I’ve found the angle of the other car with newer headlights is very critical for how bright they are. If they are angled up at all, like the camber of the road at an intersection, coming around a curve with a steeper crown on the asphalt, or even a car with weight in the trunk or a full rear seat, it’s enough to tilt the lights up enough to be blinding. The focus edge is so sharp it takes very little to get overwhelming light from modern car headlights.
🅱️stronomical Motor Wagon
I haven’t driven at night in a while until recently and I was wondering if it was just me losing my ability to distinguish cars but when I looked into my rearview at night, especially on multilane highways, it just looked like a disorienting constellation of stars. I don’t remember trying to figure out wtf is happening behind me being so hard.
Am I just getting bad at driving or is this a universal experience?
Well one good thing is that some cars have auto dimming rearview mirrors. I didn’t realize my car had this feature until I drove one without one. I’m literally never blinded through it at night. It’s nice to have.
Stars as in points of light like real stars, or stars as in light radiating out in lines from a central point?
Probably not too far off at this rate… I’m watching billboards light up from people’s headlights. It’s only a matter of time.
Tesla drivers near me are way worse. They always have their high beams on, without fail.
Teslas, Prius, and old Hondas, the old Hondas I let slide because their lights are so bad.
Its either they have the high beams or no lights at all
It’s not so bad when it’s warm white. Cool white is just instantly blinding
Is this in Florida?
Ottawa, bro.
Beat me
I’m… [slam] I’m not… [slam] sure what this [slam] is accomplishing [slam] but I won’t complain
Most newer cars have a setting that allows changing your headlight beam angles to aim lower.
There’s also the options of physical adjusting your headlights or swapping the bulb to something that’s won’t illuminate the moon while you drive.
I set my headlight to aim about 2 degrees lower, but I also drive a smaller compact so my headlights are not at eye level by default.
Also, if you do make the adjustment try to aim lower then the back license plate of a car infront of you, or at the very least not directly into the side mirrors and rearview mirror of the car infront of you.
If your car’s headlights are visible from a plane, some adjustment is almost certainly going to be required.
Been in multiple newer cars and found no such adjustment, so I’m curious which “most” you refer to.
It was common to have a headlight levelling dial for a period, I’d say from the 2000s up to mid-late 2010s. Prior to that most cars only had mechanical adjustments, post that most cars have auto levelling headlights - over a certain brightness this is legally required.
You might find a setting for headlight levelling buried in some car settings still but I don’t recall a physical dial for this in cars I’ve driven from the last 5 years or more.
Note that this might be a country specific thing, particularly re. requirements for auto levelling (this is true in Australia at least).
Screws on the assembly itself. Usually have to readjust after getting new ones.
I’m referring to the “setting”, not the manual headlight adjustment.
Most Mazdas I have been in past 2020 have headlights that can have their angle adjusted through the center console touch screen.
Ok, so there’s one. I’ve been on 2 Fords, a Mini, Kia, Toyota, and Subaru. The only one that had a user menu setting was the Mini which had auto headlight tilt for braking and hills.
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