this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2023
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[–] [email protected] 27 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I prefer the much more fun “break LED headlights with a hammer” but your solution is less likely to land me in jail I guess.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 11 months ago (1 children)

LED headlights are not the problem. LEDs in reflector housings and/or idiots driving with their brights on is the problem.

Either way the problem is idiot car owners, not technology.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago (2 children)

For the most part, I agree. LEDs are not the problem. The problem is either moronic drivers, or poor implementation of LED lights. As a driver of a very low car, the vast majority of my complaints about bright lights boils down to lifted trucks with ridiculous light bars, LEDs bulbs in halogen housings, or dufoids driving with their highbeams on. It doesn't matter if the highbeams are halogen or LED, they're both blinding.

That being said, there are cars with LED headlights that are blinding from the factory:

  • 2023+ Subaru Outback.
  • Jeep Wrangler/Gladiator (compounded by having a factory or aftermarket lift)
  • Hyundai Palisade

Then there are the cars that are designed by morons that have all instruments in the center console. That makes it harder for drivers to see when their LED highbeams are on:

  • Toyota Prius
  • Tesla Model 3/Y

But there are plenty of cars with LED headlights that I don't have any issues with. In my experience, Mercedes and Audi seem to do a particularly good job of having bright lights for the driver without blinding anyone else.

And there are plenty of other cars with halogen headlights that are blinding from the factory too:

  • Ford F-Series trucks with quad halogen headlamps
  • Dodge trucks
  • Chevy Cruze (or some other small to midsize American sedan, I can't tell)

The luddites who want to strap jam jars with glowworms in them to the front of new cars are being ridiculous. Properly aimed LEDs are so much safer.

When I got my new car with LED headlights, I couldn't believe how much more I could see. I could see fae down the road. Retroreflectors on lane markings far beyond the reach of my beams are visible. Pedestrians running across the street against the light wearing all black (true story) are visible! Despite clear lenses, new bulbs, and being correctly aimed, the halogen lights in my old Civic barely reached 100 feet down the road. My other halogen bulbed vehicle is better, but it's still a far cry from what I'm used to now.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Notice how all the cars in the first batch are SUVs. It's almost like having vehicles with headlights that are on eye level with most normal cars is a bad thing.

SUVs are genuinely one of the worst things to happen to the automotive industry.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

most normal cars

I hate to tell you this, but SUVs are "most normal cars" these days. There's a reason Ford got out of making cars, except for the Mustang. (And I say this as someone that dislikes SUVs and would rather buy cars.)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

I hate that you're right 😭

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

The luddites who want to strap jam jars with glowworms in them to the front of new cars are being ridiculous.

Lmao. Well said.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

Well you could work at the inspection center and do that if they fail to pass muster (for safety).