Vehicle lights

[JettaKnight]

Motorized windows? That's a luxury I have not know...

 

[eldirector]

Going back to my argument that all these "safety" features are actually making more bad drivers. At one time, you HAD to pay attention while driving. Manual transmission, manual steering, manual brakes, etc... meant that if you even tried to do something else, you would crash. Cars/trucks were even self-limiting on speed. Sure the interstate speed limit was 70 MPH for a while, but a whole bunch of cars were WAY to scary to even approach that. Nowadays, you can run 70+ in a 55, sipping your latte and reading the paper. Your car will keep you in your lane, match the speed to the person you are tailgating, and hit the brakes for you. Unless, of course, it doesn't and you are too oblivious to even notice until too late.

Gawd, I'm getting old....

 

[femurphy77]

Thank you.

Is this the part where I can post a rant about fumbducks that cannot operate a vehicle with a manual transmission without complaints of derailing the thread?

Somebody PLEASE get this thread back on track!

 

[BigRed]

Does not have "auto" features.

Dumbasses need not apply.

 

[ghuns]

Yep. New cars and all their new fangled gadgets suck and nobody knows how to drive anymore...

Iffin we could only go back to the good ole days.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Yep. New cars and all their new fangled gadgets suck and nobody knows how to drive anymore...

Iffin we could only go back to the good ole days.

Yeah, but many of those vehicle deaths reported before 1930 were from natural causes, heart attack, stroke, rotten teeth, or scurvy, and it just happened when they were in a car.

Back then, if you started a 3-hour drive with five people, you were lucky to get there with two still alive.

 

[HoughMade]

Thank you.

Is this the part where I can post a rant about fumbducks that cannot operate a vehicle with a manual transmission without complaints of derailing the thread?

I can operate a manual transmission, and crank windows and turn lights on an off and lock my own doors and even sing for my own entertainment rather than listen to a radio.

Why should I?

 

[JettaKnight]

Going back to my argument that all these "safety" features are actually making more bad drivers. At one time, you HAD to pay attention while driving. Manual transmission, manual steering, manual brakes, etc... meant that if you even tried to do something else, you would crash. Cars/trucks were even self-limiting on speed. Sure the interstate speed limit was 70 MPH for a while, but a whole bunch of cars were WAY to scary to even approach that. Nowadays, you can run 70+ in a 55, sipping your latte and reading the paper. Your car will keep you in your lane, match the speed to the person you are tailgating, and hit the brakes for you. Unless, of course, it doesn't and you are too oblivious to even notice until too late.

Gawd, I'm getting old....

https://www.amazon.com/Traffic-Drive-What-Says-About/dp/0307277194

 

[rvb]

Yep. New cars and all their new fangled gadgets suck and nobody knows how to drive anymore...

Iffin we could only go back to the good ole days.

There are lots of reasons fatalities decrease... better understanding of crash kinetics and designing 'crumple zones,' seat belts, less drunk driving, better trauma treatment, better child restraints, etc.

things like lane departure and auto-braking crash avoidance ARE good supplemental safety systems, but should not be relied upon... we still have to put the cell phones down or there is no benefit. I had a rental recently that had the active cruise control... worked great on a straight line, but on a curve it lost sight of the car in front of me and started accelerating! Lane departure warnings often don't work in rain, in construction areas w/ paint all messed up, etc....

I would LOVE to have a back-up camera in my truck; it's going to be a must-have in my next one. Anything under 4' tall behind me I just can't see. It's the main reason I back into parking spots, I can visually check out the spot before backing in, and when it comes to leave I don't have to worry about this massive blind spot behind me.

I don't know how much I would consider auto headlights a safety feature. I think any gain is balanced by the negatives I mentioned. I think features like that are luxury/lazy features vs safety, imo.

-rvb

 

[ghuns]

...I don't know how much I would consider auto headlights a safety feature. I think any gain is balanced by the negatives I mentioned. I think features like that are luxury/lazy features vs safety, imo.

-rvb

Don't get me wrong, laziness and dumbarsery are run amok. I consider things like auto headlights a safety feature because now I can see the lazy dumbarses coming.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Something that has always bothered me is the lack of standardization among manufacturers.

As a guy who routinely drives several different makes and models, I'm forever grabbing the wrong switch to turn on the wipers, which are on opposite sides of the column, depending on make and model. Same thing with trying to find the switch for the safety blinkers quickly as I'm slowing down suddenly on the interstate for an accident or something.

You can familiarize yourself in the car before you leave out, but when you switch back and forth between vehicles where controls are in different places, you're going to grab the wrong control on a regular basis.

