It's time to mandate automatic headlights, imo
It's time to mandate automatic headlights, imo
Sometimes I have to drive after dark in my city, and it never fails that if I drive any appreciable distance that I always see at least one person (often more) driving with their lights off. I do not need to tell y'all why this is dangerous. We're a community of enthusiasts. We know. Plenty of us are driving older cars that predate the tech.
It's not like they don't mandate lots of shit already. Seatbelts, head restraints, airbags, and backup cameras are some of the most sensible things ever required for cars to have. Why are automatic headlights not on this list? There also needs to exist a mandate whereby the lights turn on if the driver turns on the wipers. Because if you need your wipers, you need your lights too. It's common freaking sense.
Your headlights aren't just for seeing, but for being seen. Ambient light sensors are so cheap that they end up in midrange TVs all the time. I blame the backlit gauges and myriad other interior lights. Ergo, it's time to mandate automatic headlights. There's no reason not to.
I'll get off my soapbox now.
I want a super version of this. I want headlights that dim several lumens when I slow down and when I stop. I drive a massive truck with headlights that blind the shit out of people. I wish it would slowly dim them as I slowed and would basically turn them off or point them down when Iām stopped. I donāt need to see 500ft ahead at that point. We have the tech, and LEDs are perfect for that.
22Perhaps you don't need to drive a massive truck? Or you can change your headlights? Semis don't blind me like modern trucks do.
I get blinded in the highway as much as in the neighborhood.
18We don't know what they use the truck for. What we do know is that semi trucks have fairly low-mounted headlights whereas pickups and SUVs are in a race to see who can mount their lights the highest for that road presence and offroad clearance (as long as you ignore how low the air dams are on recent trucks). Part of the issue is that the US code FMVSS 108 requires low beams must be mounted higher and/or outboard of the high beams. This increases the height of the low beam of any dual-unit headlight. Aside from that, just about every nifty trick to hide lower headlights gets hit with criticism. The first gen Jeep Cherokee (2015, not the Grand) had slim faux-headlight DRLs in the hood line and snuck the real headlights in the middle of the bumper. The Chevy Bolt did the same. The Nissan Juke is even more notorious for that. Even the 2008-2016 Ford F-250/350 (especially 08-10) gets flak for its huge upper parking light feigning a headlight bucket. Unfortunately, consumers are emotional
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One thing that has contributed to this problem is daytime running lights. I haven't owned a car with them yet, but I routinely see people driving at night with only the DRL's and no tail lights.
I'm not sure if the dash is illuminated in that situation, but it shouldn't be. There probably needs to be an obnoxious warning chime at the very least.
21Spot on. In the Good Old Days (tm) the dashboard was only lit when headlights were on. You got instant feedback if your light werenāt on - you couldnāt see how fast you were driving etc.
8I don't know if there is already some light sensor in the car but on my 2015 VW Polo (which doesn't have automatic headlights) if its too dark outside (even in daytime, due to bad weather or early nights) the lights of the dash are dim (you only see the needle of the speedometer and tacho). So there is still the obvious cue to turn them on. Perhaps its more common in European cars?
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The dash is often much more dim in these situations, or at full brightness. Either way drivers should be looking for a green light indicating their headlights and taillights are properly illuminated. I donāt need cars overcoming this, I need police to do their job and ticket those people and force them back to driving school or to takeaway licenses here in the states.
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The problem is weāve removed the cues to turn the lights on.
Normally it gets dark and you know itās time to turn the headlights on because none of the dash lights are illuminated. You canāt see the speedometer. Unfortunately with the advent of LCD dashes and touchscreens the default has become leaving everything in front of the driver lit, and that includes analog instruments. Add fairly bright DRLs people have lost the visual prompt to flip the switch on.
Backlights, where not necessary for operation, should remain off until lights are turned on. Getting rid of touchscreens for everything and going back to push buttons. That would help a lot with headlights as well as being distracted flipping thru menus to turn the AC on or something.
19Here in Sweden we have laws requiering headlight to be on when the car is moving, regardless of the time of day or year.
All cars for the last several decades have automatic headlights that turn on when the ignition turns on.
It is brilliant, it makes it so easy to dstinguish between parked cars abd cars that are moving, both as a driver and as a pedestrian.
Automatic full beams are also standard these days.
17It is brilliant
I agree! But hey, this is America. Did you know some cars are still being made with brake lights that function as turn signals instead of making turn signals a separate amber lamp on the rear of the vehicle like the rest of the world has been doing for decades? Cars and trucks like this are still everywhere here. It's not required. It's baffling!
10There's a couple dick moves like with the upper trim Jeep Cherokees and their super cool "switchback" LED tail lights. Red for brake, yellow for signal, BUT WHY DID YOU MAKE IT SO THE SIGNAL STILL OVERRIDES THE ENTIRE BRAKE LIGHT?
