Are we OK with how bright headlights are getting?

[bdhsfz6]

We all know the drill, driving at night, turn a bend and get blinded by oncoming high beams. You flash the other driver, they still don't turn off their high beams, so you just turn on your own and give it like you're getting it (or is that just me?) and a sluggish 2-3 seconds later they call a truce, turn off their highbeams, and so do you, and you pass each other like the civilized folk you should have been from the start.

That's how it's always been until the last few years when my constant-ON high beams statement is met with a flash from them, letting me know that "no, those aren't my high beams, THESE are my high beams" as they absolutely fry my retinas with brighter-than-the-sun cool white death rays. They make ME look like the a-hole (which maybe I am). When this first started I would wear that a-hole hat and say (not that they could hear me) "sorry, sorry, my mistake" and turn off my high beams, tuck tail and pass in humility.

But lately I am just almost not able to drive at night anymore and I'm reevaluating what the whole high-beam flashing exchange actually means. When you flash high beams are you saying (A) "I think you forgot to dim your high beams" or are you saying (B) "you're blinding the hell out of me and creating an unsafe situation?" I used to mean A. Now I mean B. And when I say B, it doesn't matter if your high beams are on or not. So I have started just blasting through the brighter-than-the-sun reply to my full-on frontal assault. I mean, it really makes no difference if they are blinding me at full power or half power, they are blinding me either way so I might as well return favor?

It's not like they went out of their way to install light bars and spotlights just to blind me, that is factory equipment. What message am I trying to send them?
"You shouldn't have bought a car with such bright headlights?"
"You should replace your headlights with some that aren't so bright?"
I guess so. I admit it's not 100% rational. My gripe really is with the manufacturers. How do I laser their retinas? Right now I'm trying to do it by discouraging the people buying their product but that's a losing battle and it's pushing me closer to having to admit to being an actual a-hole.

Actually, I'm not ok with how DIM new headlights are getting. They are so dim on my 2023 Buick Enclave that I just leave the high beams on all the time and I never get "flashed" by oncoming traffic.

Took it in for service thinking they were out of alignment but the dealer says they are ok. He said there are a lot of complaints about that particular model. Personally he thinks it's GM's over reaction to complaints about headlights being too bright.

I went to an auto store to inquire about brighter bulbs but the $600 price they quoted is just too high. Apparently, the front wheels and wheel well shrouds need to be removed to access the light housings.

 

[dodge man]

Many years ago I was driving my wife out to her folks' house at night down Crumstown Hwy (yes, that's the real name ) and I asked her when they made it a double yellow line, because it was always a single yellow line? She said there's only one line.

Uh-oh.

Went to eye doctor and needed glasses. I never needed them before, never noticed any vision problems, etc... but apparently something had recently changed and one eye was near sighted and the other far sighted. I was maybe 25 years old when that sudden shift happened. Glasses corrected it well, but I noticed starburst around headlights, streetlights, etc.... got an anti-glare coating on the lenses. All better.

Prescription has only changed twice in 40 years. The last time I opted for trifocals, as I can't do progressives. They work great, but over a year or two, the anti-glare wears off and the starbursts come back. I have optical insurance, so I can get new glasses every two years.

It was just funny how at 25 things changed quickly, but over 40 more years, the cataracts come on so slowly.

My eyes also went from not needing glasses to needing them in a short time but I was 17 when it happened. I have progressives and never really had trouble adjusting to them.

What really annoying about auto dim brights is when you pass someone with them and they are too clueless to lower them.

 

[Oaktree]

Actually, I'm not ok with how DIM new headlights are getting. They are so dim on my 2023 Buick Enclave that I just leave the high beams on all the time and I never get "flashed" by oncoming traffic.

Factory headlights have been a mixed bag since they transitioned away from sealed beams in the 80s. No consistency...all makes seem to have a mix of vehicles with OK lights and awful ones.
I'm sure a lot of the super bright lights we all complain about are non-DOT approved aftermarket bulbs drivers substitute in an attempt to get better lighting.

 

[NUTTERDW]

We all know the drill, driving at night, turn a bend and get blinded by oncoming high beams. You flash the other driver, they still don't turn off their high beams, so you just turn on your own and give it like you're getting it (or is that just me?) and a sluggish 2-3 seconds later they call a truce, turn off their highbeams, and so do you, and you pass each other like the civilized folk you should have been from the start.

