Let's talk: Why is the effectiveness of headlights such an oversight on cars?

Disclaimer: I'm passionate for doing proper HID retrofits with projectors on cars that weren't blessed with them from the factory.

I don't get why some manufacturers sell you a car with such poor headlights these days. I've been looking for a decent utility vehicle to add to the fleet and I usually go test drive as dusk so I can get a feel for how well the cars headlights are and what kind of $$ I'll have to dump into it to upgrade to a respectable level. Cars like the 4Runner, Crosstrek, Fit, HR-V, Colorado, etc. were all horrible. But the cheapest car in the Toyota lineup, the Corolla, comes with decent LED projectors. The last WRX I had (2016), the stock headlights were worse than my 97 Trans Am with the pop-up sealed beams. The 15 STI I had, the LED headlights were amazing.

I just don't get it. There's technology out there that's been around for a while so it shouldn't cost that much more to make it a standard feature but manufacturers continue to overlook what I consider an important safety feature on a vehicle. I just hate the fact that if I'm about to go out and buy a 2017 or 2018 model year car and it's got headlight technology from the early 90s and theres no option to upgrade it unless I use the aftermarket.

They have mistaken brightness for usefulness. The DOT allowances are absurdly bad.

My Volvo has some of the better DOT lights - they have a well-defined cutoff - but they throw a lot of light up at the sides, and they are ridiculously bright. I much prefer driving my RX-7 with its sealed-beams at night.

At least the sealed-beams have optics that were engineered to be useful, instead of aesthetically pleasing first and lighting second.

Well howabout the fact that most headlights can't be adjusted? The headlights on my Sierra are held on with two bolts, two pegs that go into holes on the fender, and clip to the front valance above the bumper. That's it. No adjustment screws in sight.

Some of the LED headlights in cars are horrible. They are ridiculously bright but do a horrible job of spreading the light (Acura Jewel Eyes).

Then you have companies like Subaru who install the worst halogen projectors known to man in their vehicles that even an HID bulb can't help out. Their reflector housings aren't much better.

The S2000, first model year was out 18 years ago and it still to this day has some of the best factory headlights ever produced. Get in a brand new $40k 4Runner and can't see more than 50ft in front of you on a pitch black road.

I don't know, Dodge could put Subaru to shame with their pickups from the last 20 years

My JK Wrangler only had adjustments for vertical aim and not horizontal. The stock headlights were utter crap. I swapped in some KC Hiltes LED headlights with better optics but the beam pattern was different. The headlights were severly crosseyed. Where the horizontal adjustment scews were was just a plastic peg. They screw out and I screwed in the "real" adjustment screws that were a whopping $2 at the dealer. Now I can completely adjust the headlight aiming, which I did so I wouldn't blind oncoming traffic. Night time visibility is 1000% better.

US automotive lighting laws are ridiciously outdated; I believe they were started in the 1960s. Things have progressed a lot in automotive and lighting technology and I believe the regulations need to be updated to allow the adaptation of better technology.

This annoys me too and often no upgrade even available. I believe nothing offered beyond halogen in the Fiesta, for example. Not even on the ST. You'd think good headlights would be standard with how quickly car safety and tech is advancing. But no. Wife's Mazda 3 has mediocre halogen projectors and I want her next car to be better. I've been spoilt by owning an S2000 and C6Z with good stock HIDs.

DirtyBird222 wrote: The S2000, first model year was out 18 years ago and it still to this day has some of the best factory headlights ever produced. Get in a brand new $40k 4Runner and can't see more than 50ft in front of you on a pitch black road.

Headlights are something the Germans do very well. The best three cars for headlights that I've owned have been my three Audis, nothing else has come close.

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: I don't know, Dodge could put Subaru to shame with their pickups from the last 20 years

It's why every Dodge pickup runs around with the fogs on, they're actually better headlights than the headlights.

You've touched on one of my biggest pet peeves about cars. The last one I got sucked into was my wife's '14 Impala LT. The halogen projectors were The Worst. They had a very small pencil beam that came to a point in front of the car, and the high beams just flipped a shutter out of the way and let the top half of the crappy beam out. It was so bad that I felt like I was over driving the lights at 40 MPH. I read on a forum somewhere that the LTZs had HIDs in the same housing, so I got some aftermarket HIDs. They helped tons, mostly due to the larger physical size of the place where the light is generated causing the focus to be off. They still don't have enough side spill, but at least I can read a speed limit sign on a back road.

Also, there is no horizontal adjustment, only vertical.

And, on an interstate, where the turns are all designed for a hundred, they're pretty damn good. It's backroads/city streets that they suck on.

Aparently IIHS has just started evaluating headlight effectiveness this past year. Unsurprisingly, lots of vehicles are performing dismally. So expect to see this start improving in the not too distant future.

Sad that it takes such action to force the manufacturers to put out a decently engineered product that does any more than merely meet the bare minimum of (outdated) requirements on something so fundamentally important to driving safety. I guess they've been too busy making unusable nav/infotainment systems and more marketable 'advanced safety features' to put any real effort into something so 'basic'.

Also, last fall I finally got a pair of 7' rectangular e-code Hellas. They're pretty good on the low beams (I'd like just a little more side spill), but when you hit the high beams, HOLY CRAP! And that's with 65 watt bulbs and the factory wiring. I can't wait to install some relays to get them actual battery voltage. I might not even get the 100 watt bulbs.