And, don't get me started on why they can't put the gas fill on the same side on all vehicles.

 

[BugI02]

Both my current and previous car has had auto and I used them, my wife’s 2009 Nissan Rogue doesnt though. Some cars drl’s are bright enough to think you have your headlights on, especially in the city. My wife got pulled over years ago in her car for not having lights on when she thought she did. I don’t see the auto headlight problem as much as current made cars (like a Lincoln mkc) have such bright lights, I think they have their brights on. People flash me in my equinox from time to time thinking my brights are on. My headlights are aimed right and level also. I do occasionally manually turn on them in my car (snow or rain, going through a tunnel), but most of the time let my led drl’s do the job.

Low beams should be engineered with a sharp distance cut-off, you don't need your low beams to be able to reach to infinity (and neither do the oncoming drivers). Unfortunately such engineering is a very recent trend, and when people begin replacing the OEM headlights with HID or LED systems (which are not point source in many cases) they exacerbate the problem because the reflectors are no longer designed for the light pattern being produced and the low beams just scatter light all over

A way to stop people (if they're not stupid) from flashing you is to run with the driving lights on. Since about 2008 or so, factory driving lights go off automatically when you switch to hi-beams (because any condition calling for highs are not the correct conditions for driving lights anyway) so if you can see driving lights on on an oncoming car, no matter how bright they seem, they are in fact on low beams

 

[russc2542]

All my cars have stupid auto lights. I say that because there's no light sensor or computer involved. I leave the lights on and when I key-off and open the door, the lights go out. If I need the lights on, i can go back in and turn them on manually but then have to turn them off manually again. (Toyota and Subaru). exception is the bike (always on) and 1970 Beetle (a wee bit too old for that)

The whole DRL thing drives me nuts too. I remember when they came out in the 90s. I remember the Saturn commercials "hey your lights are on" "everyone will notice you in your new Saturn". that's great when most cars didn't have auto lights. about 5 minutes later when it didn't matter, they should have been made illegal. they aren't bright enough to count as illumination for the road and they shouldn't be the only lights on in poor visibility, so there's absolutely no point.

This is different than the CHMSL because the CHMSL, when done properly, gives view of the indicator with different sight lines than the other brake lights so you can see it through/above other cars.

Also a lot of cars gauge cluster illuminates anytime the car is running so it gives the falsehood that the headlights are on. My wifes last 2 cars where that way, they had a separate headlight indicator showing that they are on.

This is the absolute F****** devil and I've even fallen victim myself... driving the sis-in-law's car for some reason it had one of those always illuminated clusters and DRLs. the DRLs are bright enough you don't really go "hey I cant see" and turn the lights on.

Going back to my argument that all these "safety" features are actually making more bad drivers. At one time, you HAD to pay attention while driving. Manual transmission, manual steering, manual brakes, etc... meant that if you even tried to do something else, you would crash. Cars/trucks were even self-limiting on speed. Sure the interstate speed limit was 70 MPH for a while, but a whole bunch of cars were WAY to scary to even approach that. Nowadays, you can run 70+ in a 55, sipping your latte and reading the paper. Your car will keep you in your lane, match the speed to the person you are tailgating, and hit the brakes for you. Unless, of course, it doesn't and you are too oblivious to even notice until too late.

Gawd, I'm getting old....

Agreed, the safety features enable bad behavior.

Something that has always bothered me is the lack of standardization among manufacturers.

As a guy who routinely drives several different makes and models, I'm forever grabbing the wrong switch to turn on the wipers, which are on opposite sides of the column, depending on make and model. Same thing with trying to find the switch for the safety blinkers quickly as I'm slowing down suddenly on the interstate for an accident or something.

You can familiarize yourself in the car before you leave out, but when you switch back and forth between vehicles where controls are in different places, you're going to grab the wrong control on a regular basis.

And, don't get me started on why they can't put the gas fill on the same side on all vehicles.

There is some, hence PRND2L and where the OBD connector is. where the PRND2L is and where the switches are... you're right, there are not. Guy I knew in college almost rear ended a car at night cause the lights weren't on going way under the speed limit. Followed the car with his lights on till the person got off and stopped. Cussed out the old lady pretty good when she said she just didn't know where the light switch was.

