In my experience, while Tesla is a prime offender, it isn’t only Teslas headlight that are too bright. Honda Prologues are another specific model that blinds me all the time.
While we’re at it, I’m convinced auto-headlights and the general dumbing down of drivers mean a lot of people are simply driving around with their brights on all the time. Don’t know how to fix that one though.
I’ve often thought that we could polarise the headlight glass one way, and then windscreen glass the other. The glare off the road would still hit you but the lights themselves would be much darker, but still enough for you to see they’re there. The day-runners in the corners could still be unpolarised so you’d still see the vehicle. It’d be a bit more expensive and require collaboration between the manufacturers which are probably two large reasons why it would never happen.
I’m sure solving this problem isn’t beyond the wit of humanity, but is beyond the expense threshold that the oligarchs will tolerate from their dividends.
My 2024 Santa Fe is also up there on annoyingly bright headlights list. So many people flashing their brights at me before I’m forced to unleash Ark of the Covenant by flashing my actual brights back. Even the emergency flashers are so darn bright I feel like I can’t use them at night when I’m unloading groceries because it fully illuminates the entire apartment building in front of me a block away. This can’t be a necessary amount of lumens.
I actually appreciate the flash back. I do a quick flash to cars whose headlights are blinding me probably 2-3 times each time I drive at night, and probably 95% of the time I get nothing back. So I’m left wondering if those people just have a 2024 Santa Fe (or the like, with crazy bright standards) or if their brights are on and are simply unaware.
Well, it fixes it for you because you are a responsible adult who can drive.
For many other people, it means headlights is something they never think about, and that is part of the problem. The other part is that auto-dimming headlights don’t dim your headlights for pedestrians, and on behalf of pedestrians everywhere ‘fuck you!’ (Not you specifically, just in general)
Good point about the pedestrians, although in my car’s case it is sensitive enough that street lights keep the brights from coming on, so they basically never come on in the city where there are pedestrians. I suppose there’s the case of the tiny incorporated areas with no lights but where people might be walking.
Back when I still used Nextdoor, I once posted a picture of the regular (green) headlight dash icon and the blue high beam icon, and spelled out what they’re used for and that people should know the difference. I got flooded with hearts or whatever the Nextdoor equivalent of upvotes is, I’m sure all from people who already knew and were also frustrated. There are definitely some people who are either ignorant or oblivious; I wonder if any of them saw my post and learned something? Can’t say the problem got any better.
I still own vehicles without the green light. That started being a thing about the time they made gauge clusters giant lcd screens that were lit up at all times of day. If you don’t have your headlights on in my car then you can’t tell how fast you’re going since the gauges aren’t lit up at all. Makes it super obvious when your lights aren’t on…cause you actually have to turn them on in that car. Which leads into my next thing.
My pet peeve is people driving around with only the daytime running lights on. They have weak headlights and absolutely no tail lights. I run into at least one car like this nearly every time I drive at night. I found one possible cause for it. Any time you take your car in for service they usually turn off the auto headlights so it’s not draining the battery in the shop but they rarely turn them back on.
Yes I 100% agree! Making everything automatic also makes people complacent and they don’t check to make sure everything is working as intended. I rather miss my light switch in my car. Daytime running lights are dumb unless they are just always-on headlights and taillights.
And people need to set their lights to auto and leave them there 99.9% of the time. Pretty much all cars have that setting available now. The number of people I see driving with just their parking lights on, or no lights, at twilight is amazing. It isn’t just so you can see it is so others can easily see you.
And people need to set their lights to auto and leave them there 99.9% of the time
No, not 99.9% of the time. Many auto headlights will not turn on if it’s raining or foggy during daytime, since the light sensor is still detecting lots of light
Auto headlights and auto-dimming headlights sound great on paper, but in my opinion have created a class of drivers who don’t use their headlights appropriately.
In my experience, while Tesla is a prime offender, it isn’t only Teslas headlight that are too bright. Honda Prologues are another specific model that blinds me all the time.