That's how it's always been until the last few years when my constant-ON high beams statement is met with a flash from them, letting me know that "no, those aren't my high beams, THESE are my high beams" as they absolutely fry my retinas with brighter-than-the-sun cool white death rays. They make ME look like the a-hole (which maybe I am). When this first started I would wear that a-hole hat and say (not that they could hear me) "sorry, sorry, my mistake" and turn off my high beams, tuck tail and pass in humility.

But lately I am just almost not able to drive at night anymore and I'm reevaluating what the whole high-beam flashing exchange actually means. When you flash high beams are you saying (A) "I think you forgot to dim your high beams" or are you saying (B) "you're blinding the hell out of me and creating an unsafe situation?" I used to mean A. Now I mean B. And when I say B, it doesn't matter if your high beams are on or not. So I have started just blasting through the brighter-than-the-sun reply to my full-on frontal assault. I mean, it really makes no difference if they are blinding me at full power or half power, they are blinding me either way so I might as well return favor?

It's not like they went out of their way to install light bars and spotlights just to blind me, that is factory equipment. What message am I trying to send them?
"You shouldn't have bought a car with such bright headlights?"
"You should replace your headlights with some that aren't so bright?"
I guess so. I admit it's not 100% rational. My gripe really is with the manufacturers. How do I laser their retinas? Right now I'm trying to do it by discouraging the people buying their product but that's a losing battle and it's pushing me closer to having to admit to being an actual a-hole.

I bought a used Ford F350 from my son that has the bright lights and I was continually getting the lights flashed at me. I took them to hugely them adjusted down but they still blinded people and on High bean they were so high that they missed the road. I started adjusting myself and I have them down where I don't blind people and I can see great. I have read on line that if the lights are blinding people they are not adjusted right and now I believe it.

 

[ultrarunner]

Sounds like me when I tried progressive lenses... I got queasy and almost got in a wreck becauese I couldn't adjust my head fast enough for the rearview mirrors. I turned around and went back to the optometrist. He told me to give them time. I said I was about to throw up. So that's when I went to the trifocals.

I don't want to get eye surgery, for fear of them messing up my vision, which I'm really happy with, but a few of my wife's relatives have had it and are super happy with not needing glasses.

Any procedure caries risk and some will wait until no longer able to drive or live independently.

Some procedures may come with a higher risk and should be clearly explained.

Not one of our doctors but a laser procedure did damage because the laser settings were off and no one caught it.

It ended an otherwise long and good career and the patient never was able to achieve the correction which prompted the surgery.

 

[MossRoad]

Any procedure caries risk and some will wait until no longer able to drive or live independently.

Some procedures may come with a higher risk and should be clearly explained.

Not one of our doctors but a laser procedure did damage because the laser settings were off and no one caught it.

It ended an otherwise long and good career and the patient never was able to achieve the correction which prompted the surgery.

My grandma had surgery on her eye. They wanted to do both, but she said she only wanted one done to see how it went. Well... they messed it up badly and she was basically 80% blind in that eye. So she never got the other one done. This was back in the 80s.

 

[dstig1]

And the Babylon Bee must be reading TBN for ideas!

Dodge Introduces New Truck Headlights That Blast Gamma Ray Bursts Into Your Eyeballs

AUBURN HILLS, MI — Truck manufacturer Dodge unveiled new headlights today that would come standard with new models and were designed specifically to blast gamma ray bursts into your eyeballs.

babylonbee.com

 

[lman]

And the Babylon Bee must be reading TBN for ideas!

Dodge Introduces New Truck Headlights That Blast Gamma Ray Bursts Into Your Eyeballs

AUBURN HILLS, MI — Truck manufacturer Dodge unveiled new headlights today that would come standard with new models and were designed specifically to blast gamma ray bursts into your eyeballs.

babylonbee.com

That article is funny since there are no Dodge trucks being manufactured now.

 

[bigtiller]

That article is funny since there are no Dodge trucks being manufactured now.

The Babylon Bee is a conservative Christian news satirical website.

 

[CalG]

I drove down and back to Logan airport yesterday evening to pick up my adult daughter on her return from Ireland.

Between the traffic and the bright headlights, I was spent.

Some of those lights are freaking BRIGHT and hurt my aging eyes!