NHTSA Allows Adaptive Headlights

[Morris Minor]

About time. US headlight regulations have a long history of being behind the curve.
(Also, I don't mind them, but red turn signals are an oddity here. Wonder if they'll get to those.)

The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a final rule today allowing automakers to install adaptive driving beam headlights on new vehicles. This satisfies a requirement in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law more than a year and a half ahead of schedule.
https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/nhtsa-allow-adaptive-driving-beam-headlights-new-vehicles-improving-safety-drivers

Oh and here's the final document: 327 pages of research findings and specs.
https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/2022-02/ADB-Final-Rule-02-01-2022-web.pdf

[r0tor]

Maybe I'm getting old, but some of these new headlights are out of control.  I had a new bmw behind me the other day and even with my rear view mirror tinted there was a spot in my mirror with intensity that would rival the sun

I don't think beam forming would have solved this.  It wasn't a glare issue, just an intensity of jamming a billion candle power into something the size of a quarter.

[Eye of the Tiger]

My rear view mirror is permanently in the dim mode, and I wear sunglasses at night.

[Laconian]

Maybe I'm getting old, but some of these new headlights are out of control.  I had a new bmw behind me the other day and even with my rear view mirror tinted there was a spot in my mirror with intensity that would rival the sun

I don't think beam forming would have solved this.  It wasn't a glare issue, just an intensity of jamming a billion candle power into something the size of a quarter.

Ride height and/or leaving the high beams on?

[Soup DeVille]

I thought for a while all the blinding headlights were aftermarket LED conversions- some probably are, but there are now far too many and on too new and nice of cars.

I actually had to adjust the headlights on my 4Runner lower than stock to not feel like I was blinding everybody.

[r0tor]

Ride height and/or leaving the high beams on?

Neither... It's just there lights are like point sources of a god awful intensity.  So even if the light is not shining directly on you, they still can burn a whole in your retina just catching a glimpse in your mirror.

[Morris Minor]

My '21 CX-5's lights follow the steering direction on high beam - it's all done with switching around the LED sources... a little bit adaptive.

[r0tor]

My alfa's headlights move with the steering wheel - it's amazing for twisty backroads

[Morris Minor]

My alfa's headlights move with the steering wheel - it's amazing for twisty backroads

Yup I love it. The good LED headlights were a selling point for me. The roads here are very twisty; you're often looking out of your side windows to see where you're going.

[GoCougs]

I do have a bit of Headlight Rage TBH.

In my area, they're abysmal with repainting lines, switched mostly to (black) asphalt-ish surface from the tried-n-true gray concrete, and they've gotten into the habit of turning off street lights, esp. on freeway ramps and intersections.

The G's head lights weren't so good - the SQ5's are literally 10x better, but, oh, the poor bastards who are driving toward me. "Do unto others before they do unto you" these days.

[CaminoRacer]

ND Miata headlights are great and the car is so low that they can't blind anyone except roadkill

[MrH]

Thank god.  I get blinded all the time at night.  I already have super sensitive eyes to light, and after Lasik, it's only worse.

The biggest issue I've always had are idiots driving around with their brights on.  Lately, I've seen a ton of cars with one burnt out headlight, so they run their brights all the time   I wish cops would just pull over these offenders all the time.

[Gotta-Qik-C7]

Thank god.  I get blinded all the time at night.  I already have super sensitive eyes to light, and after Lasik, it's only worse.

The biggest issue I've always had are idiots driving around with their brights on.  Lately, I've seen a ton of cars with one burnt out headlight, so they run their brights all the time   I wish cops would just pull over these offenders all the time.

THIS! I know it's a pain in the ass to change the headlights on some of these newer cars but it's still not excuse! 

[CaminoRacer]

Lets go back to sealed beams. Easy to change if they burn out, and they aren't blinding anyone.

[FoMoJo]

Lets go back to sealed beams. Easy to change if they burn out, and they aren't blinding anyone.

Yes, they worked fine and were cheap and easy to replace.

As for whatever these modern headlights are, I can no longer tell if someone has their high-beam on or just that their lights are ultra bright and blinding me.  It used to be easy to tell when someone had their high-beams on when they shouldn't and you could just flick your lights and they would switch to low-beam.  I tried doing this a couple of times when cars coming at me had blindingly bright lights.  They then flicked their lights and the beams were even blindingly brighter.  No one needs lights that bright to see the road unless you're driving in a night-time rally.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Lets go back to sealed beams. Easy to change if they burn out, and they aren't blinding anyone.

And no yellow lenses.

[NomisR]

The ones that are driving with the high beams are usually the ones that drive way under the speed limit.  Either that or they don't have headlights on, which is what I don't get because they're typically newer cars that have automatic headlights.

[cawimmer430]

Speaking of headlights... or rear lights, when you're behind one of these newer Audi's at night with LED blinkers and brake lights... those things blind the hell out of you.

[Laconian]

Speaking of headlights... or rear lights, when you're behind one of these newer Audi's at night with LED blinkers and brake lights... those things blind the hell out of you.

I've not noticed that, but the Audi rear fogs are pretty excruciating to look at..

[cawimmer430]

I've not noticed that, but the Audi rear fogs are pretty excruciating to look at..

Their LED headlights are also blinding.

[Soup DeVille]

I've not noticed that, but the Audi rear fogs are pretty excruciating to look at..

Cars in the US are all over the place with the use of rear foglights.

i'd be willing to bet not 1 in 10 US drivers even know what those are.

[CaminoRacer]

Cars in the US are all over the place with the use of rear foglights.

i'd be willing to bet not 1 in 10 US drivers even know what those are.

US drivers don't even know how to operate the headlights properly, how could they know anything about the rear?

[NomisR]

Do American and Japanese cars have rear fog lights?  I feel like only European cars seems to have it.

[Morris Minor]

I see clueless low-awareness Audi & VW drivers in the USA with the rear fogs on all the time. Just another way we sentient beings can be annoyed.

"There's no fog!" https://youtu.be/9DZXOANUaNk?t=53

[Soup DeVille]

Do American and Japanese cars have rear fog lights?  I feel like only European cars seems to have it.

I want to say its a bit hit and miss.

I remember the Olds Aurora having them- because I remember having to explain them to my Grandma. Of course, that's GM; the company that thinks back-up lights are there to indicate the car is in park.

[r0tor]

I use mine from time to time to fend off tailgaters

[Rich]