get stupid bright LEDs but pretty much nobody does that because they are expensive. Most of the glare you see is from OEM headlight assemblies (regardless of the type of bulb installed) that were simply not designed with not blinding other people as more than a "check the compliance box so we can get back to optimizing for every other metric" sized priority.

tw04 6y ago

IMO it’s WORSE. The new craze are the LED light bars. I had one on my old truck for off-road use, but there are idiots that drive with them turned on driving down public roads. They’re so bright it can take 10+ seconds to see normally again.

lotsofpulp 6y ago
LED light bars should immediately result in an attempted murder conviction.

TedDoesntTalk 6y ago

We also missed out on the yellow sodium headlight craze in Europe during the 80s or 90s. Headlights in the USA must be whitish in color. Anyone know why?

bonzini 6y ago
As far as I remember that didn't happen in all countries. I remember seeing them when going on vacation to France (Corsica) in the mid 80s, but never at home.
- jaclaz 6y ago
  No, it was only France, where they were mandatory. In other EU countries they were however allowed up to a certain date (in Italy they are accepted only for vehicles built before 1993, and in the same date France made them not mandatory). The yellow is not "a" yellow it is a very specific one, called "Selective Yellow": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_yellow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_yellow
laurencerowe 6y ago
Yellow headlights used to be a legal requirement for driving in France and we had to put yellow film on when driving there until the EU standardized white headlights. Apparently it was to reduce dazzle and glare: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_yellow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_yellow
chrisco255 6y ago
I have no idea but could be related to use of the color yellow for caution / hazard lights, construction vehicles or turning lights.

throwaway29102 6y ago

The 2000s are just starting to reach the Dakotas and the rest of the Midwest.

vsareto 6y ago

You will see them far more often on large trucks in the USA these days. Especially true for midwest drives across long stretches at night where the brightness is much more annoying than in the middle of a city. If the truck is lifted, the brightest points of the light can hit you from further away, worsening the problem. It is also bad when someone is behind you with this setup, especially lifted trucks. Some cars have a rear mirror that can dim them to tolerable levels, but not the side mirrors. So you'll get flashes from them as you drive unless you lean forward or angle the mirrors away.

ChainOfFools 6y ago
I've started to see some of those lifted trucks (almost always white, for some reason) with LED strip arrays mounted into the front grill fascia at just the right height to glare directly at the eye level of passenger cars.
- bradknowles 6y ago
  I’ve given thought to getting one of those strips of LED lights and mounting them on the back of my car. Then we can see whose lights are brighter.
29083011397778 6y ago
> Some cars have a rear mirror that can dim them to tolerable levels, but not the side mirrors The US National Highway Transportation Safety Administration actually has a suggestion for eliminating the glare and reducing blindspots [1] https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/blindzoneglaremirrormethod.pdf https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/blindzonegla...
- ComputerGuru 6y ago
  That's OK if you have a reverse camera but will make driving or parking in reverse absolutely impossible if you don't. Clever suggestion, otherwise.

extrapickles 6y ago

Its becoming more of a problem as aftermarket LEDs get more popular. The xenon kits were only installed by people who wanted to be 'cool', but LEDs are getting installed by people who want to save money or effort in replacing their halogen headlamp bulbs. What is worse about the LEDs is that they are sold as "compatible" to various vehicles, when that means they will work mechanically/electrically, but not optically (some actually try to put LEDs in the same spot as the filament). All of the units I've seen cause the car headlamp to put out light at higher angles than a halogen bulb will, causing more glare for opposing traffic.

throwaway0a5e 6y ago

>Is this still a big problem? No. Retrofitting Xenon bulbs is an expensive pain in the ass compared to dropping in some LED replacement bulbs for a marginal increase in light and little to no increase in glare or change in beam pattern because they're made to be geometrically equivalent to the halogen bulbs they replace (which they kind of need to be in order to work adequately in all possible applications for whatever bulb they replace) At the very high end you can get stupid bright LEDs but pretty much nobody does that because they are expensive. Most of the glare you see is from OEM headlight assemblies (regardless of the type of bulb installed) that were simply not designed with not blinding other people as more than a "check the compliance box so we can get back to optimizing for every other metric" sized priority.