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Tesla Has To Fix Its Super-Bright Headlights. A New Law Could Change Things For Good. (insideevs.com)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 15 points 3 months ago (16 children)

A thought occured to me the other day: there is absolutely no reason that headlights have to be on the upper part of the front grille. Mount them as close to the ground as possible. (Like busses and some cargo trucks) At least it will address a situation where pickup truck / SUV headlights are at eye level for drivers of anything smaller.

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  • [–] 13 points 3 months ago (4 children)

    This is completely wrong. Higher mounting means they can be pointed more down, which gives a bigger buffer to them blinding people when the back of vehicle squats. Bus and truck headlights arent an issue because their suspension doesn't squat under normal loads.

    Vehicle manufacturers in the US have to meet the new headlight requirements. Which require headlights to be bright as fuck and basically parallel to the ground. Then rear suspension is left soft to improve ride quality in all suvs. Put some weight in it and the front of the vehicle points up. Pickups are usually bad because the suspension is modified or it's overloaded.

    A quarter of drivers i swear leave their highbeams on. I have stopped caring and just installed blind people highbeams. 10x brighter than a high output halogen usually gets them to turn off their highbeams.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago

    I used to have a snall truck with seperate high and low beam bulbs. I installed normal halogens for the low beams, and I did something similar. It was fun. And it helped me spot deer along dark highways.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago (2 children)

    I do not drive with my highbeams, but people often think I do because my car is stupid. :(... People will flash me and I'll flick the high beams on quickly to show them that, indeed, I'm not trying to be an asshole, my car is just poorly designed.

    There are cars now that automatically dim sections of your highbeams when there's oncoming traffic as to not blind them, yet we can't adjust standard headlights when the nose of the car tilts up? Stupid.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago

    This is gonna piss some people off, but the worst one is Toyota by a mile. I rent a lot of cars and they are the only one that I can see inside of other vehicles. They either dont adjust them or are purposely pointing them up for some sort of sales reason.

    The auto dimming stuff isnt allowed the US yet. Other issue is most cars default to auto highbeams, which suck dick at turning off when needed.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago*

    Yes adaptive headlights are excellent. It’s finally coming to the US. I believe Tesla and Rivian have them and Audi is in the process.

    It is definitely entertaining driving around with them on, watching the dark spot follow oncoming traffic

    I’ve also seen referential self-leveling headlights but never paid attention to what those are

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  • [–] 5 points 3 months ago (7 children)

    Those headlights are just improperly adjusted. Normal headlights point down, especislly on the driver side. Brights are often bright because they point forward.

    Now, if you replace your headlight, for example, or decide to lift your truck, and don't adjust your headlights...well now you've just got your brights on all day long.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    I see this excuse all the time, and yet I'm willing to bet that most people have never changed their lights. These are factory standard vehicles with way too bright headlights

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    If those "improperly adjusted" or pointing forward headlights weren't the same height as my eyes, they would not be a problem. Which is my exact point.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago (1 child)

    This puts the burden on owners having their headlights properly adjusted. People who can't even be bothered to watch the road or change their oil aren't going to care about their headlights.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago (1 child)

    I think they have to be kind of close to the drivers eye level for other vehicles reflektors to work.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 months ago

    I drive a giant motor home with headlights about five feet lower than my eye level.

    Other cars’ reflectors work fine.

    Sometimes it’s hard to read reflective signs above way over the highway, but retroreflective stuff at road level is definitely working

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