I also hear that Ciebes are pretty good too. Maybe even better.

My 00 explorer needs a headlight upgrade badly, gfs 02 explorer has better low beams then my hi beams

Keith Tanner wrote:

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: I don't know, Dodge could put Subaru to shame with their pickups from the last 20 years

It's why every Dodge pickup runs around with the fogs on, they're actually better headlights than the headlights.

That's what I did with my Durango.

In reply to Antihero:

I forget what year, but some early 00 Exploders had awesome headlines. I think they were the early IRS ones. The high beams were little tiny things that put light everywhere. And the Rangers were dumb. They put the turn signals in that spot.

I have more of an issue with the stupid bright headlights that absolutely blind me when coming from the other direction. Some cars are friggen terrible for it.

Keith Tanner wrote:

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: I don't know, Dodge could put Subaru to shame with their pickups from the last 20 years

It's why every Dodge pickup runs around with the fogs on, they're actually better headlights than the headlights.

Hey my dakota has nice headlights, when they aren't going out because of a loose wire somewhere.

Our 2015 Nissan Juke has fantastic headlights. My wife doesn't have good night vision, so it's an important deal for us. My night vision isn't as good as what it used to be.

Our 2000 Sunfire has horrible headlights. I installed some aftermarket driving lights that helps (cheap Walmart versions). You can drive with the high beams on and you can't really tell. The high beams are equal to the Juke's low beam (probably not even equal with-wise). We use this as a backup car for the family - so I'm tempted to install a big pair of Hellas in the front bumper.

I recently replaced (due to age and miles, you could no longer sand/clean/buff) the headlights on my 99 GMC Z17 with Rock Auto units. They were not expensive and the lighting is great.

I've had success with Silverstar Ultra bulbs.

In reply to DirtyBird222:

I'm surprised you thought the Fit was bad. Our '09 has the best illumination of any vehicle we've owned. Granted, we've not owned anything with HID or LED lights, but the Fit is at least as good as our '14 T&C and better than any other halogen-equipped car we've had.

I have to wonder if some people have very poor night vision.

I don't think I've ever driven a car with headlights so bad, I couldn't see where I was going. Even SanFord has perfectly good headlights and that system was designed back in the 50s.

As someone who drives a fair amount at night, I'd like to see HIDs banned. They throw entirely too much light down the road and many systems seem to do so indiscriminately. Then add in the idiot that can't seem to find the dimmer switch.

I'm a huge fan of high quality headlights as a general statement. I typically find upgraded lights in the first few items on the list to upgrade.

My main explanation on why lighting is an afterthought is simply to confirm that it is an afterthought.

-Headlight designs and technology is largely held by the Tiers like a Valeo

-Headlight packaging constraints and available design space are given to the Tier by the OEM with little wiggle room

-Few models seem to warrant use of the best technology and seem to rather stick to what the relative competitors are offering

 -German OEM's seem to be the class leaders here which any of us that have had a modern BMW can attest

 -It was really interesting to me that the first generation of Tesla S had very crude incadescant headlights

     -When asked the engineers answered that they had spent all the extra design money they had on the door handle design <img src="/media/img/icons/smilies/grin-18.png" class="smiley" alt=""  />

Glass lenses, first. Then, actually put 20 minutes effort into creating a lens that works, then standardise bulbs.

Alternatively, bring back the four standard headlamp shapes and work on that basis.

I also intend, when I become benevolent dictator, to simmarily execute any design team that builds a light with a bulb that can't be changed at the side of the road on five minutes.

Also- has anybody had a new Chev truck behind them yet? I'm going to start carrying an axe.

I really really like the HID's on my mazda. I dont think I'll buy a car without HID's now. Seem to have pretty good cut off and fantastic light output

My wife's focus that is 4 years newer, (non-hid), the headlights are pretty abysmal. I don't remember them being that bad before but they are not great now.

My new Tacoma has old tech halogen lights but they work just fine. Nice spread and long distance on low beam.

Wife's outback, same thing. Not gee wiz projectors or LED but perfectly effective. They are not as bright as the Taco but I can see far enough to go 80 in the dark and that is enough really.

Either of them put the fancy lighting on my '05 3 Series to shame. The best I can say about them is they look cool to others when you roll by at 10mph because you can't see where the f**k you are going :)

So, I guess I don't know what you are talking about.

Lately, it seems like newer cars focus on throwing a big, super bright light splash right in front of the car on low beam and nothing more. Looks super bright to the average person, so they're happy even though they can't actually see anything. High beams are usually better designed, but a lot of people seem to just never turn them on, so...

On the Jeep, the factory headlights were downright awful. That's been fixed with a set of housings from a German version (right hand traffic ECE housings). Much better beam pattern, better optics and a glass lens instead of plastic. With 100/80 H4 bulbs in them, they work very well.

The low beams aren't insanely bright, but they're plenty bright enough. And when aimed to spec, they have a good beam pattern, don't blind other drivers and throw much further than most newer cars seem to.

The high beams are supplemented with a pair of 100w euro beam Hella 4000s and a pair of 100w IPF 968s (angled outwards slightly). That gives a good, long throw, lots of light and more light off to the sides for seeing deer in open fields, etc. Only downside is the 600w of power draw... Oh, and there are idiots that still can't figure out they need to turn their high beams off even when they get flashed with half the sun worth of light...