RAC says new headlights 'blinding drivers'

The other issue with the stupidly bright lights is not only the dazzle but it also has a counter effect on your own headlights. So if I'm driving in a company car with rubbish standard lights and Mr Range Rover has got super bright led lights then I can't see f all until he's passed (don't get me started on being stuck behind them in a queue when they are sitting on the brake pedal)

A tighter window of minimum and maximum brightness levels would help even out this light warfare :p
 
But what can you do in a modern car with full leds? My mum drives a VW tiguan which has dynamic light assist... You can't adjust anything. My dad's A8 has matrix led, again can't adjust anything. My brothers A5 has xenons and I believe he can adjust height although they might even be self leveling. What do you do in this situation?
 
Vertigo1 said:
Cyclists can get stuffed tbh. You all seem to ride around with the most glaring, flashing, annoying LED lights fixed to the front of your bikes at night these days, which dazzle way more than oncoming cars do. At least cars' lights have to be properly aligned, there's nothing to stop cyclists strapping a portable sun to their handlebars.
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You really shouldn't be let on the roads, let alone this forum. FYI I drive a car these days. I already stated that flashing front lights are stupid. Bike lights are nothing compared to a modern car coming at you full beam until they're are metres from you. Just because a few cyclists annoyed you doesn't mean all cyclists are the same, just as all car drivers aren't as obnoxious as yourself.
 
I agree about the new Minis, I have nothing against modern headlights and never usually find them an issue (unless they're obviously badly-adjusted), but every time a new Mini has driven past me on an unlit road I've thought "bloody hell"
 
Howard said:
I agree about the new Minis, I have nothing against modern headlights and never usually find them an issue (unless they're obviously badly-adjusted), but every time a new Mini has driven past me on an unlit road I've thought "bloody hell"
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Absolutely amazing from the drivers seat thight :D
 
andy_mk3 said:
Yes it was indeed aimed at brand new cars.

From what I've seen working at Ford, headlights are set somewhere near from factory, but it is on the PDI checklist that they should be adjusted on a beam setter, I'd imagine it's the same for most brands of cars, and something a lot of people probably don't bother with as it means taking a car off a ramp onto a potentially busy MOT ramp just to set up the aim. I always do it on a PDI as dazzling headlights are not something I like!

Also, any kind of self-leveling system is going to be useless when they are set wrong to begin with.
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Unless self-levelling headlamps have been physically incorrectly installed ie. not bolted in properly, there is nothing to adjust. The car itself does a check when first turned on, you can see the headlamps ‘dancing’ when they fire up on level ground and they set themselves to a set of factory parameters. When a dealer “adjusts” a car’s headlamps they make sure it’s on level ground and force that routine from their console. Almost all these systems come from the same manufacturer (Continental) and they all use the same Osram designed elements in different design shells. If you change the ride height of the car eg. With lowering springs, then it can cause the older mechanical self-levellers to have a paddy and not work properly but the newer electronic systems are extremely quick to react and work very well.

There were always times when oncoming drivers (and driver’s being passed on motorways) were momentarily and completely accidentally blinded and that’s what’s happening now. The issue, as was pointed out earlier is that a standard halogen bulb puts out 500-700 lumens at 1m whereas the current low power LEDs put out almost exactly 2000 lumens at 1m and the matrix/higher power LEDs (and older HID bulbs) put out anything up to 4500 lumens at 1m.

It’s also worth noting that because of the way the legislation is written, anything less than 2000 lumens doesn’t need washers or self-levelling which is why many LED equipped cars don’t have either and BMW/Mini can offer a completely legal HID retrofit kit that doesn’t include either because the bulbs are only 25W rather than 35W used normally.

Like the autonomous car that knocked down the pedestrian cyclist, we have to be careful about throwing away a safety improvement because there are a few issues with new technology.
 
WJA96 said:
Unless self-levelling headlamps have been physically incorrectly installed ie. not bolted in properly, there is nothing to adjust. The car itself does a check when first turned on, you can see the headlamps ‘dancing’ when they fire up on level ground and they set themselves to a set of factory parameters. When a dealer “adjusts” a car’s headlamps they make sure it’s on level ground and force that routine from their console. Almost all these systems come from the same manufacturer (Continental) and they all use the same Osram designed elements in different design shells. If you change the ride height of the car eg. With lowering springs, then it can cause the older mechanical self-levellers to have a paddy and not work properly but the newer electronic systems are extremely quick to react and work very well.
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The maximum beam height is set manually the auto levelling then maintains this beam height. It is quite common for them to be set incorrectly from the factory, I had to get mine adjusted up as they were too low.
 
RJC said:
I get blinded more times with people running the standard halogen headlights where each headlight seem to point in different directions!!
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This for me too. I was out last night, down dark country lanes, dual carriageways and standard 30 zones, the only problem I had was someone with a misaligned headlight where their drivers side seemed to point up.

Though I guess my car is fairly high up, not a low down sports car, maybe that makes a big difference. My car has adaptive LEDs ans no ones flashed me so far, I would certainly hope they came set correctly and they don't look too high. I've driven cars where the headlights were clearly set too high and it was very obvious, sadly your average moron won't notice this.
 
I do a lot of night driving and don't have an issue with modern lights........
I have an issue with people who don't dip their lights or who have them badly aligned. This isn't the fault of the lights though.
 
Guess it also depends what you drive around in, my 95 eunos lowered and probably 2.5 inches off the ground and I'm blinded by everything newer mind SUVs. My lexus on the other hand is okay with 90% of the cars. Anyone with a lotus would probably have the same issue as me in my eunos.
 
mrbazmondo said:
You really shouldn't be let on the roads, let alone this forum. FYI I drive a car these days. I already stated that flashing front lights are stupid. Bike lights are nothing compared to a modern car coming at you full beam until they're are metres from you. Just because a few cyclists annoyed you doesn't mean all cyclists are the same, just as all car drivers aren't as obnoxious as yourself.
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Couldn't care less whether you consider me obnoxious. I'm sick and tired of cyclists in general as far too many of them act as if they own the road. For the record I'm both a driver and a cyclist myself and am actually pretty considerate in/on both, whatever you choose to believe.
 
Vertigo1 said:
Couldn't care less whether you consider me obnoxious. I'm sick and tired of cyclists in general as far too many of them act as if they own the road. For the record I'm both a driver and a cyclist myself and am actually pretty considerate in/on both, whatever you choose to believe.
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Where do you see all these cyclists? I used to drive in London and never got bothered by any, now drive around West Sussex and Surrey Which is supposed to be cyclists central and still I'm absolutely fine, maybe see 2-4 cyclists a day.
 
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