5I hate it when people import these shitty cars and jump through some loopholes to keep their stupid ass red blibkers. Go move there please.
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Automatic full beams are the work of the devil. I tried them and the number of times I blinded some poor driver, cyclist or pedestrian because they were too slow to react were numerous. Now have them on manual
8Auto highbeams can be amazing, or absolute ass. In my RAM 2500 theyāre awful. They often blind people (which is already bad enough for a RAM 2500, I donāt need to make it worse). However in my AMG theyāre amazing. They turn on in a Hollywood light pattern and sweep across the road as Iām driving and theyāre super quick and sensitive to react. The same headlights in Europe can even be configured to leave highbeams on and black out areas where it detects people and cars.
6yeah, i don't have automatic hi-beams in my car, and i don't see how i would need them. i often see the headlights of other cars through the trees (when driving on a LandstraĆe) and preemptively turn them off. i'm already supposed to be paying attention to the drivers around me, so why would i let a computer do it?
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I hate daytime running lights, because people will think their lights are on, but it's only the headlights. It isn't uncommon to see people driving around in total darkness with only headlights on.
I disable DRL and only use manual lights, turning on for weather or dark. It's not possible to think you have them on this way.
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Because if you need your wipers, you need your lights too.
If you have trouble seeing the road, people will have trouble seeing you. Do they not teach that in drivers ed these days?
And somehow it's always the grey cars...
7my driving school taught me to keep the setting on automatic.
my car doesn't have an automatic setting.
i was immediately told by my dad to always keep the lights on, like any sensible driver in germany does. there is literally no benefit from keeping the lights off.
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I do not like having headlights being forced on. There are situations often enough where either I don't want to unnecessarily light up someone's place or I simply want to be inconspicuous. But I absolutely support the option to use an ambient light sensor to darken the dash in that situation. Pretty sure that was one of the options in new legislation a few years ago. It was either force lights on with the uv sensor (Toyota?), add tail lights to the drl function (Mazda?), or turn off the dash lights if headlights are off and it's dark out (haven't seen this one). There are many streetlights in my area so missing headlights aren't obvious for miles at a time to a less-knowledgeable driver
6My car from 2006 has daytime runners and headlights that turn on automatically. Either can be turned off at any time with the press of a button.
5My 2000 Camry did not allow the driver to disable the auto drl/headlights, only turn the headlights on manually. Every other auto-capable car I had though has been like yours, just an optional setting. That was a fluke at the time, but now it's one of the valid ways to meet regulation in the US and has become more common. I want to say it was changed in 2019
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i think they should have the default be "on" when the car is started. then the driver can actively turn them off if they choose to do so. most people just throw it into "automatic" mode and assume it's the correct thing to do. we even get taught to do it that way.
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Canada has had it mandatory since 1989, It is a good thing to have multi-ton objects whizzing around you clearly marked.
It's like the third last thing you'd ever want to sneak up and catch you off guard.
5I love that we have this but they are not at full brightness and I still see people driving with only these daytime headlights at night with no parking or rear lights.
I'm assuming they have digital cluster on these newer cars which are on all the time, unlike older cars where the instrument cluster is dark when only the daytimes are on and it kind of says hey dummy your lights are off, let's turn them all on and at full brightness too!
5I still see people driving with only these daytime headlights at night with no parking or rear lights.
One of them was probably my ex.
3I daily a '97 Prelude. If I can't see my gauges, it's a pretty good indicator that my lights should be on. Like I said in the post, it's the backlit gauges and other interior lights. I don't blame the drivers. I blame the half dozen screens the manufacturers seem to think we just cannot live without these days. And that's one reason why I daily a 90s car.
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I think one of the biggest reasons for why this is happening is because cars have gauges that are lit up all the time now, and also they have daytime running lights that stay on at night too, so they think that their lights are on. There is no sign that their light is not on other than the logo in the gauge cluster
2i got taught to ALWAYS drive with the lights on. and since i drive a 20 year old "microcar" with H4 bulbs, i don't think i'm blinding anyone either. headlights should be on by default, no automatic bullshit needed.
1There is precedent for this feature. Motorcycles have head/tail lights at startup.
1Let me know how I am supposed to install automatic headlights in my 1968 Ford Galaxie 500. So old I have a knob I pull out to turn on my headlights.
-8Same way you installed the legally required airbags, abs, backup camera... You just hire old grandad to clause it up for ya.
7turn them on when starting your car, like i've been doing since forever. no downside in turning them on.
1Bypass whatever the knob is doing and have them wired directly to the alternator.
1With daytime lights there's usually a module that can be added that always runs power to the lights when the engine is on. On older vehicles with regular bulbs the voltage was like 7 volts instead of the full 12 volts.
However this causes issues with the first couple of generations of LED bulbs. They usually don't come on or flicker due to low voltage.
With the newest cars this is programming option in the car menu as there are a few markets that requires daytime running lights. Sometimes it requires a dealer to make the change with the computer.
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