While we’re at it, I’m convinced auto-headlights and the general dumbing down of drivers mean a lot of people are simply driving around with their brights on all the time. Don’t know how to fix that one though.
I’ve often thought that we could polarise the headlight glass one way, and then windscreen glass the other. The glare off the road would still hit you but the lights themselves would be much darker, but still enough for you to see they’re there. The day-runners in the corners could still be unpolarised so you’d still see the vehicle. It’d be a bit more expensive and require collaboration between the manufacturers which are probably two large reasons why it would never happen.
I’m sure solving this problem isn’t beyond the wit of humanity, but is beyond the expense threshold that the oligarchs will tolerate from their dividends.
My 2024 Santa Fe is also up there on annoyingly bright headlights list. So many people flashing their brights at me before I’m forced to unleash Ark of the Covenant by flashing my actual brights back. Even the emergency flashers are so darn bright I feel like I can’t use them at night when I’m unloading groceries because it fully illuminates the entire apartment building in front of me a block away. This can’t be a necessary amount of lumens.
I actually appreciate the flash back. I do a quick flash to cars whose headlights are blinding me probably 2-3 times each time I drive at night, and probably 95% of the time I get nothing back. So I’m left wondering if those people just have a 2024 Santa Fe (or the like, with crazy bright standards) or if their brights are on and are simply unaware.
The flash back is good because at least I know.
Auto headlights fixes that exact problem if it’s implemented well. My car turns the brights on and off by itself and it does a damn good job.
Well, it fixes it for you because you are a responsible adult who can drive.
For many other people, it means headlights is something they never think about, and that is part of the problem. The other part is that auto-dimming headlights don’t dim your headlights for pedestrians, and on behalf of pedestrians everywhere ‘fuck you!’ (Not you specifically, just in general)
Good point about the pedestrians, although in my car’s case it is sensitive enough that street lights keep the brights from coming on, so they basically never come on in the city where there are pedestrians. I suppose there’s the case of the tiny incorporated areas with no lights but where people might be walking.
Back when I still used Nextdoor, I once posted a picture of the regular (green) headlight dash icon and the blue high beam icon, and spelled out what they’re used for and that people should know the difference. I got flooded with hearts or whatever the Nextdoor equivalent of upvotes is, I’m sure all from people who already knew and were also frustrated. There are definitely some people who are either ignorant or oblivious; I wonder if any of them saw my post and learned something? Can’t say the problem got any better.
I still own vehicles without the green light. That started being a thing about the time they made gauge clusters giant lcd screens that were lit up at all times of day. If you don’t have your headlights on in my car then you can’t tell how fast you’re going since the gauges aren’t lit up at all. Makes it super obvious when your lights aren’t on…cause you actually have to turn them on in that car. Which leads into my next thing.
My pet peeve is people driving around with only the daytime running lights on. They have weak headlights and absolutely no tail lights. I run into at least one car like this nearly every time I drive at night. I found one possible cause for it. Any time you take your car in for service they usually turn off the auto headlights so it’s not draining the battery in the shop but they rarely turn them back on.
Yes I 100% agree! Making everything automatic also makes people complacent and they don’t check to make sure everything is working as intended. I rather miss my light switch in my car. Daytime running lights are dumb unless they are just always-on headlights and taillights.
And people need to set their lights to auto and leave them there 99.9% of the time. Pretty much all cars have that setting available now. The number of people I see driving with just their parking lights on, or no lights, at twilight is amazing. It isn’t just so you can see it is so others can easily see you.
No, not 99.9% of the time. Many auto headlights will not turn on if it’s raining or foggy during daytime, since the light sensor is still detecting lots of light
You can still adjust them for exceptions, for the rest of the time auto is where it should stay.
Have you met people? They don’t.
Auto headlights and auto-dimming headlights sound great on paper, but in my opinion have created a class of drivers who don’t use their headlights appropriately.