Low beams should be engineered with a sharp distance cut-off, you don't need your low beams to be able to reach to infinity (and neither do the oncoming drivers). Unfortunately such engineering is a very recent trend, and when people begin replacing the OEM headlights with HID or LED systems (which are not point source in many cases) they exacerbate the problem because the reflectors are no longer designed for the light pattern being produced and the low beams just scatter light all over

A way to stop people (if they're not stupid) from flashing you is to run with the driving lights on. Since about 2008 or so, factory driving lights go off automatically when you switch to hi-beams (because any condition calling for highs are not the correct conditions for driving lights anyway) so if you can see driving lights on on an oncoming car, no matter how bright they seem, they are in fact on low beams

They are engineered, the problem is too many people are stupid and modify them to see infinity.

In most states, if not federally, it's illegal to have forward lights other than the headlights on without the lowbeams.

 

[terrehautian]

Low beams should be engineered with a sharp distance cut-off, you don't need your low beams to be able to reach to infinity (and neither do the oncoming drivers). Unfortunately such engineering is a very recent trend, and when people begin replacing the OEM headlights with HID or LED systems (which are not point source in many cases) they exacerbate the problem because the reflectors are no longer designed for the light pattern being produced and the low beams just scatter light all over

A way to stop people (if they're not stupid) from flashing you is to run with the driving lights on. Since about 2008 or so, factory driving lights go off automatically when you switch to hi-beams (because any condition calling for highs are not the correct conditions for driving lights anyway) so if you can see driving lights on on an oncoming car, no matter how bright they seem, they are in fact on low beams

I run with my running lights on. From 10’ out and all distance, my headlights cut off right at the top of the license plate on chyrsler 200’s. .

 

[BugI02]

russ and terre, you're clear on what I mean by driving lights, correct? The auxiliary lights usually placed low and near the outside of the lower bumper area, designed to illuminate the edges of the road (driving lights is what most manufacturers call them now). In another age they would have been brighter, possibly yellow and called fog lights. They have a seperate on/off on the light stalk, and when they're toggled they only come on in conjunction with low beams. Switch to high beams and that shuts them off as well

 

[churchmouse]

Coming back home from B-Ville last night I encountered 2 of those Cadillac SUV's that are lit up like a space ship. Hence the "Encounter. I flashed my lights and they flashed back. Reference Spielberg.

Holy crap those lights should not be used in town. Blinding to a set of already weary old eyes.

 

[Hohn]

I gave up and started wearing these cheap cheesy Bono-looking night driving glasses I got all the wally world. As for the chuckleheads that can't remember to turn on lights when it's dark, rainy, or both? I have nothing to help them. They are likely serial offenders.

What gets me is the high beams ALL THE TIME. I drive down US-31 every morning for work and have never made it yet without some idiot strolling down the road with high beams blaring.


WHat makes it so egregious is that modern headlights are so bright. The makes the offense doubly worse: it's more blinding than ever, AND there's almost never an occasion where you truly need your high beams. The low beams on newer cars are super bright if they have HID or LED lights.

My car has HIDs. They are excellent. And I almost never use the high beams, except as a reminder to the goobers that populate US31 that they need not have their brights on.


The car that was behind me this morning had newer LED lights that had wicked glare. But it was also "cross-eyed" in that only one or the other that was offending, with only a few times both of them in sight. I find it unlikely that such poor alignment is in a production car, so I'm assuming these were cheap auto parts store aftermarket lights installed by someone incompetent. I could be wrong.

 

[russc2542]

russ and terre, you're clear on what I mean by driving lights, correct? The auxiliary lights usually placed low and near the outside of the lower bumper area, designed to illuminate the edges of the road (driving lights is what most manufacturers call them now). In another age they would have been brighter, possibly yellow and called fog lights. They have a seperate on/off on the light stalk, and when they're toggled they only come on in conjunction with low beams. Switch to high beams and that shuts them off as well

yea, I think so. Per FMVSS something or other: Any other aux lighting (driving lights, fog lights, flood lights, etc) must only be on in conjunction with low beams.

The difference between DRLs, driving lights, and fog lights is... muddy, legally (though from a functional standpoint, easy)

 

[churchmouse]

Yep. New cars and all their new fangled gadgets suck and nobody knows how to drive anymore...

Iffin we could only go back to the good ole days.

OK you need to factor in the safety of the new cars/trucks. Head on's that at one time were sure to be fatality's are not so these days. Injury's yes but death is not as common. Yeah yeah......new fangled gadgets and all.....

 

[BugI02]

yea, I think so. Per FMVSS something or other: Any other aux lighting (driving lights, fog lights, flood lights, etc) must only be on in conjunction with low beams.

The difference between DRLs, driving lights, and fog lights is... muddy, legally (though from a functional standpoint, easy)

DRLs are on anytime the car is running, and you have no OEM control over that

Driving lights/fog lights are driver initiated/controlled, with the high beam hardwired limitation