I think I may have found out why modern Japanese and European cars tend to blind me in night driving.

Seems many of them now have "automatic hi-beams" (like Olds didn't have such in the 50s...) and they are clumsy to override (unlike the old Autronic Eye/ GuideMatics).

They apparently have trouble detecting oncoming cars on a four-lane divided highway, so the systems don't dim the brights and blind oncoming traffic. A BMW 750 got behind me couple nights ago and the system did not dim the lights until it was almost on my bumper, and soon as it moved into the left lane the lights immediately went bright again- RIGHT IN MY DAMN MIRROR.

That's when I noticed that once it passed me the Bimmer never dimmed its lights for oncoming traffic.

I've read on a Jeep Cherokee forum that the override is clumsy at best and requires several steps- time that a driver isn't paying attention to driving. Modern Jeep lights are super-bright to begin with and on high beam, blind me badly.

Now, the old GM automatic dimmers were simple to turn on and off. So my question is why can't modern cars have an auto hi-beam system that is simple to override or disable?

Honda and Nissan vans and BMW seem to be especially bad for this. Toyotas have them too but don't seem to be as bad as those makes.

 

For me its both age and these new headlights are bright, some are downright obnoxious. I don't think that headlights need to light the countryside as bright as day. I see very well with my T3's.

 

The old 50's electronic dimmers have their problems on today's roads big time. Back in the day there weren't any reflective signs to fool the primitive electronics. I would imagine the settings on the newer cars have to be adjusted higher to off set this very problem. Next time you are on a twisty mountain road (probably more in the city) count the reflective signs you see in a mile, your modern car is trying to compensate for each one and still operate as you would like on oncoming traffic. Sometimes progress is too much of a compromise to get the intended result. I still like the dimmer on the floor my self.... Lost in the fifties.... Tedd

 

You can discount the age factor more than you realize. Physiologically, our pupils don't respond much to blue light. At night, a bright blue light can seem almost painful to look at because your pupil won't constrict to cut down the amount of light reaching your retina.

Many modern cars use HID or LED lights with high color temperature. The higher the color temperature, the more blue light is present in the beam.

If your car has these lights, it seems that you can see very well. The blue light from these lights plays the same trick on the driver, to whom the road seems exceptionally well illuminated.

However, reality is more complex...
The blue light doesn't provide as much information to your brain
The typical excess foreground lighting keeps your pupils constricted, reducing visual information

T3s have low color temperature, probably around 3000 K. Those may look dimmer than an HID but they give effective illumination, in accord with human physiology, that your eye can use to better see at night.

You may indeed see as well with your T3s versus with high color temperature headlamps.

 

The Autronic Eye on my 54 is pretty easy to override with a switch on the floor by the regular dimmer. Very simple.

 

Our new Toyota Highlander has auto hi beams and they work very well. I love the feature as we live in a rural area with winding roads and it really helps.

 

Not just headlamps, damn new LED emergency lights on first responder and law enforcement vehicles are blinding drivers as well. Even the firefighters, EMS technicians, and officers are complaining that the lights are blinding them while trying to perform their duties from dusk to dawn.

 

With the advent of ultra tech everything another lost art: How to turn the damn thing off!

 

I think it's a few things.

1. New cars headlights are sharply focused. Now that my Tacoma is 10 years old, with cracked, hazed headlights, the lighting is more akin to my 70s cars now that it is out of focus. This means that there is no "sort of lit up" area, it's 0 or 100 out to the edge, and the edge is what gets you.

2. That auto high beam thing might well be true.

3. Sometimes, lights leave the factory high. My Tacoma, out of the shuttered NUMMI factory, had high lights, like every other Tacoma, because the headlight aim equipment could not actually get the lights low enough to be in spec, as it was old equipment, meant for another vehicle. I think that stuff went to Texas.

I used to get flashed that I had on high, when I did not. Less now, with the lens hazing.

4. Lights are brighter due to HID and LED.

5. Driving skill is decreasing. No one knows not to pass on the right, how to parallel park, to signal when turning or changing lanes, or how to drive a manual transmission. Turning down high beams is also part of the skill set.

In case people want to know, modern headlamp aim involves an equalizer to set the car straight, a camera on a guide system to sit repeatedly in the right spot, and automatic screwdrivers that the team member puts on the adjusters. The computer finds the correct settings by watching via the camera and moving the light with the screwdrivers. All the guy has to do is hold them there until it beeps and says OK.